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Social Scientist (Program Director)

National Science Foundation
This job announcement has closed

Summary

The National Science Foundation is seeking qualified candidate for a Social Scientist (Program Director) position in the Decision Risk & Management Sciences (DRMS) Program for the Division of Social and Economic Sciences (SES) within the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE), Alexandria, VA.

For more information on SBE please click here.

For more information on SES please click here.

Overview

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Job canceled
Open & closing dates
08/26/2019 to 09/26/2019
Salary
$142,443 to - $182,627 per year
Pay scale & grade
AD 04
Location
Alexandria, VA
Few vacancies
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
Yes—Relocation MAY be paid contingent upon the availability of funds.
Appointment type
Temporary - This position will be filled as a one- or two-year VSEE, IPA, or as a Fed Temp Appointment.
Work schedule
Full-Time
Service
Excepted
Promotion potential
04
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Other
Drug test
No
Announcement number
SES-2019-0006
Control number
543840600

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

Applications will be accepted from all US citizens who meet citizenship and eligibility requirements. Please see the "Other Information" section for further information.

Duties

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The responsibilities of the NSF program officer are constantly evolving. The program officer is guided by the goals of NSF's Strategic Plan: (l) enable the United States to uphold a position of world leadership in all aspects of science, mathematics, and engineering, (2) promote the discovery, integration, dissemination, and employment of new knowledge in service to society, and (3) achieve excellence in U.S. science, mathematics, engineering, and technology education at all levels. The core strategies NSF staff employ include developing intellectual capital, strengthening the physical infrastructure, integrating research and education, and promoting partnerships.

Responsibilities of the program officer include, the administration of the merit review process and proposal recommendations, participating in the development of press releases, feature articles and material describing advances in the research supported, and coordination and liaison with other programs in NSF, other Federal agencies and organizations. Besides co-managing the Decision, Risk and Management Sciences Program, the program officer will participate on at least one working group that manages an interdisciplinary inter-directorate competition.  


PROGRAM PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT

  • Manages program resources to provide optimal appropriate scientific judgment to insure integrity and consistency in the grant/declination process without conflict of interests, and with balance among appropriate sub-fields and institutions, and participation of all qualified scientists.
  • Incorporates cross-directorate responsibilities into program administration.
  • Manages an effective, timely merit review process, with attention to increasing the size and quality of the reviewer pools and insuring participation by women, minorities and disabled scientists.
  • Provides scientific expertise, evaluation and advice for other programs in NSF, including international programs, and other research programs, and cross-directorate programs.
  • Advises and assists in the development of short-and-long range plans, establishing goals and objectives for support of research programs.
  • Manages post-award evaluation.

REPRESENTATION, COMMUNICATION AND LEADERSHIP

  • Represents the Program, Division and the Foundation within the scientific community, with other NSF Divisions, with other appropriate agencies and organizations, and with the public, accurately reflecting NSF policy and positions.
  • Creates and maintains linkages to other NSF units and other Federal agencies in pursuit of the overall NSF mission.
  • Participates in staff, panel, committee and other meetings, providing input relevant to program area and/or Division.
  • Pursues affirmative action and Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) goals.
  • Pursues and/or is responsive to assignment on special projects and temporary function teams across the Foundation to solve problems, improve staff communication, and effect coordination for special programs.
  • Contributes ideas and effort to improving the quality of policies and NSF's performance of the overall mission.  
  • Provides information to the community on how NSF is pursuing its mission and gathers data and impressions from the community on the effectiveness of NSF's performance of its mission.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

  • Establishes contacts and maintains active involvement in Program and related areas through participation in professional activities.
  • Maintains familiarity with salient current research developments.
  • Pursues individual research as workload and travel funds permit.
  • Expands administrative capabilities through training courses or assumption of new managerial responsibilities. 

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • Background investigation.
  • Selective Service registration required for male applicants, unless exempt.

It is NSF policy that NSF personnel employed at or IPAs detailed to NSF are not permitted to participate in foreign government talent recruitment programs.  Failure to comply with this NSF policy could result in disciplinary action up to and including removal from Federal Service or termination of an IPA assignment and referral to the Office of Inspector General. Foreign Talent Definitions

You will need to successfully complete a background security investigation before you can be appointed into this position.

All online applicants must provide a valid email address.  If your email address is inaccurate or your mailbox is full or blocked, you may not receive important communication that could affect your consideration for this position.

This position is in the bargaining unit.

Please preview "Evaluations" section and "Qualifications" for additional requirements and Quality Ranking Factors.

Qualifications

Candidates must have a Ph.D. in a Social, Behavioral or Economic Science, plus after award of the Ph.D., six or more years of successful research, research administration, and/or managerial experience pertinent to the position.

Qualified candidates must have broad expertise in the areas of: judgment and decision making, decision analysis, behavioral economics, management science, or societal and public policy decision making. Successful candidates will have research expertise that advances our fundamental understanding of decision making.

This position is outside the competitive civil service.

You must meet eligibility and qualification requirements by the closing date of the announcement.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

You will be evaluated on the extent and quality of your experience, expertise, education, and research activities relevant to the duties of the position.  In some cases, additional assessment processes may also be used.

We strongly encourage you to specifically address the Quality Ranking Factors below.  This will ensure that you receive full consideration in the evaluation process.

Quality Ranking Factors

  1. Ability to communicate effectively and work productively with the scientific community, peers, and co-workers at all levels to advocate program policies and plans and to fulfill NSF's mission.
  2. Ability to organize, implement and manage a proposal-driven grant program, allocating resources to meet a spectrum of goals, including insuring integrity and consistency in the grant award/declination management process.
  3. Knowledge of management and organizational concepts, principles, practices and techniques.

To preview questions please click here.

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