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.

The SBE Directorate supports research, education, and infrastructure in the social, behavioral, and economic sciences, primarily through grants to investigators at universities and other institutions. SBE research produces substantial advances in our understanding of human and social development, behavior, and organizations. These advances span all areas of the social and behavioral sciences. SBE also supports collections of significant national data infrastructure, including the National Center of Science and Engineering Statistics, the General Social Survey, the American National Election Studies, and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Collectively, this research fuels economic growth, improves national security, increases organizational capacity, and empowers individuals.

SBE recently established its Build and Broaden program to enhance participation of MSIs and partnerships with MSIs. This program compliments the suite of activities in SBE that share broadening participation goals and reflects administration priorities, the National Science Board’s 2030 vision, as well as agency priority goals. The Broadening Participation position description evolves out of recognition of the growing need for focused management of SBE’s activities and investments in this domain.

SBE’s Broadening Participation program director places a high priority on broadening participation. In managing SBE’s activities focused on broadening participation, the program director actively encourages participation by junior faculty, women, members of historically underrepresented groups, and proposals from Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), Research Undergraduate Institutions (RU1s), and EPSCoR states.

Major Duties:

Program Planning and Management

• Maintain a healthy balance of support for all the needs of the research and education enterprise through existing programs, division, directorate, Foundation, or interagency activities.
• Manage program resources to provide optimal appropriate scientific judgment to ensure integrity and consistency in the Merit Review process without conflict of interests, and with balance among appropriate sub-fields and institutions, and participation of all qualified scientists. Incorporate cross-directorate responsibilities into program administration.
• Manage an effective, timely merit review process, with attention to increasing the size and quality of the reviewer pools and insuring participation by women, underrepresented minorities, and disabled scientists.
• Provide scientific expertise, evaluation, and advice for other programs in NSF, including international programs, other research programs, and cross-directorate programs.
• Advise and assist in the development of short- and long-range plans, establishing goals and objectives for research programs. Plan the budget for the program/programs considering past, present and future fiscal years, allocate resources within that budget distributing scarce resources among major competitive programs, and manage post-award evaluation.
• Control waste, fraud, and abuse.

Representation, Communication & Leadership

• Represent the Program, Division and 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.
• Create and maintain linkages to other NSF units and other Federal agencies in pursuit of the overall NSF mission.
• Participate in staff, panel, committee, and other meetings, providing input relevant to Program area and/or Division.
• Pursue affirmative action and EEO goals.
• Pursue and/or be responsive to assignment on special projects and temporary functional teams from across the Foundation to solve problems, improve staff communication, and effect coordination for special programs.
• Contribute ideas and effort to improving the quality of policies and NSF's performance of the overall mission. Develop policies and plans for strengthening research and education programs. Provide information to the community on how NSF is pursuing its mission and gather data and impressions from the community on the effectiveness of NSF's performance of its mission.
• Prepare and disseminate a variety of informational documents which may include data on progress being made toward NSF's goals, trends, and budget plans.

Professional Development

• Establish contacts and maintain active involvement in Program and related areas through participation in professional activities. Maintain familiarity with salient current research developments. Pursue individual research as workload and travel funds permit.
• Expand administrative capabilities through training courses or assumption of new management responsibilities.

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 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.

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. Demonstrated interpersonal skill necessary to work effectively with NSF senior staff, high ranking officials of other federal agencies, Congressional staff, and domestic or international organizations.
4. Demonstrated administrative, technical, and managerial ability to prioritize, organize, balance, and coordinate a shifting portfolio of activity and to plan and execute budgets.
5. Ability to work collaboratively with representatives of other programs and agencies so as to enhance interdisciplinary research and NSF’s priority goal of broadening participation.