The selectee will serve as a Supervisory Personnel Research Psychologist in the Office of Human Resources, Human Resources Research and Assessment Division. Typical work assignments include:

• Developing special-purpose tests and related instruments for application to specific and general examining needs.
• Performing the full range of supervisory functions: interviewing candidates for position vacancies; providing technical and administrative support for employees in consultation with the Division leadership; evaluating employee performance; reviewing evaluation reports; and preparing performance standards.
• Performing all phases of the research process, including problem definition, planning, execution, analysis, interpretation and reporting results; determining the proper interpretation and use of research findings and identifying implications to workforce initiatives; developing new approaches, methods, techniques and hypotheses related to assigned projects; creating data collection plans for testing before use in large scale data collection programs; and ensuring mandated laws, rules and regulations are properly assessed for potential impact on Human Resources management and development.
• Collecting data for use in organizational planning, recruitment, selection, talent development, and developing measures to survey employee morale, productivity, or similar matters.
• Providing formal and informal scientific consultation and advice to the supervisor, researchers, program officials and others in the professional community; attends relevant conferences and meetings.
• Coordinating and establishing technical standards and guidelines for the conduct of validation studies and other research purposes.

Apply for this exciting opportunity to impact the Secret Service mission by strengthening its ability to recruit, develop, and retain a highly specialized and dedicated workforce to fulfill mission critical requirements. This Supervisory Personnel Research Psychologist position starts at a salary of $126,233 (GS-14, step 01), with potential to $164,102 (GS-14, step 10).

Conditions of employment

• U.S. citizenship is required.

If selected for this position, you will be required to:

• Obtain and maintain a top secret Tier 5 clearance. For more information visit OPM Mythbuster Page.
• Submit to a drug test prior to your appointment and random drug testing while you occupy the position.
• Males born prior to December 31, 1959 must certify that you have registered with the Selective Service System or are exempt from having to do so.
• The person selected for this position may be subject to a one-year probationary period for supervisors/managers.

Qualifications

Basic Education Requirement:  

Degree: major or equivalent in psychology for all specializations except clinical psychology and counseling psychology. These two specializations have additional educational requirements, as stated below:

• Clinical psychology: For positions at grades GS-11 and above, satisfactory completion of all the requirements for the doctoral degree (Ph.D. or equivalent) directly related to full professional work in clinical psychology is required.
• Counseling psychology: For positions at grades GS-9 and above, satisfactory completion of 2 full academic years of graduate study directly related to professional work in counseling psychology, or satisfactory completion in an accredited educational institution of all the requirements for a master's degree directly related to counseling psychology is required.

In addition to meeting the basic education requirement, you must also meet the following minimum qualification requirements.

You qualify for the GS-14 level (starting salary $126,233) if you have one year of specialized experience at the GS-13 level performing duties such as: demonstrating and applying knowledge of test theory, psychometric methodology, quantitative statistical techniques, and conducting research to address complex issues related to employee selection, promotion, and talent and leader development; writing technical reports documenting research findings; providing guidance to personnel research and assessment staff; developing and guiding staff in proper assessment development and validation techniques; reviewing work products and providing constructive feedback to aid enhancement; and providing advice and consultation to senior and executive management officials.

National Service Experience (i.e., volunteer experience): Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community; student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Qualifications Must Be Met: The qualification requirements listed above must be met by the closing date of this announcement.

If you meet the minimum qualifications, you will be placed in one of the following categories: 

1. Best-Qualified: Applicants possessing experience that substantially exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position and demonstrate high proficiency in all of the critical competencies, including all Selective Placement Factors (SPF), and appropriate Quality Ranking Factors (QRF) as determined by the job analysis. 

2. Well-Qualified: Applicants possessing experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position and demonstrates acceptable proficiency in all of the critical competencies, including all SPF’s and appropriate QRFs as determined by the job analysis. 

3. Qualified: Applicants possessing experience that meets the minimum qualifications of the position and demonstrate basic proficiency in most of the critical competencies, including all SPFs and appropriate QRFs as determined by the job analysis. 

If you are best qualified, you may be referred to the hiring manager for consideration and may be called for an interview. 

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) must authorize employment offers made to current or former political appointees. If you are currently, or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES or Presidential Appointee employee in the Executive Branch, you must disclose this information to the Human Resources Office.

Interview Requirement: Interviews may be required for this position.  Failure to complete the interview may result in removal from further consideration.

Veterans: Qualified veterans who have a compensable service-connected disability of at least 10% are listed in the best qualified category, except when the position being filled is scientific, professional at the GS-09 grade level, or higher. This position is considered to be scientific/professional.  Other 10-point preference eligibles and veterans with 5-point preference who meet the eligibility and qualification requirements are placed above non-preference eligibles within the category in which they qualify. For information on veterans' preference, please click here. 

Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP) Eligibles: If you have never worked for the Federal government, you are not ICTAP eligible. View information about ICTAP eligibility on OPM's Career Transition Resources website. To be considered well qualified under ICTAP, you must be placed in the Well-Qualified category for this position, as described above. In addition, you must submit the supporting documents listed under the required documents section of this announcement.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) must authorize employment offers made to current or former political appointees. If you are currently, or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES or Presidential Appointee employee in the Executive Branch, you must disclose this information to the Human Resources Office.

How you will be evaluated

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

Your application will be rated on the extent and quality of your experience, education and training relevant to the duties of the position. If you meet the minimum qualifications, a score will automatically be calculated based on your answers to the vacancy specific questions to place you in one of three categories. All answers provided in the online process must be substantiated by your resume. Upon review, your resume and/or supporting documents need to support your answer choices and reflect the one year of specialized experience requirement, in order to be considered.  If the one year of specialized experience, equivalent to the next lower grade level cannot be identified in your resume, you will be considered not qualified. The competencies or knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to perform this job are:

• Ability to develop and validate competency-based assessments for employee selection, promotion and/or organizational development purposes.
• Ability to plan and organize projects and manage and advise on work efforts of subordinates for assessment and talent development initiatives.
• Knowledge of principles, applications, methodologies, theories and standards of personnel research and human resources management.
• Ability to analyze data using qualitative and quantitative strategies in order to draw practical conclusions and answer research questions.
• Ability to communicate technical information and to provide consultation and advice to the management, staff, program officials, and senior level stakeholders.
• Ability to write and ensure technical reports are documented on all components of the assessment development process.