Clarification from the agency

All groups of qualified individuals.

The Executive Director is responsible for overseeing and facilitating a program of solution and application software development in support of business-wide initiatives. The Executive Director develops best practices for program and process improvement and pursues efficiencies for continuous improvement ensuring compliance with change management processes; and is specifically responsible for overseeing and directing the following:

Development or purchase of cross-cutting applications and upgrades to existing applications; if purchase, includes the direction and oversight of the strategic acquisition process or procurement of a Software as a Service.

Responsible for large and complex software applications and other technology components.

Develop and maintain effective relationships with key Software Development customers and the Accounts Management Office to understand business needs and translate them into quality application software.

Provides technical direction in the conceptual analysis, design, development deployment, maintenance, and enhancement of large-scale, advanced technology applications projects.

Develops specific objectives and goals, establishes the team direction, assigns work an motivates team members and coordinates activities across different organizational functions.

Communicates the vision, strategic alignment, and objectives of program and projects to staff and directs project workflow, delivery plan execution and configurations needed, and provides oversight and direction to the staff on technical specifications development.

Defines clear critical success factors for key enterprise-wide IT project management process areas and associated key performance indicators and metrics.

Drives teams to specific outcomes while holding them accountable to defined deliverables and results.

Conditions of employment

• US citizenship is required.
• One year probationary period required for initial SES appointment.
• Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service.
• Incumbents of this position will be subject to a background investigation commensurate with the risk and sensitivity level of the position.
• Successful completion of drug screening required.
• Public Financial Disclosure Report (SF-278) is required within 30 days of appointment.
• May be subject to reassignment geographically or organizationally.
• COVID-19 Vaccination Requirement as required by Executive Order 14043, for further details, refer to additional information below.
• VA structures its SES positions into pay bands. This is a pay band 3 position and the salary range is $135,468 to $187,300. Exceptions to the cap of the range may be considered in certain circumstances.

Qualifications

To meet the minimum qualifications, applicants must possess the following technical and executive core qualifications. These qualifications would typically be gained through progressively responsible management or executive level assignments such as director of a regional office, medical facility or program manager. An individual's total experience, education and volunteer work experience must demonstrate the ability to perform the duties of the position.

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.

MANDATORY EXECUTIVE CORE QUALIFICATIONS (ECQs): All applicants must submit a written narrative response to each of the following ECQs and include your name on each page. Your narrative must address each ECQ separately and demonstrate the underlying competencies in the narrative. Examples should be clear, concise, and emphasize your level of responsibilities; the scope and complexity of the programs, activities, or services you managed; program accomplishments; policy initiatives undertaken; level of contacts; the sensitivity and criticality of the issues you addressed; and the results of your actions. You should use action oriented leadership words to describe your experience and accomplishments and quantify your experience wherever possible to demonstrate your accomplishments (e.g., number of employees supervised; size of budget managed; amount of money saved, etc.). Applicants should use the Challenge, Context, Action and Results (CCAR) model below when responding to each ECQ:

• Challenge. Describe a specific problem or goal.
• Context. Describe the individuals and groups you worked with, and/or the environment in which you worked, to address a particular challenge (e.g., clients, co-workers, members of Congress, shrinking budget, low morale, etc).
• Action. Discuss the specific actions you took to address a challenge.
• Result. Give specific examples of measures/outcomes that had some impact on the organization. These accomplishments demonstrate the quality and effectiveness of your leadership skills.

Your narrative response should not exceed 10 pages, be typed in 12 point font with one-inch margins. It is recommended that you include 2 recent (not older than 10 years) examples per ECQ and draft your ECQs in a Word document before uploading into the system to ensure these guidelines are met. Information that exceeds these guidelines will not be reviewed. Detailed information on each ECQ, the underlying and fundamental competencies, sample narratives and a tips sheet for writing effective ECQs are available in the "Guide To Senior Executive Service Qualifications" GUIDE (opm.gov) at: http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/senior-executive-service/executive-core-qualifications/.

1. Leading Change: The ability to bring about strategic change, both within and outside the organization, to meet organizational goals. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to establish an organizational vision and to implement it in a continuously changing environment. (Underlying Competencies: Creativity and Innovation, External Awareness, Flexibility, Resilience, Strategic Thinking, and Vision)

2. Leading People: The ability to lead people toward meeting the organization's vision, mission, and goals. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to provide an inclusive workplace that fosters the development of others, facilitates cooperation and teamwork, and supports constructive resolution of conflicts. (Underlying Competencies: Conflict Management, Leveraging Diversity, Developing Others and Team Building)

3. Results Driven: The ability to meet organizational goals and customer expectations. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to make decisions that produce high-quality results by applying technical knowledge, analyzing problems, and calculating risks. (Underlying Competencies: Accountability, Customer Service, Decisiveness, Entrepreneurship, Problem Solving and Technical Credibility)

4. Business Acumen: The ability to manage human, financial and information resources strategically. (Underlying Competencies: Financial Management, Human Capital Management and Technology Management)

5. Building Coalitions: The ability to build coalitions internally and with other Federal agencies, state and local governments, nonprofit and private sector organizations, foreign governments, or international organizations to achieve common goals. (Underlying Competencies: Partnering, Political Savvy and Influencing/Negotiation)

TECHNICAL QUALIFICATION (TQ)s: In addition, all applicants must submit a written narrative response to the following specific TQ(s). Please label and include your name on each page. Please give examples and explain how often you used your skills, the complexity of the knowledge possessed, the level of people you interacted with, the sensitivity of the issues you handled managing a large public or private sector organization that administers complex, rules-based benefits or services, etc. It is recommended that you draft your TQ(s) in a word document and then upload into the system.

TQ1: Demonstrated substantial experience managing complex enterprise-wide programs and projects, including business processes and technology in a geographically dispersed environment.

TQ2: Demonstrated substantial experience formulating policies, goals, objectives, strategies, and processes for Information Technology programs.

TQ3: Demonstrated substantial experience defining, integrating, implementing, and maintaining multiple concurrent vendor provided and internally developed information technology products.

How you will be evaluated

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

Step 1: ECQ qualifications

Step 2: Technical Qualification(s)

Step 3: VA Executive Resources Board

Step 4: Nominating Organization may conduct interviews

Step 5: Approval by the Selecting Official (may include additional screening)

Step 6: OPM Qualifications Review Board certification