Clarification from the agency

See Requirements section of this announcement for information on who may apply.

The selectee serves in a developmental capacity and performs progressively greater responsibility in matters of management on a gradual basis to assist the Director, Legislative and Public Affairs.

Responsibilities include strategic legislative and communication initiatives and assisting the Director in balancing the needs of a wide range of stakeholders, including Congressional leadership, oversight and appropriations committees, individual Members of Congress, congressional staff, congressional constituents, Capitol Hill community and the visiting public.

MAJOR DUTIES:

Supervisory and Managerial Responsibilities

• Performs administrative and technical supervisory functions for subordinates. Assigns duties and evaluates performance. Manages the organizational unit’s budget and workload. Develops performance requirements for subordinates and ensures a mutual understanding of the performance standards. Provides for employee skills enrichment through job related coaching, mentoring and training.
• Provides leadership to ensure support for equal employment opportunity (EEO) goals and requirements. Practices non-discriminatory and non-retaliatory employment actions and prevents unlawful discrimination or harassment based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender identity, age or disability.
• Ensures compliance with applicable AOC and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) safety rules and regulations.

Congressional Relations Program 

• Provides support to the Director of Legislative and Public Affairs with regard to the AOC’s legislative affairs and public affairs activities.
• Initiates strategic change, both within and outside the organization, to meet organizational goals in a continuously changing environment.
• Assists with drafting and coordination of proposed legislation to meet AOC needs; Coordinates and manages the responsiveness of AOC organizational elements to legislative inquiries and mandates in order to ensure they are appropriately addressed in a timely manner.
• Engages as needed to facilitate Congressional meetings for the Architect and Director of Legislative and Public Affairs.
• Provides feedback from congressional offices on the quality of services provided by AOC to congressional constituents and other stakeholders.
• Ensures the centralized coordination and tracking of congressional correspondence.
• Prepares and reviews testimony for congressional hearings; Represents the AOC in meetings with Members and develops a responsive protocol for replying to all Congressional inquiries in a timely manner.
• Prepares materials for Congress, including testimony, briefings and reports.
• Works with outside groups that interact with Congress on legislative matters and AOC-related policies or operations.
• Attends and reports on Congressional events related to the agency; Monitors policy initiatives, decisions, precedent cases and matters, which may affect or relate to Congressional interests or concerns.
• Coordinates agency responses to Congressional inquiries, including replies to constituent letters, requests for briefings, stakeholder referrals and other queries.
• Provides support to Director of Legislative and Public Affairs as a liaison to Members of Congress, their staffs and staffs of relevant Committees to promote the AOC strategic plan, accomplishments, activities and agendas.

Communications Program

• Establishes and updates communications standards and guidelines for AOC internal and external communication; Serves as authoritative source for application of the standards and agency branding.
• Provides supervisory support to staff developing, editing and releasing employee magazine, multimedia, website, intranet and social media content; Prepares news releases for media.
• Reviews and approves replies to any concerns expressed by community engagement groups, such as historical and preservation organizations and neighborhood coalitions.
• Develops informational releases to develop positive awareness by stakeholders of AOC programs and projects.
• Represents the AOC through attendance at events and contributing to communications, speech writing, communications policy and preparation of publications; Researches and provides information to Members of Congress and their staffs.
• Prepares and presents briefings to the AOC senior management officials on complex, highly sensitive and controversial issues.

Program Advice, Guidance and Reporting

• Provides advice and guidance to senior management on media reports and public affairs issues to promote the vital interests of the AOC.
• Develops reviews and maintains website content; Coordinates writing and distribution of news releases.
• With the guidance of the Director, assists and advises the Architect in reporting to Congress concerning activities that effect tenant routines.
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

Conditions of employment

• You must be able to pass a drug test.
• Your resume and question responses must demonstrate the job-related KSAs.
• You must meet the definition of specialized experience.
• You must be able to obtain and maintain a Top Secret security clearance.

To be employed by the Architect of the Capitol in a paid position, an individual must meet one of the categories below:

• A citizen of the United States;
• A person who is lawfully admitted for permanent residence and is seeking citizenship as outlined in 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)(B);
• A person who is admitted as a refugee under 8 U.S.C. 1157 or is granted asylum under 8 U.S.C. 1158 and has filed a declaration of intention to become a lawful permanent resident and then a citizen when eligible;
• A person who owes allegiance to the United States (nationals of American Samoa, Swains Island, and the Northern Mariana Islands, and nationals who meet other requirements described in 8 U.S.C. 1408); or
• A person who is currently an officer or employee of the Government of the United States.

Qualifications

You must meet the United States Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) qualification requirements (including specialized experience and/or educational requirements) for the advertised position.  You must meet all eligibility and qualifications requirements by the closing date of the job announcement.  Additional information on the qualification requirements is outlined in the OPM Qualifications Standards Handbook of General Schedule Positions.  It is available for your review on the OPM web site at OPM qualification standards
 
Specialized experience: is experience that has equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the position to be filled.  To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the next lower grade level.

For the GS-14:

Candidates for the GS-14 grade level must have at least 52 weeks of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower (GS-13) grade level in the Federal service.

Specialized experience is defined as having experience: (1) Coordinating and providing managerial support for the development and implementation of strategic legislative and communication initiatives for a large organization; (2) Effectively communicating legislative and public affairs information to a wide range of stakeholders, such as Members of Congress, their staffs and staffs of relevant Committees; (3) Providing administrative and technical leadership and/or supervision, serving as the leader, mentor and manager for a variety of staff, professional to technical; (4) Assigning work to subordinates based on priorities taking into consideration the difficulties and requirements of assignments, type of existing workload, and the capabilities of the employees

For the GS-15:

Candidates for the GS-15 grade level must have at least 52 weeks of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower (GS-14) grade level in the Federal service.

Specialized experience is defined as having experience: (1) Planning, developing and implementing strategic legislative and communication initiatives for a large organization; (2) Effectively communicating legislative and public affairs information to a wide range of stakeholders, such as Members of Congress, their staffs and staffs of relevant Committees; (3) Serving as administrative supervisor and providing oversight of broad based programs that have impact on agency strategic planning initiatives; (4) Working directly with Members of Congress, their staff and/or top level technical representatives of Congressional offices and committees in support of legislative and congressional initiatives.

How you will be evaluated

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

Review your resume and responses carefully. Your eligibility for consideration and qualifications for the position will be determined based upon a review of your detailed resume and your responses to job specific self-assessment questions.

Your resume will be evaluated based on evidence of your ability to demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) for this position, possession of any specialized experience, and how well your background and experience relates to the self-assessment questions in the job announcement.  The self-assessment questions relate to the following knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies:

- Comprehensive knowledge and skill in legislative affairs and public affairs

- Leadership ability in managing technical and professional staff and the day-to-day operations of an organizational unit

- Oral and Written Communication development and presentation for all levels of an organization

- Ability to deal courteously and effectively with people, to motivate and work effectively on teams and exercise tact and diplomacy in spoken and written word.

Your responses to the self assessment questions serve as the basis for your initial rating.  You will receive a numerical score based on your responses to these questions.  Next, your responses will be evaluated by a Human Resources Specialist and/or a subject matter expert against the information provided in your resume and optional cover letter.   Your resume must support your answers to the self assessment questions.  Falsifying your background, education, and/or experience is cause for not hiring you or disqualification for further consideration. 

Please note that a complete application is required for consideration. (Please review the “Required Documents” section of this job announcement to see what must be included in a complete application).