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Information Technology Specialist (Application Software)

Department of Health and Human Services
Food and Drug Administration
Office of the Chief Scientist, National Center for Toxicological Research
This job announcement has closed

Summary

This position is located in the Scientific Computing Branch (SCB), Division of Bioinformatics and Biostatistics (DBB) at the National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR), which is is responsible for developing, integrating and maintaining the software and databases supporting NCTR's research and management operations.

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
04/19/2022 to 05/02/2022
This job will close when we have received 100 applications which may be sooner than the closing date. Learn more
Salary
$66,214 to - $103,176 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 11 - 12
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Jefferson, AR
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
25% or less - You may be expected to travel for this position.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
13
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Moderate Risk (MR)
Trust determination process
Announcement number
FDA-NCTR-22-DE-11463143-JS
Control number
649516300

Duties

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  • Design and develop software applications to support research and management operations.
  • Design software to help solve problems that arise during the development of new approaches to informatics, scientific computing and automation of resource management.
  • Create project plans, requirements, timelines, test plans and related documentation for software development projects.
  • Conduct analyses of software applications and prepare reports of findings and recommendations.
  • Establish functional requirements through discussion with customers and observations of their methods and business processes.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • Citizenship Requirement: You must be a U.S. Citizen to be considered for this advertisement unless explicitly stated otherwise.
  • Selective Service Registration: All applicants born male, on (or after) 12/31/1959, must be registered with the Selective Service System OR have an approved exemption. Visit www.SSS.gov for more info.
  • FDA participates in e-Verify: All new hires must complete the I-9 form; this information will be processed through e-Verify to determine your employment eligibility. If a discrepancy arises, you must take affirmative steps to resolve the matter.
  • Background Investigation Requirement: All employees must pass a security investigation. Failing to pass the background check may be grounds for removal or legal action. If hired, you may be subject to additional investigations at a later time.
  • You must meet ALL requirements by the closing date of this announcement to be considered. Only education, experience, and qualifications attained by this date will be considered. You must continue to meet all requirements through the hiring process.
  • Certification of Accuracy: All information concerning eligibility and qualification is subject to investigation and verification. False representation may be grounds for non-consideration, non-selection, or appropriate legal action.
  • Direct Deposit: You will be required to have all federal salary payments electronically deposited into a bank account with a financial institution of your choice.
  • Additional selections may be made from this vacancy, within the same geographical area, by other organizational elements from within FDA, through shared corporate recruiting activities.

Qualifications

The position of Information Technology Specialist (Application Software) falls under the 2210 occupational series. To qualify for this position at grade GS-11/12, you must meet all requirements by 11:59 pm EST on 05/02/2022.

Basic Requirements
To be considered for the position, you must meet either the basic requirements specified in the section titled Education OR the requirements specified in the section titled Experience.

Education:

GS-11: Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree OR three (3) full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree.

GS-12: There is no substitution of education at this grade level.

Education: All academic degrees and coursework must be from accredited or pre-accredited institutions.

Graduate Education: Major study - Degree in computer science, engineering, information science, information systems management, mathematics, operations research, statistics, or technology management or degree that provided a minimum of 24 semester hours in one or more of the fields identified above and required the development or adaptation of applications, systems or networks.

OR

Experience:

Individuals must have IT-related experience demonstrating each of the four competencies listed below:

Attention to Detail - Is thorough when performing work and conscientious about attending to detail.

Customer Service - Works with clients and customers (that is, any individuals who use or receive the services or products that your work unit produces, including the general public, individuals who work in the agency, other agencies, or organizations outside the Government) to assess their needs, provide information or assistance, resolve their problems, or satisfy their expectations; knows about available products and services; is committed to providing quality products and services.

Oral Communication - Expresses information (for example, ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (for example, technical, sensitive, controversial); makes clear and convincing oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately.

Problem Solving - Identifies problems; determines accuracy and relevance of information; uses sound judgment to generate and evaluate alternatives, and to make recommendations.

AND

Specialized Experience. Specialized experience is experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled.

  • GS-11: You must possess 1 year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-09 in the Federal service that includes experience: assisting with developing and administering software systems to support research or management operations; and assisting with the development of software or database applications using JavaScript, Oracle APEX, or Java programming languages.
  • GS-12: You must possess 1 year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 in the Federal service that includes experience: developing and maintaining informatics or scientific software; and developing software application solutions using JavaScript, Oracle APEX, or Java programming languages.
NOTE: It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation is submitted prior to the closing date. To verify your application is complete, log into your USAJOBS account, https://my.usajobs.gov/Account/Login, select the Application Status link and then select the More Information link for this position. The Details page will display the status of your application, the documentation received and processed, and any correspondence the agency has sent related to this application. Be sure that any uploaded documents you provide in your application are free of document security or compression which might render the document unreadable by our system.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Qualifications are based on breadth/level of experience. In addition to describing duties performed, applicants must provide the exact dates of each period of employment (from MM/YY to MM/YY) and the number of hours worked per week if part time. As qualification determinations cannot be made when resumes do not include the required information, failure to provide this information may result in disqualification. Applicants are encouraged to use the USAJOBS Resume Builder to develop their federal resume.

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.

Education

TRANSCRIPTS:
Positions which are scientific or technical in nature often have very specific educational requirements. You must submit an official transcript, unofficial transcript, or a list including courses, grades earned, completion dates, and quarter and semester hours earned. If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities, see the Foreign Education section below for additional requirements.

Pay careful attention to the Qualifications and Education sections to identify vacancies where a transcript is required. Even if you hold a similar position or are a current employee, you are not exempt from transcript requirements.

Electronic Transcript Caution: If you have obtained your transcripts electronically, the file might contain security measures that could prevent our application system from reading the file. Therefore, you should consider asking the institution to provide the file in a non-secured electronic format. Alternatively, you could scan or take a photo of the printed copy of the transcript. If your uploaded transcript cannot be read by our system, you may receive consideration and credit for the information we can access.

See the Application Manager Documentation for tips on submitting your paper-based documents.

FOREIGN EDUCATION
Applicants using part, or all of their education completed outside of the U.S. to meet the qualification requirements, must have their foreign education evaluated by an accredited organization to ensure that the foreign education is comparable to education received in accredited educational institutions in the U.S. We will only accept the completed foreign credential evaluation.

To be acceptable, the foreign credential evaluation must include/describe at a minimum, the following information: (1) The type of education received by the applicant; (2) The level of education in relation to the U.S. education system, and state that its comparability recommendations follow the general guidelines of the International Evaluation Standards Council; (3) The content of the applicant's educational program earned abroad, and the standard obtained; (4) The status of the awarding foreign school's recognition and legitimacy in its home country's education system; and (5) Any other information of interest such as what the evaluation service did to obtain this information, the qualifications of the evaluator, and any indications as to other problems such as forgery. Note: Some positions require the completion of specific courses or a specified number of credit hours. Therefore, the foreign credential evaluation should provide information similar to that of an official transcript, to include a list of the courses taken, quarter and/or semester hours awarded, the cumulative grade point average (GPA), honors received, if any, date degree awarded.
Applicants can request an evaluation from a member organization of one of the two national associations of credential evaluation services listed below:

  1. National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES)
  2. Association of International Credentials Evaluators (AICE)
Credential evaluations are not free, and applicants are responsible for the cost of the selected service.
For more information about this requirement, please visit the U.S. Department of Education website for Foreign Education Evaluation

Additional information

For some advertisements, the Food & Drug Administration receives hundreds, even thousands, of applications from job-seekers. Because of this high level of interest in positions with the FDA, the agency reserves the option of setting an application number limit.

When an application limit is set, USAJOBS will close the vacancy at 11:59 pm Eastern Time on either:
(A) the day the limit is reached,
-OR-
(B)
the pre-defined closing date of 05/02/2022, whichever comes first.

If the limit is reached before 11:59 pm ET, all applications in excess of the limit will continue to be accepted until 11:59 pm ET.

The application limit, if applicable, for this advertisement is: 100

For more information about announcement closing, see: https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/faq/job-announcement/expiration/

If you are serving, or have served in the last 5 years (from 05/02/2022) as an Executive Branch political, Schedule C, or Non-career SES appointee, HHS/FDA may be required to obtain approval by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) prior to beginning employment. You can find out if you have held one of these appointment types by looking at your Standard Form 50s in your Electronic Official Personnel Folder (eOPF), in Section 5 where the legal authorities are listed. If you have served or are currently serving, you must provide a copy of your SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action, documenting this appointment. In addition, you will be required to respond to the question in the assessment and certify your responses to the questionnaire. Political Appointee FAQ - OPM
  • Incentives: Incentives may be authorized; however, this is contingent upon funds availability. If authorized, certain incentives will require you to sign a service agreement to remain in the Federal government for a period of up to 3 years. Note: This statement does not imply nor guarantee an incentive will be offered and paid. Incentives include the following: moving expenses, recruitment or relocation incentive; student loan repayment, superior qualifications appointment, creditable service for annual leave for prior non-federal work experience or prior uniformed military service, etc.
  • Special Appointing Authorities: If you are applying for eligibility based on a disability, veteran status, or under a career transition program, please pay careful attention to the Required Documents section for a detailed explanation of eligibility requirements to include supporting documentation.
  • Pre-Employment Physical: No
  • Drug Testing Requirement: No
  • License Requirement: No
  • Immunization Requirement: No
  • Mobility Agreement Required: No
  • Bargaining Unit Position: No
  • This position may require financial disclosure reporting and will be subject to FDA's prohibited financial interest regulation. If you are hired, you may be required to divest of certain financial interests. You are advised to seek additional information on this requirement from the hiring official before accepting any job offers. For more information please visit the FDA Ethics web page: https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/jobs-and-training-fda/ethics.
All requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement (05/02/2022); only education and experience gained by this date will be considered. You must continue to meet all requirements throughout the entire hiring process.

How you will be evaluated

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

Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your eligibility.

About Category Rating (DEU) Procedures (Basis for Rating):

  • Category rating procedures will be used to rate and rank candidates.
  • The answers you provide to the applicant self-assessment questions will be used, in conjunction with the supporting documents you include, and your resume, to determine your eligibility for Federal employment and your qualification for this position specifically.
  • Your application score is used to place you into one of three quality categories: "Best Qualified", "Well Qualified", and "Qualified". (The category assignment is a measure of the degree in which your background matches the competencies required for this position.)
  • The cut-off score for each quality category may vary from announcement to announcement, and is determined by each agency, in advance of the advertisement going live.
  • Category Rating does not add veterans preference points but protects the rights of veterans by placing them ahead of non-preference eligibles within each category. Preference eligible Vets who meet the minimum qualification requirements and who have a compensable service-connected disability of at least 10% or higher must be listed in the highest quality category (except in the case of scientific or professional positions at the GS-9 level or higher).
  • Interagency / Career Transition Assistance Program (I/CTAP):Well-Qualified is defined as an applicant who meets the qualification standards and eligibility requirements for the position, including minimum educational and experience requirements; any qualifications and suitability; is able to perform the essential duties of the position, with or without reasonable accommodation; meets any applicable selective placement factors for the position (such as the ability to speak a specific language or any other factor required immediately upon hire); and is able to satisfactorily perform the duties of the position upon entry. To be well-qualified and exercise selection priority for this vacancy, surplus or displaced Federal employees must be rated at 85.0 or above on the rating criteria for this position. Learn more on the USAJOBS Career Transition Assistance Site.
Your qualifications will be evaluated on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics). You do not need to respond to the KSA's directly, but your resume should contain sufficient information to demonstrate possession of the Competencies.
  1. Software Development
  2. Information Technology Architecture
  3. Technical Documentation
  4. Oral Communication
To preview the application assessment questions, click the link below:
https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/11463143

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