Clarification from the agency

U.S. Citizens

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In this role, you'll help bring end users to the forefront when designing and building government services, while working to enhance government technology from within, create solutions at scale with modern best practices in mind, and improve the way government serves millions of people from every corner of the United States and beyond.

The primary purpose of the position is to serve as an Information Technology Specialist (System Analysis) also known as a (Senior) Human-Centered Designer, typical work assignments include:

• Design products, platform, or services, delivering value to stakeholders, to customers, and to those who care for them by leveraging emerging technology, methodologies, and trends found in the industry. Provide expertise for design efforts and improve the digital services government delivers to the public.
• Design and conduct discovery sprints, user research, usability testing, and other design activities that help teams and their leadership understand what they've observed, identify, and define real problems to solve, and generate implementable, accessible, equitable solutions. Identify end-user and organization needs through formal and informal interviews, usability testing, contextual inquiry, workshops, and analytics.
• Serve as Design SME on a plethora of issues and engage to perform needs analyses to define opportunities for new or improved processes, solutions, practices, products, or service based on user needs. This may include research, customer listening, usability testing, advising, developing, and implementing information architecture, interaction design, content strategy, product design, or service design methodologies tailored to the unique project needs.
• Working with senior level management and others, set up research operations so that teams have access to the clearances, tools, and customers that teams need to conduct their own discovery, generative research, and usability testing. Manage design work and structure design resources to accomplish the best possible project outcome.
• Tell the story of the impact of design to stakeholders that may not think in "designer language," and persuade them of the value of design efforts. Make a strong case for iterative, accessible, human-centered design.
• Build equity, diversity and inclusiveness into research and design processes from the ground, up, including procurement of products and services. Advocate relentlessly for research and design that is serving people from the widest possible range of backgrounds.
• Lead, co-lead, or be part of a cross functional team. Work cross-functionally to expand the typical definition of the design team by pulling in everyone who is making design decisions, such as people who work in privacy, legal, policy, and regulatory areas.
• Advocate for user needs to achieve business priorities and become a trusted partner, driving alignment around shared outcomes while advocating for design resources.
• Use the most effective levers for improving government services based upon quantitative and qualitative assessments of end user's needs including leveraging data to inform product, platform, or service direction based on the outcome of research, prototypes, and customer-based learning.

Conditions of employment

The requirements listed below pertain to employment with DHS. Requirements such as telework and relocation expenses by other agencies may vary. During your application process you will have an opportunity to opt-in to having your resume shared with other government-wide federal agencies hiring for similar roles.

• You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this position. Other agencies may hire U.S. Nationals.
• You must successfully pass a background investigation. This may include a credit check, a review of financial issues, as well as certain criminal offenses and illegal use or possession of drugs.
• Selective Service - males born after 12/31/59 must be registered or exempt from Selective Service see http://www.sss.gov/
• Depending on position, you may be required to obtain and maintain Public Trust, Secret, Top Secret, or Top Secret/SCI security clearance.
• One-year probationary period may be required.
• For roles with DHS, you must submit to a drug test and receive a negative test result prior to appointment to this position. If selected by other agencies, drug testing requirements may vary.
• If you receive a conditional offer of employment for this position, you will be required to complete an Optional Form 306, Declaration for Federal Employment, and to sign and certify the accuracy of all information in your application. DHS uses e-Verify, an Internet-based system, to confirm the eligibility of all newly hired employees to work in the United States. Learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities. Verification of employment eligibility in the United States is required.
• If you accept a DHS position Permanent Change of Duty Station (PCS) expenses will not be paid. Other incentives may be authorized.
• This position has been designated excluded from bargaining unit representation under the national security provision of 5 USC Section 7112(B)(6).
• All DHS employees are required to participate in Direct Deposit/Electronic Funds Transfer for salary payments.
• This position may be designated as essential personnel. Essential personnel must be able to serve during continuity of operation events without regard to declarations of liberal leave or government closures due to weather, protests, and acts of terrorism or lack of funding. Failure to report for or remain in this position may result in disciplinary or adverse action in accordance with applicable laws, rules, and regulations (5 U.S.C. § 7501-7533 and 5 CFR Part 752, as applicable).

Qualifications

You qualify at the GS-14 grade level if you possess information technology related experience demonstrating each of the four required basic competencies:

1. Attention to Detail: Exemplifies thoroughness, accuracy, and a level of quality necessary for a design practice through their work and leadership in activities such as critiques.
2. Customer Service: Designs, leads and executes user/customer research process from problem discovery to solution validation and ties research insights to actionable insights.
3. Oral Communication: Serve as team design expert advocating for user/customer needs to achieve business priorities, delivering outcomes while maintaining a human centered design approach.
4. Problem Solving: Designs with users/customers through inclusive and accessible design methods and techniques to solve problems.

In addition to the above basic requirements you must have at least one year of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and responsibility to the GS-13 level in the federal service (obtained in either the public or private sector) performing the following duties:

Planning design projects.(Design practice project planning), working with existing strategies by tying design activities to business outcomes and speaking to strategic outcomes of their work. (Strategy), applying the lens of diversity and equity to identify relevant audience of focus or the impact of products or services (Inclusiveness), executing the research lifecycle by turning exploratory and generative insights into actionable hypotheses and/or outcomes (Research), advocating for design and user/customer needs to achieve business priorities. (Advocating for design and stakeholder management), guiding design through critique in a design practice context. (Practice leadership).

You qualify at the GS-15 grade level if you possess information technology related experience demonstrating each of the four required basic competencies:

1. Attention to Detail: Exemplifies thoroughness, accuracy, and a level of quality necessary for a design practice through their work. Can develop programs for practice improvement.
2. Customer Service: Designs, leads and executes user/customer research process from problem discovery to solution validation and ties research insights to actionable insights. Provides leadership and guidance to junior level designers on user/customer research activities.
3. Oral Communication: Serve as team design expert advocating for user/customer needs to achieve business priorities and contributes to stakeholder awareness of design processes and outcomes.
4. Problem Solving: Designs with users/customers through inclusive and accessible design methods and techniques to solve problems. Teaches and leads other designers in including users / customers from diverse backgrounds.

In addition to the above basic requirements you must have at least one year of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and responsibility to the GS-14 level in the federal service (obtained in either the public or private sector) performing the following duties:

Planning design efforts across multiple design teams or product lines (Design practice project planning), Teaches and leads other designers in including users/customers from diverse backgrounds and executing the research lifecycle (Inclusiveness and Research). Contributes to strategies by tying design activities to business outcomes; (Strategy), building trust with stakeholders to align around shared outcomes (Advocating for design and stakeholder management), and developing programs for practice improvement at a single team or product line level (Practice leadership).

We will review your resume and supporting documentation to ensure you meet the minimum qualification requirements.

The competencies or knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to perform this job are:

• Advocating for design and stakeholder management
• Design practice project planning
• Inclusiveness
• Practice leadership
• Research
• Strategy
• Attention to detail
• Problem solving
• Oral communication
• Customer service

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.

Current or Former Political Appointees: 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.

Interagency/Career Transition Assistance Program (I/CTAP) Eligibles: If you have never worked for the federal government, you are not I/CTAP eligible. View information about I/CTAP eligibility on OPM's Career Transition Resources website. To be considered well qualified under I/CTAP, you must be rated at a minimum score of 85 for this position. In addition, you must submit the supporting documents listed under the required documents section of this announcement.

Qualifications Must Be Met

You will be evaluated based on how well you meet the qualifications above. You must complete all required steps in the process. Apply only if you meet the qualifications.

Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration.

This job will close on 11:59 PM EST of the day when we have received 500 applications which may be sooner than the closing date.

How you will be evaluated

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

Preview the online assessment questions here:https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/11560840. The evaluation process includes the below three assessments by subject matter experts:

• Resume review: Human Resources Specialist and Subject Matter Experts will review the first three (3) pages of your resume (starting with your work experience) to determine your technical qualifications for the position based on the required competencies. If more than 3 pages are submitted, only the first 3 pages starting with your work experience will be reviewed to determine your eligibility/qualifications. In describing your experience, be clear and specific and include start and end dates for each position. We may not make assumptions regarding your experience.
• Written Assessment: If you pass the resume review, you will be given a written assessment. Your response to the written assessment will be used to measure your depth of knowledge in relation to the required competencies for the position. All passing candidates will move to the next phase.
• Qualifying phone interviews: At this phase, qualified candidates will have at least one phone interview to further assess whether their experience meets the required competencies. Qualified candidates may meet with more than one Subject Matter Expert for that determination to be made. Applicants who are extended a qualifying phone interview receive instructions via e-mail on registering for available interview time slots. Please pay close attention to your e-mail, including junk/spam folders, for e-mail notifications.

After a final qualifications check for candidates who may qualify at the GS-15 level, you will be evaluated based on Category Rating and Selection procedures for placement in one of the following categories:

1. Best-Qualified: Applicants who excel in the evaluation criteria as determined by the job analysis.
2. Well-Qualified: Applicants who meet the minimum qualification requirements as determined by the job analysis.

Ranking and preference:
Veteran's preference applies to all selections made under competitive examining in accordance with Part 337 of 5 CFR. Veteran's Preference will be applied to applicants who move forward after the qualifying phone interviews.

The "Best Qualified" applicants will be issued to the Selecting Official by the Human Resources Office. 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 or professional at the GS-09 grade level, or higher. This position is not considered 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. Based upon your category and score, you may be referred for interviews with CISA or other federal agencies. View information on https://www.fedshirevets.gov.