Clarification from the agency

This position is opened to Current Federal Employees in the Competitive, Excepted, and Senior Excepted Service.

The incumbent in this position serves as Director, Business Operations for the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs (ATSD(PA)) and has significant duties and responsibilities ensuring the economical, ethical, impartial, legally and policy compliant day-to-day operations of the OATSD(PA).

Major duties include, but are not limited to:

• Assists the ATSD(PA) with providing direction, control, and oversight of Defense Media Activity (DMA), a DoD Field Activity with over 2,000 personnel and a $260 million budget.
• Serves as a principal advisor and provides input to the ATSD(PA) on all business and management issues effecting OATSD(PA) and DMA and the assigned Public Affairs careers fields across DoD.
• Assists the ATSD(PA) in using existing systems, facilities, and services of the DoD and other federal agencies, when possible, to avoid duplication of effort and to achieve maximum efficiency and economy.
• Advises on the coordinated efforts of the OATSD(PA) staff to enable them to execute their portfolios to the maximum extent possible, with clarity of purpose and direction.
• Maintains familiarity with all programmatic areas and advises the ATSD(PA) regarding status, potential problems and areas of vulnerability.
• Advises the ATSD(PA) on the overall direction of OATSD(PA) and DMA. Provides strategic advice and counsel to the ATSD(PA) on all management issues and the daily operations of the OATSD(PA) and DMA.
• Ensures Public Affairs workforce is aligned to the modern 24 hour information cycle and is positioned to support SECDEF, DEPSECDEF and broader DoD priorities and goals.

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. citizen to qualify for this position.
• Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered or exempt from Selective Service (see https://www.sss.gov/Home/Registration).
• Must be able to complete a Top Secret security clearance and access to Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI).
• You must submit to a drug test and receive a negative drug test before you can be appointed into this position. Designated and/or Random Drug Testing required.
• The individual selected will be required to file an 'Executive Branch Personnel Financial Disclosure Report (OGE-278) in accordance with the Ethics in Government Act of 1978.
• You will serve a one-year probationary period unless you have previously completed the probationary period in the SES.
• All newly appointed Career SES leaders must sign the Reassignment Rights Obligations Agreement as a condition of appointment into the SES.

Qualifications

To meet the minimum qualification requirements for this position, you must show that you possess the five Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs), the Mandatory Technical Qualifications, and other qualifications, if applicable, listed below.

EXECUTIVE CORE QUALIFICATIONS:

All applicants must submit written statements (narrative format) describing accomplishments that would satisfy the ECQs. You must address each ECQ separately, not to exceed 10 pages. You are required to respond to all ECQs. If you fail to do so will result in a rating of 'ineligible.'

When responding to the Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs), you must clearly show that you possess the experience, knowledge, skills and ability to perform the duties of this position by submitting narrative responses in which you detail your experience in each of the ECQs. Your examples should be clear and emphasize your level of responsibilities, scope and complexity of programs managed, program accomplishments with results of your actions, policy initiatives and level of contacts. You should limit your narrative to two pages per ECQ, and address each ECQ separately. OPM's Guide to Senior Executive Service Qualifications can assist you in writing an effective SES application.

In particular, please note the Challenge-Context-Action-Result Model that is recommended and very helpful when drafting ECQ narrative responses. The Guide is available on OPM's Website at:
http://www.opm.gov/ses/references/guidetoSESQuals_2012.pdf

Applicants must utilize the Challenge-Context-Action-Result (CCAR) Model when writing Executive Core Qualifications (ECQ). Use two examples of relevant experience for each ECQ being sure your experience matches the ECQ criteria:

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).
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.

Each accomplishment 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 (e.g., Led the development and implementation of....) 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.).

ECQ 1 - Leading Change: This core qualification involves 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.

ECQ 2 - Leading People: This core qualification involves 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.

ECQ 3 - Results Driven: This core qualification involves 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.

ECQ 4 - Business Acumen: This core qualification involves the ability to manage human, financial, and information resources strategically.

ECQ 5 - Building Coalitions: This core qualification involves 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.

Applicants that are either Career SES members, or graduates of the Office of Personnel Management Certified Development Program are not required to address the ECQs.

MANDATORY TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS:

All applicants must submit written statements (narrative format) of accomplishments that would satisfy the technical qualifications. You must address each technical qualification separately. You are required to respond to all of the technical qualifications. If you fail to do so, you will be rated as ineligible.

Please limit your written statements to no more than two pages per technical qualification:

1. Experience providing management, human resources, budgetary, and business process support to leaders at the executive level of government/private industry in furtherance of strategic objectives especially pertaining to public affairs operations and communications.
2. A broad knowledge of the structure, function, missions, roles and responsibilities of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Military Services, Defense Agencies and Field Activities.
3. A thorough understanding of workforce planning to ensure mission accomplishment within the Public Affairs military and civilian workforces by preparing for emerging missions and changing work requirements, developing competency models, assessing workforce competencies, and identifying critical workforce gaps.

How you will be evaluated

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

You will be evaluated on the quality and extent of your total accomplishments, experience, and education. Your application will be evaluated by a rating and ranking panel. Highly qualified candidates may undergo an interview and a reference check. The Office of the Secretary of Defense Executive Resources Board will review results and make recommendations on final selections to the appointing authority. Unless you have already been certified by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Qualifications Review Board (QRB), your ECQs must be certified by the OPM QRB before your appointment can occur.