Clarification from the agency

Qualified Federal Employees Only. This area includes the legislative, judicial, and executive branches; it also includes employees in both competitive and excepted service including non-contract experts and consultants. For purposes of this section, Members of Congress, elected officials, and active or retired military or other uniformed services personnel such as those in the Public Service Commissioned Corps are not "Qualified Federal Employees."

• Duties and responsibilities of the Associate Deputy Administrator include, but are not limited to the following:
• Reports directly to the Deputy Administrator, International Services (IS), and is responsible for sharing fully with the Deputy Administrator, IS, in all phases of IS programs, and providing day-to-day oversight, leadership, and guidance.
• Shares fully with the Deputy Administrator, IS, in the following focus areas: 1) Sanitary and Phytosanitary Issues Management; 2) International Capacity Building; 3) APHIS International Visitor’s Center; and 4) Business Services.
• Shares in developing and directing programs to enhance the trade in U.S. plants, animals, and their products in compliance with established international sanitary and phytosanitary standards.
• Shares in in providing recommendations for policy and program changes, and promulgating requirements, procedures, and guidelines for the conduct of field activities relating to IS programs.
• Shares in participating with the Deputy Administrator, IS, Administrator of APHIS, and other officials in the planning and formulation of international trade policies, programs, and activities of APHIS.
• Develop and implement annual and long-range program plans, in collaboration with APHIS staff, that are acceptable to the cooperating governments and the United States.
• Plans and assesses the impact of external influences; uses resources efficiently and effectively; balances managerial, technical, and administrative considerations; and resolves complex managerial problems.
• Directs the development and implementation of country specific strategies and manages the APHIS Executive International Committee to foster ongoing collaboration on policy, science and regulatory issues.
• Primary liaison with the Department of State to facilitate IS programs; represents APHIS at multilateral and bilateral meetings, in contacts with other USG agencies, U.S. Congress, private and foreign sectors, and international organizations.
• Participates fully in directing the work of the staff located in over 40 offices worldwide, through subordinate supervisors who are delegated full authority to administer their respective programs within overall APHIS policy.
• Shares fully in the responsibility for the accomplishment of IS objectives through both area and overseas offices to ensure existing trade between the U.S. economy and foreign economies flows smoothly.

Conditions of employment

• Veterans Preference is not applicable in the Senior Executive Service.
• Initial appointments are required to serve a 1-year probationary period
• Narrative Statements for the ECQs must not exceed 10 pages
• Background Investigation required.
• You must indicate your preferred duty station.
• APHIS is an emergency response agency, all Agency employees may be asked or assigned to participate in rotating temporary duty assignments away from their assigned duty station to support emergency programs during their careers with APHIS.

Qualifications

YOU MUST UPLOAD YOUR RESPONSES TO THE EXECUTIVE CORE QUALIFICATIONS (ECQs) AND TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS (TQs).

As a basic requirement for entry into the SES, applicants must provide evidence of progressively responsible executive leadership and supervisory experience that is indicative of senior executive level management capability and directly related to the skills and abilities outlined under Executive Core Qualifications and Technical Qualifications listed below. Typically, experience of this nature will have been gained at or above the GS-14/15 grade level in the federal service or its equivalent in the private sector. As such, your resume should demonstrate that you have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully fulfill responsibilities inherent in most SES positions such as:

- Directing the work of an organizational unit;
- Ensuring the success of one or more specific major programs or projects;
- Monitoring progress toward strategic organizational goals, evaluating organizational performance and taking action to improve performance; and
- Supervising the work of employees; and exercising important policy-making, policy determining, or other executive functions.

Failure to meet the basic qualification requirement and address all Mandatory Technical and Executive Core Qualification factors in the order described below will result in your application being disqualified. EXECUTIVE CORE QUALIFICATIONS (ECQs): The ECQs were designed to assess executive experience and potential not technical expertise. They measure whether an individual has the broad executive skills needed to succeed in a variety of SES positions. All applicants must submit a written narrative to address the ECQs. Your narrative must address each ECQ separately and should contain at least two examples per ECQ describing your experiences and accomplishments/results. The narrative should be clear, concise, and emphasize your level of responsibilities, scope and complexity of programs managed, program accomplishments, policy Initiatives undertaken and the results of your actions. Applicants should not enter "Refer to Resume" to explain your answer.

The narrative must not exceed 10 pages. NOTE: Current career SES members, former career SES members with reinstatement eligibility, and SES Candidate Development Program graduates who have been certified by OPM do NOT need to address the ECQs.

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. (Competencies: creativity and innovation, external awareness, flexibility, resilience, strategic thinking, vision)

2. Leading People: This core qualification involves the ability to lead people toward meeting the organizations 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. (Competencies: conflict management, leveraging diversity, developing others, team building)

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. (Competencies: accountability, customer service, decisiveness, entrepreneurship, problem solving, technical credibility)

4. Business Acumen: This core qualification involves the ability to manage human, financial, and information resources strategically. (Competencies: financial management, human capital management, technology management)

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. (Competencies: partnering, political savvy, influencing/negotiating) Fundamental Competencies: These competencies are the foundation for success in each of the Executive Core Qualifications: Interpersonal Skills, Oral Communication, Continual Learning, Written Communication, Integrity/Honesty, Public Service Motivation. The Fundamental Competencies are crosscutting; and should be addressed over the course of each ECQ narratives. It is not necessary for you to address the Fundamental Competencies directly as long as the narrative, in its totality, shows mastery of these competencies on the whole.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to follow the Challenge, Context, Action and Result (C-C-A-R) model outlined in the guide.

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.

Additional information about the SES and Executive Core Qualifications can be found on the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) SES Website. You are strongly encouraged to review OPMs Guide to SES Qualifications, GUIDE (opm.gov) for specific examples and guidance on writing effective ECQ narrative statements.

MANDATORY TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS (TQs): All applicants must submit a written narrative response to the following TQs. You must address each TQ separately. Each TQ narrative must not exceed two (2) pages. Please give examples and explain the complexity of the knowledge possessed and the sensitivity of the issued you handled.

1. Describe your experience leading an international program that requires the ability to engage
in negotiations and collaboration with a broad range of domestic and international partners
such as: U.S. Government agencies and officials, foreign government officials, and nongovernmental
organizations.
2. Describe your knowledge of and experience with leading the business and administrative
service operations of an international program, including: financial management,
international contracts and cooperative agreements, and Foreign Service human resources.
Describe knowledge of and experience with ensuring compliance with the Department of
State Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM). Please emphasize specific experience, outcomes and
results.

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 (if applicable). Your application will be rated and ranked by an Executive Resources Board (ERB) Panel, using only the information submitted within the application package. Applicants who do not demonstrate in their application sufficient possession of the ECQs & MTQs will be determined ineligible for further consideration. Unless you have already been certified by a Qualifications Review Board (QRB) in the past, your ECQs must be certified by a QRB after selection and before appointment can occur.

To view the application form, visit: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12226722