Clarification from the agency

This job is opened to all qualified U.S. Citizens, Current Federal Employees, and Former Federal Employees.

The Director, Land Forces Division's principal purpose is to improve those elements of the national defense program that relate to land force capabilities.

• Conducts, and supervises assessments of land force programs.
• Generates and evaluates alternative force postures and programs, and evaluates issue papers and prepares program alternatives for Deputy Secretary and Secretary of Defense decisions.
• Plans, directs, and oversees the analysis and evaluation of Department of Defense systems and programs in the executive's areas of responsibility, including such key considerations as force structure, force deployments, weapons systems capabilities, support systems and infrastructure, funding levels, manpower requirements, adequacy of the technology base, cost-effectiveness, changes in the threat environment, and national defense policy.
• Identifies budget issues and develops programmatic alternatives in areas of responsibility during the program review.
• Leads teams with representation from throughout the Department that gather and analyze data, refine and evaluate options, and, if appropriate, make recommendations.
• Prepares critical evaluations of the cost-effectiveness and affordability of major defense acquisition programs in areas of responsibility. Guides the preparation of, reviews, and comments on Analyses of Alternatives.
• Develops and advises on scientific methods of research and analysis for application to the evaluation of present and potential land forces programs.
• Develops or guides the development of mathematical models to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of existing and proposed weapons systems or to estimate the life cycle cost and operational benefits of land force programs.
• Analyzes and evaluates intelligence material on the capabilities and deployment of relevant offensive and defensive systems of potential enemies that could influence the effectiveness of U.S. land force systems.

• Land Forces, including armored and mechanized forces, light forces to include those delivered by means of airborne or air assault insertion, and amphibious forces.
• Land Force Policy, including the overall size, composition, component mix, and capabilities of land forces and their peacetime and wartime employment.
• The analysis of the effectiveness and capabilities of specific force components (e.g., tanks, helicopters, artillery, etc.) to satisfy specific operational requirements; weapon systems and other means for offensive and defensive land force operations; the evaluation of munitions employed by land force components.
• Rotary Wing Aircraft, including attack, observation, and transport helicopters and their capabilities within the scope of land force operations, including Presidential movements.
• The analysis of the actors influencing readiness and sustainability of U.S. land forces, as well as the desired readiness of those forces.
• Review of the feasibility and time-phasing of procurement programs and their consistency with requirements.

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)
• All newly appointed Career SES leaders must sign the Reassignment Rights Obligations Agreement as a condition of appointment into the SES.
• 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.
• In order to qualify for this position, you must be able to obtain a Top Secret security clearance and access to Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI).
• Submit resume and all other required documents online by 11:59 PM Eastern Standard Time on 01/24/2024
• 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.

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. Broad knowledge of current U.S. Defense postures, policies, and objectives. In particular, in-depth knowledge of U.S. military force planning and analysis involving several of the following: land force structure, land force effectiveness, and land force weapons systems.
2. Ability to develop and apply analytical models and techniques to evaluate the costs, effectiveness, and benefits of alternative U.S. military programs and systems.
3. Knowledge of the concepts and procedures used in a major resource allocation system such as the DoD's Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution system (PPBE).

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.