Clarification from the agency

All U.S. Citizens

The incumbent serves as a Director in one of these offices within the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR):

• Europe and the Middle East,
• Innovation and Intellectual Property,
• South and Central Asia, and
• Western Hemisphere.

Major duties may include:

• Serving as negotiator on assigned issues in trade agreement negotiations and in other bilateral engagements with foreign governments;
• Analyzing laws and regulations of foreign countries, as well as international agreements, including World Trade Organization agreements and U.S. trade agreements;
• Developing and executing strategies to advance and achieve U.S. trade policy objectives;
• Building coalitions and consensus among diverse groups and views on U.S. trade policy objectives in negotiations;
• Leading team projects across the U.S. government interagency and contributing substantive expertise on assigned issues to interagency teams;
• Preparing Congressional testimony, briefing materials, talking points, and speeches for the U.S. Trade Representative, Deputy U.S. Trade Representatives, Assistant U.S. Trade Representatives, and other senior executives on trade-related issues.

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this position.
• You must successfully pass a background investigation.
• Selective Service registration required, if applicable.
• You must be able to obtain and hold a Top Secret security clearance.
• New employees must serve a one year probationary period.
• You must submit to a drug test and receive a negative test result prior to appointment to this position. After appointment, you may be subject to periodic random drug testing.
• Relocation expenses are not authorized. Other recruitment incentives may be authorized.
• This position has been designated excluded from bargaining unit representation under the national security provision of 5 U.S.C. § 7112(B)(6).
• All employees are required to participate in Direct Deposit/ Electronic Funds Transfer for salary payments.
• Applying to this announcement certifies that you give permission for EOP to share your application with others in EOP for similar positions.
• Any offers of employment made pursuant to this announcement will be consistent with all applicable authorities, including Presidential Memoranda, Executive Orders, interpretive U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) guidance, and Office of Management and Budget plans and policies concerning hiring. These authorities are subject to change.
• More than one selection may be made from this announcement.
• Promotion to the next highest grade level is neither guaranteed nor implied.
• Appointments are subject to the availability of funds.
• You are required to submit a Financial Disclosure Statement, OGE-450, (5CFR Part 2634, Subpart I USOGE, 6/08). Executive Branch Personnel Confidential Financial Disclosure Report upon entering the position, as well as annually.

Qualifications

In order to qualify for the Policy Analyst (Trade) position, you must meet the following:

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: To be considered minimally qualified for this position, you must demonstrate that you have the education and/or experience required for the grade level(s) to which you apply.

FOR THE GS-14 LEVEL:

Specialized Experience: Applicants must have at least one or more full-time years (12-months) of specialized work experience, equivalent to at least the GS-13 grade level in the Federal service, performing the following duties:

1. Participating in negotiations on trade policy issues or issues with respect to Europe, the Middle East, intellectual property, South Asia, Central Asia, or the Western Hemisphere;
2. Building coalitions and consensus among diverse groups and views on trade or policy issues with respect to Europe, the Middle East, intellectual property, South Asia, Central Asia, or the Western Hemisphere to advance and achieve policy objectives;
3. Contributing to the development of policy positions on trade or issues with respect to Europe, the Middle East, intellectual property, South Asia, Central Asia, or the Western Hemisphere;
4. Researching and analyzing laws and regulations of foreign countries related to trade or issues with respect to Europe, the Middle East, intellectual property, South Asia, Central Asia, or the Western Hemisphere, as well as relevant international agreements;
5. Planning time-sensitive team projects on trade policy or issues with respect to Europe, the Middle East, intellectual property, South Asia, Central Asia, or the Western Hemisphere across offices and organizations; AND
6. Communicating the results of research and analysis and advocating policy positions on trade policy or issues with respect to Europe, the Middle East, intellectual property, South Asia, Central Asia, or the Western Hemisphere, both orally and in writing.

(Your resume must explicitly indicate how you meet this requirement, otherwise you will be found ineligible.)

FOR THE GS-15 LEVEL:

Specialized Experience: Applicants must have at least one or more full-time years (12-months) of specialized work experience, equivalent to at least the GS-14 grade level in the Federal service, performing the following duties:

1. Leading international negotiations, such as with foreign governments, on trade policy or issues with respect to Europe, the Middle East, intellectual property, South Asia, Central Asia, or the Western Hemisphere;
2. Building coalitions and consensus among diverse groups and views on U.S. trade or policy issues with respect to Europe, the Middle East, intellectual property, South Asia, Central Asia, or the Western Hemisphere to achieve policy objectives;
3. Developing policy positions on trade or issues with respect to Europe, the Middle East, intellectual property, South Asia, Central Asia, or the Western Hemisphere and strategies to advance and achieve those objectives;
4. Researching and analyzing laws and regulations of foreign countries (with respect to Europe, the Middle East, intellectual property, South Asia, Central Asia, or the Western Hemisphere), as well as international agreements, including the agreements under the World Trade Organization and U.S. trade agreements;
5. Leading and planning time-sensitive team projects across the U.S. government interagency (or similarly complex organizations) on trade policy or with respect to Europe, the Middle East, intellectual property, South Asia, Central Asia, or the Western Hemisphere; AND
6. Communicating the results of research and analysis on trade policy or issues with respect to Europe, the Middle East, intellectual property, South Asia, Central Asia, or the Western Hemisphere, both orally and in writing, to Cabinet/Subcabinet-level officials or C-suite-level executives.

(Your resume must explicitly indicate how you meet this requirement, otherwise you will be found ineligible.)

Your resume must include detailed information as it relates to the responsibilities and specialized experience for this position. Evidence of copying and pasting directly from the vacancy announcement without clearly documenting supplemental information to describe your experience will result in an ineligible rating. This will prevent you from receiving further consideration.

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.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS: All applicants must meet the qualification requirements outlined above to be considered minimally qualified for this position. The qualification requirements are in accordance with the OPM Qualification Standards. ALL QUALIFICATIONS MUST BE MET BY THE CLOSING DATE OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT.

How you will be evaluated

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

Once the announcement has closed, your résumé and supporting documentation will be used to determine if you meet the qualifications listed on this announcement. If you are minimally qualified, your résumé and supporting documentation will be compared to your responses on the assessment questionnaire to determine your level of experience. If you rate yourself higher than is supported by your application package, your responses may be adjusted and/or you may be excluded from consideration for this position. If you are found to be among the top qualified candidates, you will be referred to the selecting official for employment consideration.

Your qualifications will be evaluated on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics):

Creativity and Innovation, Negotiation, Oral Communication, Research, Teamwork, and Written Communication

Category Rating Procedures: If you meet the minimum qualifications, you will be placed in one of the following categories:

1. Best-Qualified: Applicants possessing experience that substantially exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position and demonstrate high proficiency in all of the critical competencies, including all Selective Placement Factors (SPF) and appropriate Quality Ranking Factors (QRF) as determined by the job analysis.
2. Well-Qualified: Applicants possessing experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position and demonstrates acceptable proficiency in all of the critical competencies, including all SPFs and appropriate QRFs as determined by the job analysis.
3. Qualified: Applicants possessing experience that meets the minimum qualifications of the position and demonstrate basic proficiency in most of the critical competencies, including all SPFs and appropriate QRFs as determined by the job analysis.

Resume review: Subject matter experts (SMEs) will review your resume to determine your qualifications for this position based on the required specialized experience. Your resume should demonstrate how you meet all aspects of the specialized experience statement. SMEs will not review additional information beyond your resume (e.g., links embedded in your resume will not be opened).

Veterans: 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. View information on www.fedshirevets.gov.

If you are determined qualified, you may be referred to the hiring manager for consideration and may be called for an interview. Preview the Assessment Questionnaire, click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12290031

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.