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Foreign Affairs Officer

Department of State
Department of State - Agency Wide
This job announcement has closed

Summary

Located in the Office of the Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment, Office of Global Food Services (E/GFS).  Serves as Foreign Affairs Officer to formulate and promote U.S. food and nutrition security policy, priorities, and objectives that include but are not limited to agriculture, humanitarian famine relief, global fragility, security policy, for policy development and implementation of the USG's "Feed the Future” global hunger and food security initiative.

Overview

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Reviewing applications
Open & closing dates
08/05/2024 to 08/16/2024
Salary
$68,405 to - $107,590 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 09 - 11
Location
Washington, DC
1 vacancy
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
Occasional travel - Periodic travel of varying duration to posts worldwide may be required.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
13
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Secret
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
High Risk (HR)
Trust determination process
Financial disclosure
No
Bargaining unit status
No
Announcement number
HRSC/E/GFS-2024-0002
Control number
802681900

Duties

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  • Monitors political, economic, social, military, and other significant developments and trends in order to gauge the effectiveness and facilitate, efforts to achieve U.S. foreign policy objectives as assigned.
  • Provides insight into foreign affairs and recommendations on effective U.S. policy choices in in assigned regions and/or subject matter in question.
  • Advises on issues and problems; develops and proposes resolutions of policy and procedural issues and coordinates implementation of policy decisions.
  • Develops and oversees implementation of foreign assistance.
  • At the GS-9 level, the incumbent performs essentially the same duties as outlined above; however, the scope and complexity of assignments are of less responsibility and independence and receives closer supervision than the GS-11.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • U.S. Citizenship is required.
  • Incumbent will be subject to random drug testing.
  • Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit: www.dhs.gov/E-Verify/
  • Must be able to obtain and maintain a Secret security clearance.

Qualifications

Applicants must meet all the required qualification requirements described below by the closing date of this announcement. If you are qualifying based on education OR if there are mandatory education requirements listed below, you MUST submit a copy of your college transcript with your application. NOTE: Applicants must meet time-in-grade and time after competitive appointment requirements, by the closing date of this announcement. Time-In-Grade Requirements: Federal applicants must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade to satisfy time-in-grade restrictions, per 5CFR 300, Subpart F.

Applicants must have the required experience or education as described below and meet any selective factors, when specified. BASIC REQUIREMENTS:

Have a bachelor's or graduate degree from an accredited college or university in international law, international relations, political science, economics, history, sociology, geography, social or cultural anthropology, law, statistics, or in the humanities;

OR

Have a bachelor's or graduate degree from an accredited college or university that included a combination of courses, with at least 24 semester hours in international law and international relations, political science, economics, history, sociology, geography, social or cultural anthropology, law, statistics, or in the humanities; OR Have 12 semester hours in one of the above disciplines and 12 semester hours in statistics / quantitative methods.

OR

Have a combination of education and experience where your coursework was equivalent to a major, or a combination of related courses totaling at least 24 semester hours, (as shown above), PLUS appropriate relevant experience OR additional education.

OR

Have completed at least 4 years of appropriate experience in one OR more of the fields listed above in work associated with international organizations, problems, or other aspects of foreign affairs.

(NOTE: qualifying work experience may have been gained through residence, study, teaching, business or commercial activities, military service, newspaper work, military or civil government activities, missionary or international relief work, or other experience in foreign countries.)

Applying for the GS-9

IN ADDITION to meeting one of the basic entry qualifications requirements listed above, applicant applying for the GS-09 MUST also meet one of the requirements listed below:

Have at least 1 full year of specialized experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position. This experience is related to the work of the position and equivalent to at least the GS-07 level in the Federal service.

Qualifying specialized experience must demonstrate the following:

  • Experience assisting with research of the economic, foreign policy, or national security issues related to international business transactions.
  • Experience explaining international economic or investment policy issues.
  • Experience communicating results of research and analysis to supervisors. 

OR

Have 2 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to master's degree or master's OR equivalent graduate degree from an accredited college or university. This education demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities to do the work of the position to be filled.

OR

Have a combination of graduate level education and specialized experience as described above, which is equivalent to the work of the position and to the GS-07 level in the Federal service. This education and experience must meet 100% of the qualification requirements for this position.

Note: If you are qualifying based on education, you MUST submit transcripts as verification of educational requirement by the closing date of this announcement. If you fail to provide requested information, or the information you submit is insufficient to verify your eligibility, you WILL lose consideration for this position.

Applying for the GS-11

IN ADDITION to meeting one of the basic entry qualifications requirements listed above, applicants applying for the GS-11 MUST also meet one of the requirements listed below: Have at least 1 year of specialized experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position. This experience must be related to the work of the position and equivalent to at least the GS-09 level in the Federal service.

Qualifying specialized experience must demonstrate the following:

  • Experience analyzing the economic, foreign policy, or national security impacts of international business transactions (e.g., due diligence, risk exposure, detailed credit analysis, market analysis).
  • Experience identifying economic or national security risks within international economic and investment policy issues. 
  • Experience communicating results of research and analysis to senior decision makers. 

OR

Have 3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree OR Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree. This education must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities to do the work of the position to be filled.

OR

Have a combination of graduate level education and specialized experience which is equivalent to the work of the position and equivalent to the GS0-9 level in the Federal service. This education and experience must meet 100% of the qualification requirements for this position.

Note: If you are qualifying based on education, you MUST submit transcripts as verification of educational requirement by the closing date of this announcement. If you fail to provide requested information, or the information you submit is insufficient to verify your eligibility, you WILL lose consideration for this position.

Education

See the qualifications section of this vacancy announcement for education requirements.

When an applicant has less than one year of specialized experience as described in the announcement, he or she may combine successfully completed graduate-level education with experience to meet the total qualification requirements. Generally, 18 graduate semester hours is equivalent to 1 full-time year of graduate study (your school and department determine what constitutes 1 full time year of graduate study). The percentage of specialized work experience (for example, 6 months equals 50%) and the percentage of graduate study (for example, 9 graduate hours for a GS-07 equals 50% where 18 graduate hours constitute a full time year) must total at least 100%.

Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet the education requirements if you can show that the foreign education is comparable to that received in an accredited educational institution in the United States. It is your responsibility to provide such evidence when applying. For a list of accredited organizations recognized as specializing in interpretation of foreign education credentials, visit: www.naces.org/members.php.

Additional information

  • For reasonable accommodation at the U.S. Department of State, please contact the Office of Accessibility and Accommodations at (202) 663-3474 or OAA@state.gov.
  • If eligible, telework agreements may be permitted with supervisory approval. 
  • Multiple positions may be filled from this announcement.  If eligible, applicants to this announcement may be referred to other similar positions in other Bureaus/Offices in the Department for up to 240 days.  Telework eligibility and security clearance requirements may vary for such similar positions. 

How you will be evaluated

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

Once the application process is complete, a review of your resume will be conducted and compared against your responses to the assessment questions to determine if you are qualified for this job.  Note:  Responses to questions that are not fully supported by the information in your resume may result in adjustments to your rating. 

Applicants who meet the minimum qualification requirements, as described in the “Qualifications” section of this announcement, will be assigned a score between 70 and 100.  The assessment is used to measure the degree in which your background matches the competencies (knowledge, skills, and abilities) required for this position. Your qualifications will be evaluated on the following competencies:

  • Knowledge of the realm of Foreign policy/international affairs.
  • Ability to research, analyze, and evaluate.
  • Knowledge of the design and management of public opinion.
  • Ability to successfully complete deadlines under pressure while handling multiple priorities.

Applicants found to be among the top qualified candidates will be referred to the hiring official for further consideration and possible interview.  Qualified non-competitive candidates must be deemed best qualified based on the applicant assessment in order to be referred to the hiring official for further consideration and possible interview.

Agency Career and Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP and ICTAP) candidates must be rated "Well Qualified" for the position and earn a score of at least 85 (when applicants are rated in a range of 70 to 100) to receive consideration for selection priority.


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