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Clinical Research Psychologist

Department of Homeland Security
U.S. Secret Service
Office of Strategic Intelligence and Information
This job announcement has closed

Summary

Joining the Secret Service, Office of Strategic Intelligence and Information (SII), National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) will allow you to serve as a subject matter expert and consultant in support of NTAC's research, training, and consultation mission in areas relating to psychology, risk and threat assessment, crisis intervention, mental health, and potential violent behavior impacting Secret Service protected persons and facilities.

For more information on the Secret Service click here.

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
08/20/2024 to 09/17/2024
Salary
$117,962 to - $153,354 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 13
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Washington, DC
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
25% or less - You may be expected to travel for this position.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
14
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Sensitive Compartmented Information
Drug test
Yes
Position sensitivity and risk
Special-Sensitive (SS)/High Risk
Financial disclosure
No
Bargaining unit status
No
Announcement number
DE-12418294-24-AB
Control number
805517300

Duties

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The selectee will serve as a Clinical Research Psychologist in the National Threat Assessment Center. Typical work assignments include:

  1. Serving as a subject matter expert in the areas of clinical and forensic psychology, mental health law, threat assessment, and the behavioral sciences in support of the Protective Intelligence Clinical Assessment Program.
  2. Consult on complex threat assessment cases requested by external safety professionals by applying expertise in mental health, risk assessment, psychology, and behavioral sciences to recommend intervention techniques to evaluate and mitigate risk.
  3. Contributing and/or engaging in the research process to advance the agency's understanding of the area of protective intelligence, while using a variety of statistical techniques.
  4. Developing and delivering training to a wide variety of audiences on complex clinical and behavioral analysis issues on threat assessment, psychology and mental health, interviewing techniques, and other related topics.
  5. Providing training and guidance to agency personnel on mental health risk assessment and how research and clinical best practices impact the agency's understanding of the risk posed by protective intelligence subjects to U.S. Secret Service protected interests.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

If selected for this position, you will be required to:

  • You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this position.
  • One-year probationary period may be required.
  • Males born after 12/31/59 must be registered or exempt from Selective Service (see http://www.sss.gov/).
  • Complete the initial online assessment and USAHire Assessment, if required
  • Obtain and maintain a top secret Tier 5 clearance.
  • Submit to a drug test prior to your appointment and random drug testing while you occupy the position.
  • Submit to a full scope polygraph examination prior to your appointment.

Qualifications

Applicants must demonstrate that they meet the Basic Requirements AND Specialized Experience requirements as noted below

Basic Requirement:
You must have completed all of the requirements for the doctoral degree (Ph.D. or equivalent) directly related to full professional work in clinical psychology.

AND

Specialized Experience:


You qualify for the GS-13 level (starting salary $117,962.00) if you possess one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-12 level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors) performing the following duties:

  1. Contributing to the assessment of subject behavior, risk, and/or mental health by applying clinical psychology principles;
  2. Utilizing understanding of behavioral science analytical processes (i.e., design, execution, statistical techniques) to aid in conducting research and/or evaluations;
  3. Participating in the development, facilitation, and/or delivery of training to educate on topics related to clinical and behavioral analysis (i.e., threat assessment, psychology, risk assessment, mental health, interviewing techniques, etc.); and
  4. Presenting recommendations, reports, and/or analyses to stakeholders to inform decision-making.

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

Selective Placement Factor(s): Selective placement factors are applied in the same manner as minimum qualification requirements. Relevant selective placement factor experience must be well documented in your resume. Failure to meet a selective placement factor will result in you not receiving further consideration. In addition to the minimum qualifications described above, you must meet the following selective placement factor(s):
Must be a Board-certified clinician licensed by the Board of Psychology in a state, territory, or commonwealth of the United States, and must be license-eligible in the District of Columbia.
Note: Documentation of your license must be submitted to support your application.

All qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement. Qualification claims will be subject to verification.

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.

Veterans' Preference: For more information on veterans' preference see: https://www.opm.gov/fedshirevets/veteran-job-seekers/#

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.

Interagency/Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP/CTAP): This program applies to Federal service employees whose positions have been deemed surplus or no longer needed, or employees who have been involuntarily separated from a Federal service position within the competitive service. To receive selection priority for this position, you must: 1) meet eligibility criteria for CTAP or ICTAP; 2) be rated well-qualified for the position; and 3) submit the appropriate documentation to support your CTAP or ICTAP eligibility. Well-Qualified includes those applicants whose knowledge, skills, and abilities clearly exceed the minimum qualification requirements for the position. For information on eligibility criteria and required documentation, go to: http://www.opm.gov/rif/employee_guides/career_transition.

Education

This position requires specific coursework and/or a degree to meet the basic education requirement. You must submit an official transcript, unofficial transcript, or a list including courses, grades earned, completion dates, and quarter and semester hours earned. Your transcript(s) must clearly demonstrate the course(s) listed in the qualification requirement section. If the transcript(s) does not clearly demonstrate this you must submit a copy of the course description and/or other documentation demonstrating that the courses are equivalent.


If you are claiming education as any part of your qualifications for this position, you must submit an official transcript, unofficial transcript, or a list including courses, grades earned, completion dates, and quarter and semester hours earned.

Special Instructions for Foreign Education: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show that the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. Failure to provide such documentation with your application will result in lost consideration. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Additional information

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 Personnel Management guidance and U.S. Office of Management and Budget plans and policies concerning hiring. These authorities are subject to change.

If you receive a conditional offer of employment for this position, you will be required to complete an Optional Form 306, Declaration for Federal Employment, and to sign and certify the accuracy of all information in your application, prior to entry on duty. False statements on any part of the application may result in withdrawal of offer of employment, dismissal after beginning work, fine, or imprisonment.

DHS uses e-Verify, an Internet-based system, to confirm the eligibility of all newly hired employees to work in the United States.

This position will require a credit check after a conditional offer of employment has been accepted.

The agency's Telework Policy allows up to 80% telework, which is at the discretion of management and based on roles and responsibilities. Additionally, compressed or flexible work schedules are offered with appropriate approval.

More than one selection may be made from this announcement if additional identical vacancies in the same title, series, grade and unit occur. Applying to this announcement certifies that you give permission for DHS to share your application with others in DHS for similar positions.

The Secret Service prohibits employees from having visible body markings (including but not limited to tattoos, body art, and branding) on the head, face, neck, hand and fingers (any area below the wrist bone) (exception: a single conservative and unobtrusive tattoo in the form of a ring is authorized on one finger).

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 based on how well you meet the qualifications listed in this vacancy announcement and will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), your responses on the application questionnaire, and your responses to all assessments required for this position. You will be assessed on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics):
- Attention to Detail
- Communication
- Customer Service
- Decision Making
- Education and Training
- Flexibility
- Influencing/Negotiating
- Integrity/Honesty
- Interpersonal Skills
- Learning
- Psychology
- Reading
- Research
- Self-Management
- Stress Tolerance
- Teamwork

Cheating on an assessment and/or overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration.

Structured Resume Review: Subject matter experts (SMEs) will review your resume to determine your technical qualifications for this position based on the required specialized experience. SMEs will not review additional information beyond your resume (e.g., links embedded in your resume will not be opened).

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 (ORF) 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 SPF's and appropriate ORFs 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.
The Category Rating Process does not add veteran's preference points but protects the rights of veterans by placing them ahead of non-preference eligibles within each category. Preference eligibles who meet the minimum qualification requirements and who have a compensable service-connected disability of at least 10 percent must be listed in the highest quality category (except in the case of scientific or professional positions at the GS-9 level or higher). This position is considered scientific/professional. Veteran preference eligibles will receive selection consideration before non-preference eligibles within each quality category.

If you are among the best qualified, you may be referred to the hiring manager for consideration. An interview may be required for this position. If an interview is required, failure to complete the interview may result in removal from further consideration.

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