As the Director, OCAA you will provide executive leadership, direction, and manage the preparation of appropriate decisions, orders, and rulings in connection with the quasi-judicial responsibilities of the NRC involving the licensing and regulation of nuclear facilities and materials, and related activities.  You will also direct the monitoring and review of cases pending before Atomic Safety and Licensing Boards, presiding officers, and the Commission. 

Duties may include, but are not limited to:

• Provide the Commission with an analysis of adjudicatory matters requiring Commission decisions (e.g., appeals, petitions for review of initial licensing board decisions, certified questions, referred rulings, stay requests). Such analysis may include a discussion of viable legal options available to the Commission.
• Manage and supervise the drafting of adjudicatory decisions pursuant to the Commission's guidance, including the presentation of appropriate options; and consults with the NRC’s Office of the General Counsel in identifying options to be presented to the Commission and in drafting the final decision to be proposed to the Commission.
• Support Commission conduct of mandatory hearings, including coordination and provision of necessary adjudicatory technical support.
• Provide procedural advice and technical support to the Commission that relates to licensing board decisions, including methods of achieving improved regulatory efficiency.
• Monitor administrative proceedings and review licensing board decisions and supporting documents of record.
• Develop and implement recruitment, development, and retention strategies to achieve a high-quality, diverse workforce with the skills needed to accomplish program goals and objectives.
• Identify critical skill and training needs of the organization and identifies and implements human capital strategies to close critical skill gaps.  Staff recruitment, development, and retention strategies promote workforce diversity and diversity management.
• Ensure that staff performance is managed effectively and that performance plans identify key performance priorities; appraisal results indicate meaningful distinctions are made in staff performance assessments.
• Assign and direct work within the organization, evaluating staff and organizational effectiveness in accomplishing assigned tasks, and trouble-shooting problems that arise in accomplishing the goals and objectives of the organization. 
• Develop and implement more efficient and streamlined methods and procedures to accomplish the goals and objectives of the organization and achieve regulatory efficiencies.

Conditions of employment

• U.S. Citizenship Required
• Background investigation leading to a clearance is required for new hires.
• This is a Drug Testing position.

You must meet the qualifications for this position by no later than 30 calendar days after the closing date of this announcement and before placement in the position.

Qualifications

You must have substantial supervisory or leadership experience which demonstrates the ability to successfully carry out the roles and responsibilities described above, typically evidenced by experience in progressively more responsible supervisory or leadership positions. To meet the minimum qualification requirements for this position, you must show that you possess the five Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) and the Professional/Technical Qualifications (PTQs) listed below. Applicants who do not meet or do not demonstrate possession of the ECQs and PTQs in their application will be eliminated from further consideration. Abbreviated responses to the ECQs and PTQ’s, such as "significant experience" or "see resume" do not provide enough information and will not be considered. ECQ’s and PTQ’s must be submitted in the space provided. You will not be considered for this position if you leave any of the ECQs or PTQ’s unanswered.

EXECUTIVE CORE QUALIFICATIONS (ECQs):

Applicants must submit online written statements (narrative or bullet format acceptable) describing accomplishments that would satisfy the ECQs. You must address each ECQ separately and are required to respond to all ECQs. Note: Current career SES members, former career SES members eligible for reinstatement, and SES Candidate Development graduates (with Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Qualification Review Board (QRB) certification) are encouraged, but not required, to address the ECQs to be considered. Use the following approach to describe your accomplishments:

Challenge-Context-Action-Result (CCAR) Model

Use one to two examples of relevant experience for each ECQ. The number of examples is not as important as ensuring that 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.). Abbreviated responses to the ECQs, such as "significant experience" or "see resume" do not provide enough information and will not be considered. ECQ’s must be submitted in the space provided. You will not be considered for this position if you leave any of the ECQs unanswered.

You must provide the names, email addresses, and telephone numbers of responsible individuals who can verify the information provided for each ECQ.

Additional information on the ECQs is available at http://www.opm.gov/ses/recruitment/ecq.asp. Example ECQ statements are available at http://www.opm.gov/ses/references/GuidetoSESQuals_2012.pdf.

Executive Core Qualifications:

ECQ 1 - Leading Change: 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

ECQ 2 - Leading People: 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. Competencies: Conflict Management, Leveraging Diversity, Developing Others, Team Building

ECQ 3 - Results Driven:   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

ECQ 4 - Business Acumen: The ability to manage human, financial, and information resources strategically. Competencies: Financial Management, Human Capital Management, Technology Management

ECQ 5 - Building Coalitions: 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

PROFESSIONAL/TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS (PTQs)

All applicants must submit online written statements (narrative or bullet format acceptable) of accomplishments that would satisfy the following PTQs. You must address each PTQ separately. Abbreviated responses to the PTQs, such as "significant experience" or "see resume" do not provide enough information and will not be considered. PTQ’s must be submitted in the space provided. You will not be considered for this position if you leave any of the PTQ’s unanswered.

All applicants must submit online written statements (narrative or bullet format acceptable) of accomplishments that would satisfy the following PTQs. You must address each PTQ separately. in the space provided. 

PTQ 1 - Thorough knowledge of legal principles and Federal law, including judicial decisions, statutes, opinions, Federal and State regulations, and rules of procedure relating to administrative or judicial adjudicatory proceedings and the operation of a regulatory program, including knowledge of the Administrative Procedure Act and the National Environmental Policy Act (and related environmental legislation).  Knowledge of NRC enabling legislation such as the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and other key statutes, such as the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982.

PTQ 2 - Demonstrated skill in handling complex legal issues, making statutory interpretations, preparing legal documents, reviewing documents for legal sufficiency, and developing sound legal decisions and recommendations, involving complex scientific and technical subject matter.

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 as they relate to the qualifications for this position. Your application will be evaluated by a rating/ranking panel, and highly qualified candidates may be invited to participate in an interview and undergo reference checks. The NRC Executive Resources Board (ERB) will review results and make recommendations to the selecting official and appointing authority.

Unless you have been already certified by an OPM QRB in the past, your ECQs must be certified by a QRB before appointment can occur.