This announcement is for TWO (2) positions. The Mergers I Division oversees antitrust investigations and challenges of mergers and acquisitions involving pharmaceuticals, medical devices, consumer health products, defense, scientific, industrial, technology and consumer products. The Mergers IV Division oversees antitrust investigations and challenges of mergers and acquisitions involving hospitals, consumer goods, supermarkets, retail, multichannel video programming distribution and media.
This announcement is for TWO (2) positions. The Mergers I Division oversees antitrust investigations and challenges of mergers and acquisitions involving pharmaceuticals, medical devices, consumer health products, defense, scientific, industrial, technology and consumer products. The Mergers IV Division oversees antitrust investigations and challenges of mergers and acquisitions involving hospitals, consumer goods, supermarkets, retail, multichannel video programming distribution and media.
Applications will be accepted from all groups of qualified individuals.
The AD is a key member of the Bureau's senior management team and devises and implements program and policy decisions in furtherance of the FTC's competition mission. The AD exercises wide discretion in directing investigative and litigation proceedings to enforce the statutory provisions discussed above; reviews policy recommendations that affect the Division's and Bureau's longer-term strategies; considers political, social, economic, technical, and administrative factors that potentially impact recommended policies; and formally recommends action to the Bureau Director and other approving officials. The AD serves as the primary link between the Division, other Bureau leaders, and FTC commissioners, and maintains contact with a wide range of public, private, and international groups with diverse interests in competition matters.
The AD provides counsel and guidance for staff members on policy questions and matters of legal strategy. They review and refines legal documents prepared by the staff (e.g., proposed complaints, recommendations that cases be closed, trial briefs, motions) for consistency with agency policy, soundness of judgment, and legal sufficiency, and oversees the prosecution of complaints before the federal district courts or the Commission's Administrative Law Judges. The work performed under the incumbent's supervision generally involves coordinating complex and difficult antitrust investigations and proceedings. The incumbent conducts frequent conferences with parties and third parties to proceedings, as well as their counsel. Questions raised in these meetings are often controversial, and requires a high degree of tact, persuasiveness, and legal skill by the incumbent.
The AD performs or supervises other functions that may be delegated in light of the Bureau's overall workload requirements. Occasionally, the incumbent is summoned to appear before the Commission, congressional committees, industry regulators, industry representatives, and various forums to discuss the Division's work, emerging trends in competition law, emerging problems of law violations, proposed legislation and regulation, and related matters. The incumbent may represent the FTC or the Bureau in proceedings before government agencies or give speeches or other briefings to various groups.
The AD is accountable for ensuring the success of Division cases and programs. This includes obtaining and allocating necessary resources to accomplish goals, consistent with resource and budgetary constraints, as well as dealing with key officials within and outside the agency to gain an understanding of and support for the Division's work. The incumbent sets effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity performance requirements; structures the Division's work to meet these requirements; and implements management and internal control standards. The incumbent monitors and evaluates the Division's progress toward goals through formal and informal means; periodically evaluates and makes appropriate adjustments to such goals; and assesses the Division's overall effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity.
The AD professionally and administratively directs, oversees, supervises, coordinates, and reviews (through subordinate supervisors) the work of approximately 35 attorneys and legal support staff who review Hart-Scott-Rodino filings and monitor markets to identify transactions that might violate the antitrust statutes; conduct investigations to determine whether such transactions warrant investigation; and formulate plans and legal theories to pursue these investigations and subsequent enforcement actions. The incumbent assesses policy, program, and case feasibility; determines goals and objectives; and develops plans to achieve goals and objectives. The incumbent identifies, diagnoses, and consults on problem areas related to assignments and goal achievement and makes decisions on alternative courses of action.
The AD manages and supervises the activities of the personnel and staff within the Division, ensuring that management techniques and policies are based on sound organization, position management, and federal employment practices. The incumbent performs human resource management functions relative to the staff supervised, including establishing and clearly communicating performance expectations; provides informal and formal feedback to evaluate staff organizational performance; and provides advice and counsel to staff members and subordinate managers related to legal and policy matters. The incumbent ensures the training, development, and effective utilization of Division staff; evaluates their work product; conducts formal performance reviews; and recommends promotion and other personnel actions, including for performance or conduct deficiencies. The AD is responsible for furthering the goals of equal employment opportunity by initiating nondiscriminatory practices and affirmative actions for the area under their direction.
QUALIFICATIONS:
As a basic requirement, applicants must demonstrate technical and professional competence as described in the Mandatory Professional Credentials/Technical Qualifications section below and executive leadership capabilities as described in the Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) of the SES listed below. Typically, experiences of this nature will have been gained at or above the GS-15 grade level or its equivalent in federal service, or with state or local government, private industry, or nongovernmental organizations.
If you are a current career member of the SES, are eligible for reinstatement into the SES, or have completed an SES Candidate Development Program and have been certified by the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) Qualifications Review Board (QRB), you can apply for competitive and/or noncompetitive consideration. For competitive consideration, you must submit a resume and written statements addressing the Mandatory Professional Credentials/Technical Qualifications, ECQs, and other applicable qualifications. For noncompetitive consideration, you must submit your resume, written statements addressing the Mandatory Professional Credentials/Technical Qualifications, and other applicable qualifications. Written statements addressing the ECQs are not necessary for noncompetitive consideration. You must also provide documentation of QRB certification (i.e., SF-50 showing career SES status or OPM-issued SES qualification certificate).
MANDATORY PROFESSIONAL CREDENTIALS AND TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS:
Mandatory Professional Credentials:
This position requires comprehensive, professional knowledge of federal antitrust and consumer protection laws and regulations; specifically, sections 2, 3, 7, and 8 of the Clayton Act and Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act. Graduation from an accredited law school and current possession of a bar membership, which permits the practice of law in the United States, are required.
Mandatory Technical Qualifications (should not exceed two pages per qualification):
MTQ1: Knowledge and experience in legal areas relevant to the Commission's work, including antitrust law, competition analysis of mergers and acquisitions, and federal court litigation. Through understanding of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, as well as how it affects the agency's operations.
MTQ2: Experience in the management of complex legal issues. Experience includes analyzing complex legal issues and questions of litigation strategy, reviewing pleadings, briefs, and legal memoranda, and providing oral and written legal advice and recommendations.
MTQ3: Ability to analyze economic evidence surrounding antitrust, merger, and competition matters.
MTQ4: Experience in supervising and reviewing the work product of attorneys and other staff in a legal office with a focus on achieving high-quality organizational results.
EXECUTIVE CORE QUALIFICATIONS: All applicants must submit written statements describing accomplishments that would satisfy the ECQs. You must respond to all ECQs and address each one separately, as failure to do so will result in a rating of 'ineligible' for the position. You can find additional information on the ECQs in the Guide to Senior Executive Service Qualifications. A good competency-based qualifications statement should address the following elements for each ECQ: (a) the goal, problem, or activity and its challenge, (b) the context or environment in which the activity took place, (c) specific actions you took to address the challenge, and (d) the results or impact of the activity. Each accomplishment should be clear, concise, and emphasize your level of responsibilities, the scope and complexity of the programs you managed, and the results of your actions. You are strongly encouraged to review the Guide to Senior Executive Service Qualifications. The ECQ statement, addressing all five ECQs, may be no longer than ten pages.
ECQ 1 - Leading Change: This ECQ 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 ECQ 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 the constructive resolution of conflicts.
ECQ 3 - Results Driven: This ECQ 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 ECQ involves the ability to manage human, financial, and information resources strategically.
ECQ 5 - Building Coalitions: This ECQ 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.
In order to qualify, you must meet the basic educational requirements.
A. Law degree (J.D. or LL. B) from a law school accredited by the American Bar Association.
AND
B. Bar Membership: Be active member in good standing of a State, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or territory of the United States.
IMPORTANT: Applicants are responsible for citing J.D. and bar membership information (institution name, state(s) for bar, and dates) on their respective resumes. Applicants who possess an equivalent degree rather than J.D., may be subject to additional review.
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
You will be evaluated for this position based on how well you meet the Mandatory Professional Credentials/Technical Qualifications and ECQs stated in this vacancy announcement.
You will be evaluated on the quality and extent of your total accomplishments, including experience, education, awards, self-development, and training. This information will be obtained from the application package, including the required narrative statements for the Mandatory Professional Credentials/Technical Qualifications and ECQs described in this vacancy announcement.
Your application package may be evaluated by a rating and ranking panel consisting of SES members. This evaluation will determine which applicants are Highly Qualified. Highly Qualified candidates may undergo an interview and a reference check.
The selecting official will review results and make recommendations on final selections to the Appointing Authority. Unless the OPM QRB has already certified you, your ECQs must be forwarded to the OPM QRB for certification before your appointment can occur.
Note: Veterans' preference does not apply to SES positions. This is in accordance with 5 USC 2108(3), which defines the term "preference eligible" and provides that this term does not include applicants for, or members of, the SES.
*DO NOT SUBMIT ANY ADDITIONAL INFORMATION* Extraneous materials such as a cover letter, letters of recommendation, past evaluations, award certificates, etc., will be discarded and not considered.
1. RESUME - In addition to your written statements addressing the Mandatory Technical Qualifications, and ECQ Narrative (not to exceed 10 pages), submit a resume (not to exceed 5 pages) to describe your qualifications. Your resume should provide the following information:
PLEASE INDICATE ON YOUR RESUME WHICH POSITION YOU ARE APPLYING FOR:
Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.
TO SUBMIT AN APPLICATION: Please select the "APPLY" button at the top of this announcement.
Your online resume is not considered a complete application. In order to expedite the review of your application, you must submit a complete online application package to include a Resume, Mandatory Professional Credentials, Technical Qualifications, and ECQs.
Carefully read the "Required Documents" section of this announcement to verify whether any additional information is required, as well as how it should be submitted.
If you are unable to apply online, please see the Reasonable Accommodation Policy at the bottom of this vacancy announcement.
*DO NOT SUBMIT ANY ADDITIONAL INFORMATION* Extraneous materials such as a cover letter, letters of recommendation, past evaluations, award certificates, etc., will not be considered.
After all application packages are received, a preliminary review of applications by a human resources specialist will be completed to ensure your application meets the basic qualification requirements. An executive Rating and Ranking panel may evaluate qualified applicants based on the information provided, and will generate a certificate of "Highly Qualified" candidates for the selecting official. The selecting official may interview the "Best Qualified" candidates before making a selection recommendation to the Appointing Authority. We will verify performance, suitability, and security information and consider this information in making employment offers. You should expect a response on the outcome of your application within 90 workdays of the closing date of the announcement, excluding weekends and holidays.
The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.
