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Behavioral Scientist (Program Director(

National Science Foundation
Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences
This job announcement has closed

Summary

The National Science Foundation is seeking qualified candidates for a Behavioral Scientist (Program Director) for the Linguistics and DLI-DEL Programs within the Directorate of Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE), Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences (BCS) in Alexandria, VA.

For more information on SBE please click here.

For more information on BCS please click here.

Overview

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Reviewing applications
Open & closing dates
11/22/2024 to 01/09/2025
Salary
$169,430 to - $204,000 per year
Pay scale & grade
AD 4
Location
Alexandria, VA
1 vacancy
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel for this position.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
Yes—Relocation MAY be paid contingent upon the availability of funds.
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Excepted
Promotion potential
None
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Other
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Moderate Risk (MR)
Trust determination process
Financial disclosure
Yes
Bargaining unit status
Yes
Announcement number
BCS-25-12610818
Control number
820706000

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

Applications will be accepted from all US citizens who meet citizenship and eligibility requirements. Please see the "Other Information" section for further information.

Duties

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The Linguistics Program supports basic science in the domains of the structure, acquisition, and processing of human language, encompassing investigations of the phonological, morphological, semantic, and syntactic properties of human languages, their intersections with social and environmental contexts, and of language processing, including across diverse learning and interactional situations, such as first, second, or multilingual contexts. The program encourages projects that are interdisciplinary in theoretical perspective and/or methodological approach, and that address questions that cross disciplinary boundaries. Linguistics Program Directors also manage the Dynamic Language Infrastructure-Documenting Endangered Languages (DLI-DEL) program, a cross-agency program with the National Endowment for the Humanities, which supports research and infrastructure that advances the science of language documentation of endangered languages through the preparation of lexicons, grammars, databases, and the development of computational tools in support of language documentation.

The responsibilities of NSF Program Directors are dynamic and constantly evolving. Program Directors have an opportunity and responsibility to ensure NSF-funded research is at the forefront of advancing fundamental knowledge. In support of that, Program Directors are responsible for extensive interaction with academic research communities, as well as interaction with other Federal agencies that may lead to development of interagency collaborations. Within this context, Program Directors solicit, receive and review research proposals, make funding recommendations, administer awards, and undertake interaction with research communities in their fields.

MAJOR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

PROGRAM PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT

  • Maintain a healthy balance of support for all the needs of the research and education enterprise either through program, division, directorate, Foundation, or interagency activities.
  • Manage program resources so as to provide optimal appropriate scientific judgment to ensure integrity and consistency in the grant/declination process without conflict of interests, and with balance among appropriate sub-fields and institutions, and participation of all qualified scientists. Incorporate cross-directorate responsibilities into program administration.
  • Manage an effective, timely merit review process, with attention to increasing the size and quality of the reviewer pools and ensuring participation by women, minorities, and disabled scientists.
  • Provide scientific expertise, evaluation, and advice for other programs in NSF, including international programs, other research programs, and cross-directorate programs.
  • Advise and assist in the development of short- and long-range plans, establishing goals and objectives for research programs. Plan the budget for the program/programs considering past, present, and future fiscal years, allocate resources within that budget distributing scarce resources among major competitive programs, and manage post-award evaluation.
  • Control waste, fraud, and abuse.
REPRESENTATION, COMMUNICATION AND LEADERSHIP
  • Represent the Program, Division, Directorate, and Foundation within the scientific community, with other NSF units, with other appropriate agencies and organizations, and with the public, accurately reflecting NSF policy and positions.
  • Create and maintain linkages to other NSF units and other Federal agencies in pursuit of the overall NSF mission.
  • Participate in staff, panel, committee, and other meetings, providing input relevant to Program area and/or Division.
  • Pursue affirmative action and EEO goals.
  • Pursue and/or be responsive to assignment on special projects and temporary functional teams from across the Foundation to solve problems, improve staff communication, and effect coordination for special programs.
  • Contribute ideas and effort to improving the quality of policies and NSF's performance of the overall mission. Develop policies and plans for strengthening research and education programs.
  • Provide information to the community on how NSF is pursuing its mission and gather data and impressions from the community on the effectiveness of NSF's performance of its mission.
  • Prepare and disseminate a variety of informational documents which may include data on progress being made toward NSF's goals, trends and opportunities papers, and budget plans.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

This position is outside the competitive civil service.

You must meet eligibility and qualification requirements by the closing date of the announcement.

All online applicants must provide a valid email address. If your email address is inaccurate or your mailbox is full/blocked, you may not receive important communication that could affect your consideration for this position.

This position is in the bargaining unit represented by AFGE Local 3403.

The Selected Candidate(s) may be subject to a background investigation.

Qualifications

Candidates must have a Ph.D. in an appropriate field plus after award of the Ph.D., six or more years of successful research, research administration, and/or managerial experience pertinent to the position.

Appropriate fields include Linguistics, and the Language Sciences, and related disciplines that focus on the language such as Psychology, Cognitive Science, Linguistic Anthropology, and the Speech and Hearing Sciences.

Education

Please refer to the Qualifications section.

If your degree was obtained from a foreign institution, please also submit the certification from the Association for International Credential Evaluation Professionals, or certification equivalency.

Additional information

Relocation expenses MAY be paid contingent upon the availability of funds.

It is NSF policy that NSF personnel employed at or IPAs detailed to NSF are not permitted to participate in foreign government talent recruitment programs. Failure to comply with this NSF policy could result in disciplinary action up to & including removal from Federal Service or termination of an IPA assignment & referral to the Office of Inspector General. Foreign Talent Definitions

This announcement is open to All US Citizens who meet citizenship and eligibility requirements.

Federal Appropriations Law requires that Non-Citizens meet certain eligibility criteria to be considered. Therefore, Non-Citizens must certify eligibility by signing and attaching this Citizenship Affidavit to their application. Non-citizens who do not provide the affidavit at the time of application will not be considered.

This announcement may be used to fill like positions in other organizations within the National Science Foundation.

NSF has determined that all of its positions are eligible for telework. Work suitable for telework depends on job duties; therefore, employees must receive approval from their supervisor for telework and have a telework agreement in place. Entering into a telework agreement is voluntary.

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 extent and quality of your experience, expertise, education, and research activities relevant to the duties of the position. In some cases, additional assessment processes may also be used. We strongly encourage you to specifically address the Quality Ranking Factors below. This will ensure that you receive full consideration in the evaluation process.

Quality Ranking Factors

  1. Ability to communicate effectively and work productively with the scientific community, peers, and co-workers at all levels to advocate program policies and plans and to fulfill NSF's mission.
  2. Ability to organize, implement and manage a proposal-driven grant program, allocating resources to meet a spectrum of goals, including insuring integrity and consistency in the grant award/declination management process.
  3. Knowledge of management and organizational concepts, principles, practices and techniques.

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