Skip to main content
U.S. flag
Back to results
 

Foreign Affairs Officer

Department of State
Department of State - Agency Wide

Summary

This position is located in the Office of Specialized and Technical Affairs, Bureau of International Organization Affairs, (IO/STA). The Office manages U.S. policy across more than 40 specialized and technical UN and other international organizations and standards-setting bodies and leads on developing U.S. positions on all matters concerning the administration, structure, finance, and foreign policy issues arising in those organizations.

Overview

Help
Accepting applications
Open & closing dates
03/16/2026 to 03/20/2026
Salary
$143,913 to - $187,093 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 14
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Washington, DC
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
No
Travel Required
Occasional travel - Occasional Travel.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
14
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Top Secret
Drug test
Yes
Position sensitivity and risk
High Risk (HR)
Trust determination process
Announcement number
IO-2026-0001
Control number
861131200

Duties

Help
  • Represents the Bureau in International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Council sessions, Assemblies, and subsidiary bodies; leads negotiations on programmatic, budgetary, governance, and politically sensitive issues.
  • Leads coordination and consensus-building processes, resolves policy disagreements, and represents the Bureau in engagements with domestic stakeholders, foreign counterparts, and international secretariats.
  • Provides authoritative policy guidance and strategic advice to senior leadership and interagency principals on ICAO-related matters; explains complex technical and political issues to leadership, contextualizes emerging developments.
  • Serves as Bureau’s lead policy advisor for U.S. engagement with ICAO developing and deploying deep organizational and thematic expertise to advance Bureau, Department, and U.S. Government aviation safety and security in multilateral fora.
  • Identifies and analyzes policy, technical, and governance issues; reviews diplomatic reporting, intelligence assessments, Secretariat papers, working papers, Council decisions, and Assembly resolutions to evaluate their implications.

Requirements

Help

Conditions of employment

  • U.S. Citizenship is required.
  • Incumbent will be subject to random drug testing.
  • Must be able to obtain and maintain a Top Secret security clearance.

Qualifications

Applicants must meet all the required qualification requirements described below by the closing date of this announcement.

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.) 

IN ADDITION to the basic requirements, this position requires one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-13 level in the Federal service which provided the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the duties of the position.

Qualifying specialized experience must demonstrate the following: 

  • Experience providing guidance related to technical and policy issues, including international maritime policy and International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) initiatives on carbon emissions.
  • Experience identifying and conducting analysis on policy issues, particularly on international organization oversight, governance, and management reforms.
  • Experience developing professional liaisons with the interagency, foreign affairs community, and U.S. industry stakeholders.

There is no substitute of education for specialized experience for the GS-14 position.

To be considered well-qualified, in addition to meeting minimum qualifications, candidates must demonstrate proficiency in some, but not all of the major aspects of the position.

Education

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

Additional information

  • For reasonable accommodation at the U.S. Department of State, please contact the Office of Accessibility and Accommodations at OAA@state.gov.
  • If eligible, situational 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 this Bureau for up to 240 days and may require a higher or lower security clearance.  Telework eligibility and security clearance requirements may vary for such similar positions.

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

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 limited to two pages will be conducted and evaluated by an HR specialist to determine if you are qualified for this job. Resumes longer than two pages will be deemed ineligible and will not be considered further.

Your qualifications will be evaluated on the following competencies:

• Knowledge of and experience in the realm of foreign policy / international affairs.

• Ability to analyze and evaluate information derived from a variety of sources.

• Ability to provide guidance.

• Ability to establish and maintain liaison with officials throughout the foreign affair community.

• Ability to communicate orally.

Agency Career and Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP and ICTAP) candidates must be rated "Well Qualified" and submit the supporting documents listed under the required documents section of this job to receive consideration for selection priority. To be considered well-qualified, in addition to meeting minimum qualifications, candidates must demonstrate proficiency in some, but not all of the major aspects of the position.


You may preview questions for this vacancy.

Your session is about to expire!

Your USAJOBS session will expire due to inactivity in 8 minutes. Any unsaved data will be lost if you allow the session to expire. Click the button below to continue your session.