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

Sign Language Interpreter

Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service
Taxpayer Services - Accounts Management

Summary

  • Consider each location carefully when applying. If you are selected for a location, that location will become your official post of duty.
  • In the event that a building is closed due to rent management, new hires may be placed in a local commuting location.
  • Additional jobs may be filled from this announcement or any other source to fill these vacancies.
REVIEW THE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION BELOW FOR FURTHER DETAILS

Overview

Help
Accepting applications
Open & closing dates
04/21/2026 to 05/04/2026
Salary
$75,055 - $114,413 per year

The range reflects the minimum locality to maximum locality for locations listed in the announcement. Salary will be based on selected duty location.

Pay scale & grade
GS 11
Locations
(CA7462) 855 M St
Fresno, CA
2 vacancies
(KY3005) 300 Madison Ave
Covington, KY
1 vacancy
(MA0137) 310 Lowell St
Andover, MA
1 vacancy
(NY0376) 1040 Waverly Ave
Holtsville, NY
1 vacancy
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
No
Travel Required
Not required
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time - Tour of Duty: Day Shift: Monday-Friday 8:00AM - 4:30PM, 40 hours per week.
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
None
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Trust determination process
Financial disclosure
No
Bargaining unit status
No
Announcement number
26-12937698P-TSN-1040-11
Control number
865986600

Duties

Help

The following are the duties of this position at the full working level. If this vacancy includes more than one grade and you are selected at a lower grade level, you will have the opportunity to learn to perform these duties and receive training to help you grow in this position.

  • Interprets in a variety of settings involving deaf/hard of hearing employees and hearing persons who are not familiar with sign language and the interpreting process.
  • Simultaneously and consecutively interprets/transliterates, with equal facility in rendering from American
    Sign Language (ASL), Contact Variety Sign (CVS), and Manually Coded English (MCE) to English and
    from English to the aforementioned sign languages.
  • Uses oral forms of communication to provide communication access for oral deaf or hard of hearing
    individuals and uses tactile forms of English, ASL, CVS and MCE to interpret/transliterate for individuals
    who are deaf-blind as needed.
  • Interprets/transliterates for deaf/hard of hearing employees and hearing persons engaged in specialized
    meetings, seminars or training programs that utilize technical vocabularies and terminology unique to those
    fields (technical tax terminology, computer technical language).
  • Interprets/transliterates for deaf/hard of hearing employees and hearing persons engaged in formal and
    informal meetings and other discussions with supervisors and staff members.

STANDARD POSITION DESCRIPTIONS (SPD): PD96007
Visit the IRS SPD Library to access the position descriptions.

Requirements

Help

Conditions of employment

  • Probationary Period - A person who is required to go through a probationary period and then is transferred, promoted, demoted, or reassigned before he or she completes such period is required to complete the remainder of the probationary period in the new position.
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS SHOWN IN QUALIFICATIONS SECTION

Qualifications

Federal experience is not required. Experience may have been gained in the public sector, private sector or through Volunteer Service. One year of experience refers to full-time work; part-timework is considered on a prorated basis. To ensure full credit for your work experience, please indicate dates of employment by month/day/year, and indicate number of hours worked per week, on your resume.

You must meet the following requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS:

BASIC REQUIREMENTS:
Individual Occupational Requirements
Education
Undergraduate and Graduate Education: Major study -- the appropriate foreign language from an English-speaking college or university, English from a college or university in the other country, or translating or interpretingwhere English and the foreign language were prerequisites.
OR
Experience in translating, interpreting, or other work requiring the use of English and the other language; or a combination of work (that required English and the other language) and training at the Defense Language Institute, Foreign Service Institute, or comparable training.
The following are examples of work in the required language that may have provided the required abilities: translator; interpreter; librarian or information specialist required to make abstracts, screen, index, and scan material; intelligence; writer or editor; international organizational work, such as the Peace Corps, World Bank, United Nations, business, or other organizations; or professor, teacher, or instructor work at the high school or college level that required use of the foreign language.

Language requirement: This is a bilingual position. Applicants will be required to demonstrate proficiency in Sign Language and English. You must be able to speak, read, and write English and be able to interpret and transliterate American Sign Language (ASL), Manually Coded English (MCE) and Contact Variety Sign (CVS) to English, and from English to the aforementioned sign languages to be considered proficient. You may be assessed at some point in the hiring process to determine if you possess the required level of proficiency. If you are unable to demonstrate proficiency, you will not be qualified for this position.

Specialized Experience GS-11: In addition to the basic requirement outlined above, you must meet one of the specific grade requirements for GS-11. You must have 1 year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-09 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience for this position must be sufficient to demonstrate:

  • English, American Sign Language (ASL), Contact Variety Sign (CVS) and Manually Coded English (MCE) to perform Sign-to-English and English-to-Sign interpretation;
  • Using interpreting processes to determine the most effective means of communication for each deaf/hard of hearing employee;
  • Assisting in the development of training curriculum and utilizing current methods and materials in the instruction of sign language courses;
  • Utilizing telecommunication devices, assistive listening devices and other related technology for deaf/hard of hearing employees;
  • Dealing with the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID) Code of Ethics in order to maintain ethical standards for professional interpreters;
  • Utilizing resources and procedures for contracting sign language interpreter services; and effective written and oral communication skills. Examples of qualifying specialized experience include: Interpreting for deaf or hard-of-hearing individuals in meetings or training; Coordinating schedules for contract interpreters by arranging, and tracking hours and allocated funds; Assisting with the development and implementation of training for sign language instruction for employees; and Identifying barriers and resolving communication problems between supervisors and deaf/hard-of-hearing employees.

OR EDUCATION: A course of study that includes 3 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree
OR Ph.D.
OR equivalent doctoral degree in Sign Language Interpreting or a related field of study.
OR LL.M., if related
OR equivalent amount of combined education and experience as described in paragraphs above.

AND
You must also meet the following requirements:

  • TIME AFTER COMPETITIVE APPOINTMENT (TACA): Current civilian employees must have completed at least 90 days of federal civilian service since their latest non-temporary appointment from a competitive referral certificate, known as time after competitive appointment. For this requirement, a competitive appointment is one where you applied to and were appointed from an announcement open to "All US Citizens".
  • TIME IN GRADE (TIG): For positions above the GS-05,applicants must meet applicable time-in-­grade requirements to be considered eligible. One year (52 weeks) at the next lower grade level is required to meet the time-in-grade requirements for the grade you are applying for. For positions at the GS-5, you cannot advance to the GS-05 if you have held a GS-02 in the past 52 weeks. There is no TIG restriction for GS-02, 03, or 04 positions.

For more information on qualifications please refer to OPM's Qualifications Standards.

Education

A college or university degree generally must be from an accredited (or pre-accredited) college or university recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. For a list of schools which meet these criteria, please refer to Department of Education Accreditation page.

FOREIGN EDUCATION: Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet the requirements. You must show proof the education credentials have been deemed to be at least equivalent to that gained in conventional U.S. education program. It is your responsibility to provide such evidence when applying. Click here (Section 3, Explanation of Terms) or here for Foreign Education Credentialing instructions.

We recommend choosing an evaluator from a member organization of one of the following national associations of credential evaluation services: National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES) or Association of International Credentials Evaluators (AICE).

Additional information

  • Alternative work schedule, staggered work hours may be available.
  • Salary: General Schedule (GS) Locality Pay tables may be found under Salaries & Wages.

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.

Your qualifications 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. Applicants who disqualify themselves will not be evaluated further.

You will be assessed on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics):

  • Attention to Detail
  • Customer Service
  • Decision Making
  • Flexibility
  • Integrity/Honesty
  • Interpersonal Skills
  • Learning
  • Reasoning
  • Self-Management
  • Stress Tolerance
  • Teamwork


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

Rating: Your application will be evaluated in accordance with the Service's Merit Promotion Plan. A quality group rating will be used to rank and select eligible candidates. If qualified, you will be assigned to one of three quality level groups, Superior/Best Qualified, Highly Qualified and Qualified. Referral: Eligible applicants rated in the highest quality group, may be referred to a selecting official for consideration. Candidates, if required to participate in a selection interview (telephonic and/or in person at the discretion of the Selecting Official in accordance with hiring practices), will be interviewed in quality group order. We will not reimburse costs related to the interview such as travel to and from the interview site.

Performance Appraisal and Awards - Will not be used in determining your overall rating. Any performance appraisal/evaluation and award documentation you provide will be forwarded to the selecting official. The selecting official will review this documentation and give it due weight consideration during the overall selection process. IRS employees may obtain their most recent awards listing at https://persinfo.web.irs.gov/.

If you are a displaced or surplus Federal employee (eligible for the Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP), you must receive a score of Highly Qualified orbetter to be rated as "well qualified" to receive special selection priority.

Internal Revenue Service

WHY IS THE IRS A GREAT PLACE TO WORK? As an IRS employee, you will feel proud knowing you helped make America stronger while working at one of the world's biggest financial institutions. You will be part of an organization that collects over $2 trillion in revenue and processes over 200 million tax returns annually. We are proud of how we apply the tax law with integrity and fairness to all. The IRS hires talented and dedicated individuals from many backgrounds, including accounting, business, finance, law enforcement and information technology. You will be challenged & supported on a daily basis. Whether you are just starting out or looking for a new opportunity, consider an IRS career.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has a distinguished history dating back to the founding of our nation. As the steward of U.S. economic and financial systems, Treasury is a major and influential leader in today's global economy. We have over 100,000 employees across the country and around the world. Come Join the Department of the Treasury and Invest in Tomorrow.

WHAT IS THE TAXPAYER SERVICES DIVISION?
A description of the business units can be found at: https://www.jobs.irs.gov/about/who/business-divisions

WHERE CAN I FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OTHER IRS CAREERS? Visit us on the web at www.jobs.irs.gov

Agency contact information

(ERC) Employee Resource Center
Phone
866-743-5748
Website
https://irsgov.sharepoint.com/sites/EmployeeResources/SitePages/ERC-Help-Desk.aspx
Address
TS SC - Accounts Management
1111 Constitution Ave NW
Washington, DC 20224
US

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.