Clarification from the agency

U.S. Citizens

This position is located in the Biopesticides and Pollution Prevention Division (BPPD), Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP), Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. The Biopesticides and Pollution Prevention Division is responsible for the full range of risk assessment, benefit assessment, and risk management functions for various biopesticides, and other assigned pesticides for all regulatory and other customer inquiries. The function of BPPD is to streamline the registration and reregistration processes for biological pesticides, develop and implement policies and guidelines and regulatory strategies for internal and external stakeholders, as well as reregistration of biological pesticides, which include microbial, biochemical, and other naturally occuring pesticides. BPPD reviews, evaluates, and validates data submitted under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), and the Pesticide Registration Improvement Act to support decisions about its assigned pesticides addressing formulation ingredients and required labeling. BPPD scientists integrate the results of separate technical assessments and characterize the overall risk, collaborating with those in other OPP divisions to develop and maintain technical guidance for pesticide risk assessment and to promote sound scientific policy and consistent high-quality decisions.

Specific duties of the position include, but are not limited to:

• Planning, developing, organizing, directing, and coordinating registration of FIFRA, Section 3, and establishment of tolerances for residues under the FFDCA for biological pesticides, as well as issuing experimental use permits under Section 5 of FIFRA, and administering and overseeing state actions under Sections 5 (c) and 24 (c) of FIFRA.
• Assessing needs, defining goals, developing program plans, establishing the organizational structure of BPPD, delegating authority and responsibility, and establishing overall BPPD operating policies, priorities, and procedures.
• Coordinating BPPD activities with representatives of foreign, State, and municipal governments with other Federal agencies, industry, academia and private organizations having a mutual interest or responsibility with the program area assigned to the BPPD.
• Ensuring that extramural resources, both procurement (contracts) and assistance (grants, cooperative agreements and interagency agreements), are efficiently and appropriately managed to maximize use of the Agency's resources.
• Supervising a large staff of employees organized into units headed by subordinate managers and supervisors.

Conditions of employment

You must be a U.S. Citizen.

If you are selected, you must complete a 1-year SES probationary period, if not previously completed.

The Ethics in Government Act, P.L. 95-521, requires the applicant selected for this position to submit a financial disclosure statement, OGE-278, prior to assuming the SES position, annually, and upon termination of employment.

REAL ID requirements became effective on 05/07/25. If you are selected for this position and plan to use your driver's license or identification card during the onboarding process (i.e., for employment eligibility verification or to obtain your EPA identification card), the document must be a REAL ID-compliant state-issued driver's license or identification card that includes the REAL ID-compliant star marking, or must be an Enhanced Driver's License (EDL). You will receive information about alternative acceptable documents (e.g., passport) prior to onboarding. For more information about REAL ID, see Dept. of Homeland Security and REAL ID FAQs.

This position is designated as HighRisk and requires a background investigation. Unless an appropriate background investigation is already on record with the Office of Personnel Management, you must undergo a background investigation. All conditions of the pre-employment security process must be met before an official letter of employment can be issued with a report for duty date.

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Qualifications

The work of this position is classified in the Program Management, 0340 series where the qualifications include both general management skills and characteristics that are applicable to all SES positions and technical or program responsibilities specific to this position. Applicants must have substantive general experience which provides a good basic or general knowledge of the principles of organization, management and administration; and substantive specialized (operating administrative or managerial) experience in a type of work or a combination of functions directly related to this position.

All applicants must have one year of specialized experience at a level close to the work of this job that demonstrates the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities required to successfully perform in this role. Typically this experience can be found in work within this field or a field that is closely related.

As a basic requirement for entry into the Senior Executive Service, applicants must also provide evidence of progressively responsible leadership experience that is indicative of senior level management capability and directly related to the skills and abilities outlined under the Executive Core Qualifications and Technical Qualifications listed below.

A. Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) - Mandatory for competitive applicants - Failure to address these factors within the required 2-page resume will result in your application being disqualified, unless you are a noncompetitive eligible applicant.

ECQ 1 - COMMITMENT TO THE RULE OF LAW AND THE PRINCIPLES OF THE AMERICAN FOUNDING. Involves demonstrated knowledge of the American system of government, commitment to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law, and commitment to serve the American people.
ECQ 2 - DRIVING EFFICIENCY. Involves demonstrated ability to strategically and efficiently manage resources, budget effectively, cut wasteful spending, and pursue efficiency through process and technological upgrades.
ECQ 3 - MERIT AND COMPETENCE. Involves demonstrated knowledge, ability, and technical competence to effectively and reliably produce work that is of exceptional quality.
ECQ 4 - LEADING PEOPLE. Involves demonstrated ability to lead and inspire a group toward meeting the organization's vision, mission, and goals, and to drive a high-performance, high-accountability culture. This includes, when necessary, the ability to lead people through change and hold individuals accountable.
ECQ 5 - ACHIEVING RESULTS. Involves demonstrated ability to achieve both individual and organizational results, and to align results to stated goals from superiors.

Your responses should be clear and concise and show a level of accomplishment and a degree of responsibility. Leadership competencies for each ECQ can be found in OPM's Guide to SES Qualifications.

B. Technical Qualifications (TQs) - Mandatory for all applicants - Failure to address these factors within the required 2-page resume will result in your application being disqualified.

TQ 1 - Demonstrated experience initiating actions, effectively integrating complex information in support of regulatory programs, and solving complex problems and issues.

TQ 2 - Demonstrated experience managing and directing a multi-faceted organization consisting of technical and policy staff in various disciplines to support pesticide risk assesssment related regulatory programs.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

We will review your resume and required documents to ensure you meet the basic qualification requirements. If you meet basic qualification requirements, your application will be evaluated based on the experience described in your resume with the required Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) and Technical Qualifications (TQs). It will then be forwarded to a three-member Rating Panel consisting of SES members for further review. The Rating Panel will decide which Best Qualified applicants will be issued to the Selecting Official by the Human Resources Office.