Clarification from the agency

This announcement is open to all United States Citizens. This is an excepted service position. This position is not in the competitive service and grants no eligibility to move to the competitive service.

APPLICATION LIMIT: This vacancy announcement is limited to the first 50 applications received and will close at 11:59PM Eastern Time on the day that we receive the 50th application, or at 11:59PM Eastern Time on the listed closing date, whichever occurs first.  

We encourage you to read this entire vacancy announcement prior to submitting your application.

As a Supervisory Information Technology Specialist, AD-2210-00, you will be responsible for:

• Leading the direction and ongoing improvement of FSA products by understanding the needs of students, families, and financial aid administrators, and making sure product decisions focus on improving access to aid and making services easier to use.
• Improving the product and the internal processes that support it by identifying outdated or inefficient practices, streamlining workflows, removing barriers, aligning stakeholders, and promoting timely, action-oriented decision-making.
• Fostering a culture focused on strong technical quality and mission results by providing coaching, feedback, and growth opportunities to both government staff and contractors, and helping set clear expectations for effective product development in the federal government. 
• Applying experience building and managing large-scale products used by millions by ensuring systems can handle peak demand, protect sensitive personal and financial data, and provide reliable, easy-to-use services for students, families, and institutions.

Conditions of employment

• Must be a US Citizen.
• Males 18 and over must be registered with the Selective Service.
• Must complete a Background Investigation and Fingerprint check.
• You may be subject to serve a one-year Supervisory probation period.
• May be required to successfully complete a two-year trial period.
• Must be determined suitable for federal employment.
• Relocation expenses will not be paid.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you may be required to serve a probationary period or trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• Your performance and conduct;
• The needs and interests of the agency;
• Whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• Whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your probationary period OR trial period your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

You must meet all qualification requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this vacancy announcement.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills, and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. We will consider all qualifying experience, including any volunteer experience.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualification Requirements:

You may meet the minimum qualifications for the AD-00, if you possess the specialize experience.

Specialized Experience for the AD-00:

One year of experience in either federal or non-federal service that is equivalent to at least a GS-14 performing two (2) out of three (3) of the following duties or work assignments:
1. Experience providing oversight to a large organization of 50+ technical product managers and engineers, with ultimate responsibility for the team's outcomes.
2. Experience managing large vendor software development shops to improve performance.
3. Experience communicating technical concepts to non-technical leadership audiences at the senior executive leadership level or equivalent.

Basic Experience Requirements:

 You must possess IT related experience (paid or unpaid experience and/or completion of specific, intensive training (e.g., IT certification), as appropriate) demonstrating each of the four competencies listed below. 

1. Attention to Detail - Is thorough when performing work and conscientious about attending to detail.
2. Customer Service - Works with clients and customers (i.e., any individuals who use or receive the services or products that your work unit produces, including the general public, individuals who work in the agency, other agencies, or organizations outside the Government) to assess their needs, provide information or assistance, resolve their problems, or satisfy their expectations; knows about available products and services; is committed to providing quality products and services.
3. Oral Communication - Expresses information (e.g., ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (e.g., technical, sensitive, controversial); makes clear and convincing oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately.
4. Problem Solving - Identifies problems; determines accuracy and relevance of information; uses sound judgment to generate and evaluate alternatives, and to make recommendations.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs)
The quality of your experience will be measured by the extent to which you possess the following knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs). You do not need to provide separate narrative responses to these KSAs, as they will be measured by your responses to the occupational questionnaire (you may preview the occupational questionnaire by clicking the link at the end of the Evaluations section of this vacancy announcement).

1.   Ability to lead engineering teams to deliver high-quality outcomes for users.
2.   Ability to navigate complex organizational procsses and drive change.
3.   Ability to build, mentor, and inspire a high-performing culture.
4.   Knowledge of building and operating large-scale, mission-critical student aid or comparable financial systems.

How you will be evaluated

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

We use a multi-step process to review and evaluate applicants:

          1. Eligibility and Minimum Qualifications

Once the vacancy announcement closes, we will review your resume and documents to determine if you meet the eligibility and minimum qualification requirements, including any required education, experience, and/or selective placement factors. You will be rated as ineligible if your application is missing any required documents. You will be rated as not qualified if you do not possess the minimum qualification requirements. 

          2. Rating and Ranking

If you are found to meet both the eligibility and minimum qualification requirements, we will assess the quality of your experience and the extent to which you possess the required KSAs by comparing your submitted resume and documents. You will be evaluated based on how well you meet the qualifications and competencies listed in this vacancy announcement. Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials, and the result of the Monster Competency Based Assessment(s) required for this position. You will be assessed on the following competencies. 

Supervisory: Oral Communications, Interpersonal Skills, Problem Solving, Decision Making, Customer Service, Leadership, Planning and Evaluating, Influencing/Negotiating, Strategic Thinking and Human Capital Management 

Based on the outcome of this evaluation, your application data may be further assessed by a Subject Matter Expert (SME) panel.  If your qualifications are not substantiated by your submitted resume, you may be eliminated from receiving further consideration.

Veterans’ Preference: Veterans’ preference eligibles will be ranked ahead of qualified non-preference eligibles. 

3. Referral and Selection

If you are found to be amongst the most highly qualified applicants, you will be referred to the selecting official. As part of the assessment and selection process, the selecting official may invite you to participate in a structured interview, check your references, and/or request that you submit a writing sample or complete a written assessment or exercise to further evaluate your qualifications for this position. If you require reasonable accommodation for any part of the interview process or written assessment or exercise, please inform the selecting official at the time of scheduling.