This position is located in GAO's Science, Technology Assessment, & Analytics (STAA) Team. STAA is devoted to enhancing & expanding its support to Congress in conducting technology assessments, oversight of federal science and technology programs, & development of innovative analytical techniques in carrying out audits and evaluations. To learn more visit: STAA
Summary
This position is located in GAO's Science, Technology Assessment, & Analytics (STAA) Team. STAA is devoted to enhancing & expanding its support to Congress in conducting technology assessments, oversight of federal science and technology programs, & development of innovative analytical techniques in carrying out audits and evaluations. To learn more visit: STAA
Current, permanent employees of GAO only.
This position may be filled in any of the locations listed. Pay will be set consistent with the salary range for the location the position is filled in.
The STAA team is seeking an experienced professional to plan, design, and manage cloud infrastructure and operational processes; and provide expert guidance to leadership, project teams, and cross-organizational stakeholders to advance GAO's capabilities. Specifically, the incumbent will:
Lead the design, implementation, and continuous optimization of Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud infrastructure across the Innovation Lab's multi-account and multi-tenant environment, including Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), and other evolving as-a-service capabilities.
Architect and implement AWS Service Catalog portfolios, products, and constraints to enable secure, standardized, and repeatable provisioning of cloud resources across accounts and teams.
Design and implement infrastructure-as-code (IaC) solutions using tools such as AWS CloudFormation, Terraform, or AWS CDK to automate the provisioning, configuration, and management of cloud environments.
Evaluate emerging AWS services, tools, and third-party solutions, and make authoritative recommendations to leadership on adoption, integration, or retirement of cloud capabilities.
Design and manage identity and access management (IAM) strategies across cloud services, cloud infrastructure, and Innovation Lab tools, ensuring alignment with federal security standards and GAO cybersecurity policies.
Develop and implement automated compliance monitoring and security controls using AWS-native services (e.g., AWS Config, CloudTrail, GuardDuty, Security Hub) and recommend remediation strategies for identified vulnerabilities.
Lead the coordination, reporting, and documentation of cybersecurity events and incidents with the incident response team and across matrixed stakeholders, conducting root cause analysis and implementing preventive measures.
Supports cloud financial management (FinOps) practices by analyzing resource utilization across services through AWS billing, cost management, and optimization tools (e.g., Cost Explorer, Trusted Advisor, Compute Optimizer). Develop actionable strategies for cost optimization and present findings and recommendations to senior leadership.
Establish and maintain cloud budgeting frameworks, forecasting models, and chargeback/showback mechanisms to ensure transparency and accountability of cloud expenditures.
Facilitate and drive Agile ceremonies, including sprint planning, retrospectives, and program increment (PI) planning sessions within the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), ensuring alignment of technical execution with strategic objectives.
Define and continuously improve Agile processes and operational workflows to increase delivery velocity, quality, and cross-team coordination. Identify and resolve impediments that affect delivery across release trains and sprints.
Coordinate and integrate external stakeholder inputs into Agile planning processes, balancing competing priorities and negotiating scope and timeline adjustments with project teams and leadership.
Serve as a Contracting Officer Representative (COR) with responsibility for overseeing high-value and technically complex contracts. Execute the full range of contract administration activities, including developing and refining Statements of Work (SOWs) and Performance Work Statements (PWSs), evaluating contractor performance, leading in-scope and performance discussions, and planning for renewal, option exercise, or recompete actions.
Conduct market research and analysis to inform acquisition strategies. Advise leadership on acquisition approaches, contract vehicles, and sourcing decisions that align with the Innovation Lab's strategic objectives and GAO procurement policies.
Monitor contractor activities to ensure compliance with contract provisions, deliverable quality, and alignment with technical requirements. Identify and resolve contract performance issues, as appropriate.
Serve as the subject matter expert (SME) and principal technical advisor to Innovation Lab leadership on cloud operations, DevSecOps, and IT infrastructure matters.
Represent the Innovation Lab in cross-organizational working groups, governance boards, and agency-level forums involving internal and external stakeholders. Advocate for the Lab's technical requirements and contribute to enterprise-wide cloud and IT strategies.
Mentor and provide technical guidance to junior staff, detailees, and contractor personnel on cloud technologies, operational processes, and best practices.
Lead operational activities of the Innovation Lab, including strategic event planning, outreach to mission and operation teams, schedule alignment across programs, training management, and compliance assessments. Develop and implement operational policies and standard operating procedures.
You must meet all qualification requirements before the announcement closes.
Qualifications
You must have one year (52 weeks) of specialized experience at the next lower band or level equivalent to the GS-13 in the federal service, or comparable private or public sector experience, which has equipped you with the skills and knowledge to successfully perform the duties of the position. Specialized experience for this position is defined as:
Implementing AWS cloud infrastructure across a multi-account and multi-tenant environment;
Facilitating Agile ceremonies, driving process improvement and managing complex technical programs across multiple teams;
Implementing security controls and compliance monitoring in a federal cloud environment; and
Applying FinOps principles and cloud financial management practices, including cost allocation, optimization strategies, budgeting, and forecasting for enterprise cloud environments.
Additionally, you must have IT-related experience demonstrating each of the four competencies listed below:
Attention to Detail - Is thorough when performing work and conscientious about attending to detail.
Customer Service - Works with clients and customers (that is, 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.
Oral Communication - Expresses information (for example, ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (for example, technical, sensitive, controversial); makes clear and convincing oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately.
Problem Solving - Identifies problems; determines accuracy and relevance of information; uses sound judgment to generate and evaluate alternatives, and to make recommendations.
NOTE: Your application should clearly show your possession of the specialized experience qualification requirement and the four competencies listed above.
You must meet all qualifications requirements BEFORE the closing date of the announcement.
Education
There is no education requirement for this position.
Additional information
This is not a bargaining unit position.
Based on the staffing needs, additional selections may be made through this vacancy announcement.
If you have an approved Flexible Work Agreement and are selected, you must complete and submit a new flexible work application for approval. Your new flexible work arrangement will be reviewed and decided based on Agency policy governing these arrangements. You may have a 90-day waiting period to submit a new arrangement.
Travel and relocation expenses will not be paid for by the GAO.
GAO provides reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees with disabilities. To request accommodation, please email ReasonableAccommodations@gao.gov.
GAO's policy is to provide equal employment opportunity for all regardless of race, religion, color, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age, disability, genetic information, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
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.
A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.
Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.
How you will be evaluated
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
If you meet the qualification requirements stated, you will be further rated based on your responses to the assessment questions. Please make sure that your responses to the assessment questions are supported in your resume.
Please follow all instructions carefully. If you provide incomplete answers, fail to provide a narrative response to any assessment question(s) that requires further explanation, or if your response to a vacancy question is "see resume" or like answer, your rating may be affected or you may be determined ineligible.
Your qualifications will be evaluated on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics):
Administration and Management, Contracting/Procurement, and Web Technology
A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.
Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.
To apply for this position, you must submit a complete application package which includes:
- RESUME:You are encouraged to use the USAJOBS resume builder to create your resume. In describing your experience, please be clear and specific. In addition to describing duties performed, you must provide the exact dates of each period of employment (from MM/YY to MM/YY) and the number of hours worked per week. We will not make assumptions regarding your experience. Failure to provide this information may result in disqualification.
Update your resume so it meets new resume requirements: Starting on September 27, 2025, federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in length to comply with the Merit Hiring Plan. USAJOBS will not allow you to upload or build resumes longer than two pages, and you will need to update the resumes in your profile before applying to a job.
What is required in the resume?
Resumes submitted for federal jobs are required to have:
Contact Information-your name and the best way to contact you.
Relevant work experience-Job experience should include employer name, job title, start and end dates (month/year), the number of hours worked per week and descriptions that explain how your previous work experience relates to and helps you meet the required qualifications in the GAO job announcement to which you are applying.
Education, certifications or licensures - If the job announcement requires any education, certifications or licensures, make sure you include the required information on the resume.
- SF-50: You must submit a copy of your most recent Notification of Personnel Action (SF-50) that indicates your position information (i.e. title, series, grade). Do not submit awards.
If you fail to submit any of the documentation listed above your application will be considered incomplete and you will lose consideration.
If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:
Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.
To apply for this position, you must complete the online application and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below.
A complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on the closing date of the announcement to receive consideration.
- To begin, click Apply to access the online application. You will need to be logged into your USAJOBS account to apply. If you do not have a USAJOBS account, you will need to create one before beginning the application.
- Follow the prompts to select your résumé and/or other supporting documents to be included with your application package. You will have the opportunity to upload additional documents to include in your application before it is submitted. Your uploaded documents may take several hours to clear the virus scan process.
- After acknowledging you have reviewed your application package, complete the Include Personal Information section as you deem appropriate and click to continue with the application process.- You will be taken to the online application which you must complete in order to apply for the position. Complete the online application, verify the required documentation is included with your application package, and submit the application.
To verify the status of your application, log into your USAJOBS account (https://my.usajobs.gov/Account/Login), all of your applications will appear on the Welcome screen. The Application Status will appear along with the date your application was last updated. For information on what each Application Status means, visit: https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/how-to/application/status/.
For technical issue with USAJOBS: Please refer to the USAJOBS help page.
Government Accountability Office
Human Capital Office
441 G Street NW
Washington, DC 20548
US
Next steps
After the closing date of this announcement, GAO's Human Capital Office will conduct an evaluation of your qualifications by reviewing your assessment questionnaire and resume to complete an analysis. If your application is rated "best-qualified," your name will be referred to the selecting official for consideration. At this point you may be contacted for an interview. This process may take up to 30 days.
If you do not meet the key requirements and/or basic qualifications or you fail to submit all required application materials, your application will not be considered.
The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.
To apply for this position, you must submit a complete application package which includes:
- RESUME:You are encouraged to use the USAJOBS resume builder to create your resume. In describing your experience, please be clear and specific. In addition to describing duties performed, you must provide the exact dates of each period of employment (from MM/YY to MM/YY) and the number of hours worked per week. We will not make assumptions regarding your experience. Failure to provide this information may result in disqualification.
Update your resume so it meets new resume requirements: Starting on September 27, 2025, federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in length to comply with the Merit Hiring Plan. USAJOBS will not allow you to upload or build resumes longer than two pages, and you will need to update the resumes in your profile before applying to a job.
What is required in the resume?
Resumes submitted for federal jobs are required to have:
Contact Information-your name and the best way to contact you.
Relevant work experience-Job experience should include employer name, job title, start and end dates (month/year), the number of hours worked per week and descriptions that explain how your previous work experience relates to and helps you meet the required qualifications in the GAO job announcement to which you are applying.
Education, certifications or licensures - If the job announcement requires any education, certifications or licensures, make sure you include the required information on the resume.
- SF-50: You must submit a copy of your most recent Notification of Personnel Action (SF-50) that indicates your position information (i.e. title, series, grade). Do not submit awards.
If you fail to submit any of the documentation listed above your application will be considered incomplete and you will lose consideration.
If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:
Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.
To apply for this position, you must complete the online application and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below.
A complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on the closing date of the announcement to receive consideration.
- To begin, click Apply to access the online application. You will need to be logged into your USAJOBS account to apply. If you do not have a USAJOBS account, you will need to create one before beginning the application.
- Follow the prompts to select your résumé and/or other supporting documents to be included with your application package. You will have the opportunity to upload additional documents to include in your application before it is submitted. Your uploaded documents may take several hours to clear the virus scan process.
- After acknowledging you have reviewed your application package, complete the Include Personal Information section as you deem appropriate and click to continue with the application process.- You will be taken to the online application which you must complete in order to apply for the position. Complete the online application, verify the required documentation is included with your application package, and submit the application.
To verify the status of your application, log into your USAJOBS account (https://my.usajobs.gov/Account/Login), all of your applications will appear on the Welcome screen. The Application Status will appear along with the date your application was last updated. For information on what each Application Status means, visit: https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/how-to/application/status/.
For technical issue with USAJOBS: Please refer to the USAJOBS help page.
Government Accountability Office
Human Capital Office
441 G Street NW
Washington, DC 20548
US
Next steps
After the closing date of this announcement, GAO's Human Capital Office will conduct an evaluation of your qualifications by reviewing your assessment questionnaire and resume to complete an analysis. If your application is rated "best-qualified," your name will be referred to the selecting official for consideration. At this point you may be contacted for an interview. This process may take up to 30 days.
If you do not meet the key requirements and/or basic qualifications or you fail to submit all required application materials, your application will not be considered.
Fair and transparent
The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.
