Clarification from the agency

U.S. Citizens

This position is located in the American Indian Environmental Office (AIEO), in the Office of International and Tribal Affairs (OITA) of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The American Indian Environmental Office leads EPA's efforts to protect human health and the environment of federally recognized tribes by supporting implementation of Federal environmental laws consistent with the Federal trust responsibility, the government-to government relationship, and EPA's 1984 Indian Policy. The AIEO is responsible for providing administrative, scientific, and technical direction for all activities assigned to AIEO. AIEO works to reinvigorate tribal partnerships, strengthen implementation of EPA's Tribal Program, and to lead Federal collaboration in helping achieve common tribal program missions. This position reports to and serves as a Senior Advisor to the Assistant Administrator (AA) for International and Tribal Affairs, as well as managing and directing the American Indian Environmental Office as its Office Director. The specific duties of this position may include, but are not limited to:

- Providing advice, assistance, and leadership on Indian affairs, the Agency's Indian Policy, and Tribal Consultation to the Office of the Administrator, EPA program offices, and EPA Regional Offices.

- Planning, developing, implementing, and evaluating the needs, goals, objectives, policies, procedures, guidance, personnel allocation, short and long range budgets, and resources of the Office and its assigned programs.

- Coordinating with EPA Regional and Programmatic offices to promote appropriate and consistent communications regarding the Agency's and Office's programs, policies, and decisions.

- Providing direct support to the National Tribal Operations Council and National Tribal Caucus.

- Participating in and representing the Agency on seminars, meetings, conferences, panels, and committees with both internal and external partners that may include, but are not limited to: other Federal agencies, State and local governments, Tribes, industry, academia, and private organizations.

- Ensuring that extramural resources, both procurement (contracts) and assistance (grants, cooperative agreements and/or interagency agreements) are appropriately managed to maximize use of the Agency's resources.

- Providing guidance on the development and implementation of education and awareness training for EPA personnel on Federal responsibilities in Indian country, reservation lands, and tribal environment policies, concerns, cultures, and protocols.

- Performing the full range of supervisory human resources tasks and functions for the Office and its employees.

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 High Risk 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 advancing the protection of human health and the environment of federally recognized Tribes by supporting implementation of Federal environmental laws consistent with Federal Indian policy.

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.