Assistant Director (Office of Strategic Partnerships)

Clarification from the agency

Current Smithsonian Institution Internal Employees/Agency Employees Only may apply including current Smithsonian Institution employees with Federal career/career-conditional status or eligibility. More than one selection may be made from this announcement.

The Assistant Director is responsible for the overall direction, planning, management, coordination, and strategic efforts of the Office of Strategic Partnerships (OSP) that develop and strengthen African American museums, African diaspora and other national and cultural heritage organizations.

In this position, you will:

• Plan, direct and manage OSP strategic efforts to develop and strengthen NMAAHC and other national and cultural heritage organizations. 
• Act as liaison, facilitator and negotiator on timelines, purchases, equipment and space.
• Develop and finalize goals and objectives to support NMAAHC's mission, including ensuring both short and long-term OSP plans are executed.
• Deliver public services and products as well as collection and reporting of NMAAHC data. Compile and write proposals and reports for both constituents and donors.
• Represent public policy initiatives for OSP and NMAAHC professional communities, government agencies, and other museums at policy-related meetings.
• Develop African American and diaspora cultural heritage resources as well as strategic collaborations with professional constituent and partner organizations.  Advise on communication programs and services, international relations, fellowships, visiting scholars and various partnerships.
• Oversee studies, collaborative projects and programs that raise awareness as well as determine solutions that garner support for African American heritage institutions.
• Manage personnel and financial resources within federal or SI guidelines as well as federal and trust short and long-term budgets. Ensure the planning, processing, justification and submission of budgets. Ensure reports are accurately prepared/submitted as well as timely and accurate.
• Direct Strategic Partnership staff and their performance. Develop performance standards, conduct mid-term performance feedback and evaluate employee performance within required timelines.
• Approve recommendations for a variety of personnel actions and act on conduct and discipline issues within OSP. Interview and select new hires.
• Plan and develop methodologies for achieving work goals and objectives and promote team building.

Conditions of employment

• Requires career/career-conditional status or eligibility.
• Males born after 12/31/59 must be registered with Selective Service.

Conditions of Employment

Qualification requirements, including one year time-in-grade at the next lower grade level for promotion candidates, must be met within 30 days of the job announcement closing date. See the 'Required Documents' section for additional information.

For information on qualification requirements, see Qualification Standards Handbook for General Schedule Positions viewable on OPM Website.

Qualifications

Experience: You qualify for this position if you have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-14 level in the Federal Service. For this position, specialized experience is defined as developing and coordinating short and long-term plans and objectives for museums and cultural heritage organizations and collaborating with stakeholders on strategic initiatives; developing and defending policy initiatives, strategic plans and outreach to advance and raise awareness of African American culture, history, and public programs; organizing, monitoring and analyzing financial and budgetary data, reconciling reports including prediction and forecasting and; reviewing, editing and approving written work of subordinates, writing employee performance plans, resolving conflicts, conducting mid and year-end performance reviews and hiring management. 

Your resume must be no more than two (2) pages and should clearly demonstrate how your experience aligns with the responsibilities and specialized experience required for this position. Do not copy language directly from the vacancy announcement, as you will be deemed ineligible for consideration. Instead, provide detailed, descriptive information about your actual experience.

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. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Part-time and/or unpaid experience related to this position will be considered to determine the total number of years and months of experience. Be sure to note the number of paid or unpaid hours worked each week.

Time-in-Grade Requirements: Under competitive merit promotion procedures, any individual who is currently holding, or who has held within the previous 52 weeks, a General Schedule position under a non-temporary appointment in the competitive or excepted service, must meet "time-in-grade" requirements (have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade of the grade for which you are applying).

How you will be evaluated

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

Your application will be evaluated first for the basic qualifications described above. The applications that meet the basic qualifications will be evaluated further against the following criteria:

1.    Knowledge of the principles, methods, or tools for developing, scheduling, coordinating, and managing projects and resources.
2.    Ability to communicate orally with senior level management and partners on outreach and public program activities.
3.    Knowledge of financial management and budget principles, practices and procedures.
4.    Ability to supervise a staff to include establishing priorities, assigning work, assessing employee performance, staff development, employee counseling and overall technical direction.

Important Note:

Your resume and supporting documentation will be compared to your responses to the occupational questionnaire or other assessment tool for consistency. If a determination is made that you have rated yourself higher than is supported by your resume, you will be assigned a rating commensurate to your described experience. Your resume should provide detailed information regarding how your education and experience relate to this position, including the major duties and qualifications criteria listed.

Your application package should include the following documents:

• Resume - Your resume can be uploaded and attached to your application or created using the USA Jobs on-line resume builder. Ensure your resume contains the job title (including the occupational series and grade if it is Federal), job-related qualifications, starting and ending dates (month and year), and hours worked per week, for each employment period. It is your responsibility to ensure all information is submitted. Failure to include this information may result in disqualification for the position.

  For assistance with creating a resume, please click USAJOBS Help Center - How do I write a resume for a federal job?

• Current and former employees MUST submit a copy of their Standard Form (SF)-50, “Notice of Personnel Action,” that indicates proof of status and time-in-grade eligibility. SI Trust employees are ineligible for Merit Promotion consideration unless you submit a Standard Form (SF) - 50, "Notice of Personnel Action", that indicates proof you previously held a 'status' position and proof of time-in-grade.  The SF-50 must include your position title, series, grade, step, salary, type of service (competitive or excepted in block 34), and tenure (1 or 2 in block 24). Please provide a SF-50 that shows the length of time you have been in your current/highest grade level.  Examples of appropriate SF50s include: Appointments, Reassignments, Within-grade/range increases or Promotion actions.  NOTE: Pay adjustments and award SF-50s do not include the length of time in your current position, therefore, they are NOT acceptable SF-50’s on their own. You may need to provide more than one SF-50. Failure to provide the appropriate SF-50(s) may prevent you from receiving consideration for this position.

• Unofficial school transcripts, if the position has an education requirement or if you are using education to qualify. If selected for the position, you must provide an official transcript before appointment.
• Proof of U.S. accreditation for foreign study, if applicable.

Next steps