Clarification from the agency

Current FCC Employees Only

Duties:

The incumbent will serve in the Market Disputes Resolution Division as an Attorney Advisor providing expert advice and guidance on legal issues including adjudicating complaints and conducting mediation/settlement conferences.

• Provides authoritative legal advice to management concerning highly complex and controversial, policy-oriented enforcement issues.
• Works on complaints and legal issues of extreme complexity. These are characterized by one or more of the following: (1) extremely complex issues both factually and legally, requiring a high order of legal endeavor with the incumbent often having to balance conflicting interests; and (2) matters that can have an important impact on the telecommunications industry who economic positions affects major private and public interests.
• Drafts orders, letters, and memoranda with recommendations as to the appropriate disposition of complaints.
• Serves as the primary lead counsel as the adjudicator in adversarial legal proceedings where the legal questions posed are of an extremely complex nature.
• Conducts mediation and settlement conferences used to facilitate the resolution of disputes arising between potential and actual litigants.

Conditions of employment

• FCC Employees Only.
• US Citizenship.
• Suitable for employment as determined by a background investigation.
• SF-50 Documenting One Year of Time in Grade Required.
• Bar Membership documentation required upon selection.
• Transcripts required upon selection.
• Financial Disclosure may be required.
• Current FCC employees must provide SF-50 verifying grade & status.
• Resume must not exceed two pages and must meet resume format criteria.

To be considered for this position, applicants must:

Currently be employed in the Federal Communications Commission in positions serving under career, career conditional, or excepted service (Schedule A appointments under authority 213.3102(d)-Attorneys) appointments.

SF-50 Required: ALL FCC EMPLOYEES MUST provide a legible Personnel Action, SF-50, that verifies your status and highest permanently held grade.  If an SF-50 is not submitted, the application will be rated as ineligible. To request a copy of your SF-50 please send an email to PersonnelRecordsRequest@fcc.gov

Qualifications

Interested candidates should be passionate about the ideals of our American republic, committed to upholding the rule of law and the U.S. Constitution, and committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government. Hiring decisions will not be based on race, sex, color, religion, or national origin.

Applicants must meet eligibility and qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement. Current Federal employees must meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

Professional law experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position and is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled.

In order to be deemed as "BEST QUALIFIED" candidates must meet both the educational requirements and the specialized experience requirements outlined below.

A. Education

You must meet the minimum basic educational requirements for Attorney positions.

Education requirements include: a professional law degree JD, LL.B., and/or LL.M.

If transcripts are not submitted at the time of application, a copy of the transcript must be submitted at the time of selection.

AND

B. Specialized Experience

Applicants must have a minimum of 4 years of professional law experience, including one year of specialized experience which must be equivalent to at least the GS-14 in the Federal service. For this position, specialized experience includes the following: 

1. Providing legal advice and analysis in highly complex rulemaking or policy proceedings;
2. Drafting, reviewing, and editing decisional documents, including rulemaking items; policy statements, and position papers; and
3. Providing legal guidance to attorneys and other professionals.

PART-TIME OR UNPAID 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.

How you will be evaluated

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

Candidates will be considered without regard to political or religious affiliation, marital status, race, color, sex, national origin, non disqualifying physical or mental handicap, age, or any other non merit factor. THE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER. All applicants will be rated on the extent and quality of experience and education relevant to the duties of the position. Applicants who do not respond to the application questions and/or do not submit a supporting resume will be rated ineligible.

In compliance with the OPM Merit Hiring Plan requirements, please be advised that candidates will not be evaluated, selected or hired based on race, sex, color, religion, or national origin. 

Optional Four Essay Questions

At the time of application, applicants have the option of answering the following four short, free-response essay questions.

1. How has your commitment to the Constitution and the founding principles of the United States inspired you to pursue this role within the Federal government? Provide a concrete example from professional, academic, or personal experience.
2. In this role, how would you use your skills and experience to improve government efficiency and effectiveness? Provide specific examples where you improved processes, reduced costs, or improved outcomes.
3. How would you help advance the President’s Executive Orders and policy priorities in this role? Identify one or two relevant Executive Orders or policy initiatives that are significant to you, and explain how you would help implement them if hired.
4. How has a strong work ethic contributed to your professional, academic or personal achievements? Provide one or two specific examples, and explain how those qualities would enable you to serve effectively in this position.

Applicants will be required to certify that they are using their own words, and did not use a consultant or AI (such as a large language model [LLM]). The responses to each question cannot exceed 200 words per question.

Please note your resume must thoroughly support your responses to the vacancy questions. There are several parts to the application process that affect the overall evaluation of your application including:

1. supplemental documentation (e.g., DD-214, SF-50, SF-15, transcripts); and

2. your resume.

Applicants will be rated ineligible, if they do not respond to job specific questions provide supplemental documents and submit resume. For more information, please click on Rating Process

Subject matter experts will review your application to determine if you meet the following required Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSA's):

• Knowledge of research strategies and techniques to research legal issues where no clearly applicable precedents are available.
• Ability to communicate in writing in order to produce legal documents.
• Knowledge of the policies, rules and regulations, and relevant case law.
• Ability to communicate orally on issues related to in-depth legal research.

If you are deemed to be qualified by the Subject Matter Experts, your application will be referred to the hiring manager for hiring consideration. Alternatively, if your application is not deemed as qualified by the Subject Matter Experts, your application will not be referred to the hiring manager for hiring consideration.

Merit Hiring Plan Resume Requirements

In compliance with Executive Order 14170, Reforming the Federal Hiring Process and Restoring Merit to Government Service resumes must not be longer than two pages in length. The resume must address minimum qualifications and other requirements listed in the job announcement.

Resumes must include all of the following information outlined below:

Contact Information

Name and how best to contact you, including email address and phone number.

Relevant Work Experience

• Job Title and Employer (including series and grade for any Federal positions)
• Start and end dates with month/year (e.g., 05/2019 –08/2022)
• The number of hours you worked per week

Ensure work experience descriptions are aligned with the job announcement and address all required qualifications. Brief descriptions should demonstrate your ability to perform the tasks at the required level as stated in the job announcement.

Resumes must be formatted as outlined above. If the two page resume criteria and/or the resume formatting requirement is not met candidates will be rated as ineligible and will not be referred for hiring consideration.

The FCC is providing the following applicant resume resources: 

• Applicant Guidance on the Two-Page Resume Limit
• USAjobs-How to Write a Federal Resume

SF-50 Required: ALL FCC EMPLOYEES MUST provide a legible Personnel Action, SF-50, that verifies your status and highest permanently held grade.  If an SF-50 is not submitted, the application will be rated as ineligible. To request a copy of your SF-50 please send an email to PersonnelRecordsRequest@fcc.gov

ALL SUPPLEMENTAL DOCUMENTS MUST BE UPLOADED BY THE CLOSING DATE OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. If applying online poses a hardship, you may contact either the HR Specialist listed on the vacancy announcement or you may contact the Monster Government Solutions help desk (prior to the closing date of the vacancy announcement) via e-mail at mgshelp@monster.com or you may reach them directly at 866-656-6831. The Monster Help Desk is available Monday-Friday 7:00 am to 7:00 pm EST.

Next steps