Deputy General Counsel Job in Washington, DC

Vacancy No. 26-CFPB-12971841-X Department Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Salary $190,421.00 to $262,000.00 Grade 81 to 81
Perm/Temp Permanent FT/PT Full-time
Open Date 6/2/2026 Close Date 6/15/2026
Job Link Apply Online Who may apply Public
Locations:
Washington, DC


Summary

This position is located in the Legal Division, Office of Litigation at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).


This job is open to

The public

U.S. Citizens, Nationals or those who owe allegiance to the U.S.

Clarification from the agency

1. U.S Citizens or U.S. Nationals; no prior federal experience is required.

Duties

As a Deputy General Counsel, you will:

  • Provide guidance to supervisory and staff attorneys handling defensive and appellate litigation involving the CFPB.
  • Serve as a principal legal advisor to the CFPB Director and other senior officials, including formulating and presenting legal recommendations and conclusions to senior CFPB leadership.
  • Recruit and develop legal talent in defined legal areas and contribute to and share responsibility for setting goals and priorities for the Legal Division.
  • Plan, implement, and manage both short and long-range objectives and strategies for building and maintaining CFPB's legal capabilities, including business practices, management roles, and performance measures.
Managerial and Supervisory Duties Include:
  • Implementing a team vision, with goals and objectives that are communicated to staff and aligned to CFPB strategic objectives.
  • Translating program objectives into organizational structures, budgets, and staffing requirements for current and out years.
  • Ensuring work is appropriately and effectively distributed and accomplished in accordance with established and emerging policy and practice.

Requirements

Conditions of employment

Key Requirements:

  • Must be U.S. Citizen or U.S. National
  • A trial period may be required. Continued employment is contingent upon supervisory certification that continued employment will benefit the Federal Service; the certification will occur no less than 30 days before the end of the probationary/trial period.
  • Public Trust - Background Investigation will be required.
  • Complete a Declaration for Federal Employment to determine your suitability for Federal employment, at the time requested by the agency.
  • Have your salary sent to a financial institution of your choice by Direct Deposit/Electronic Funds Transfer.
  • If you are a male applicant born after December 31, 1959, certify that you have registered with the Selective Service System or are exempt from having to do so.
  • Go through a Personal Identity Verification (PIV) process that requires two forms of identification from the Form i-9. Federal law requires verification of the identity and employment eligibility of all new hires in the U.S.
  • Obtain and use a government-issued charge card for business-related travel.
  • File an Executive Personnel Public Financial Disclosure Report within 30 days of appointment and annually from then on.
  • This position requires that the successful candidate undergo personnel vetting, which includes a background investigation and enrollment upon onboarding into "Continuous Vetting." Enrollment in Continuous Vetting will result in automated record checks being conducted throughout one's employment with The CFPB. The successful candidate will also be enrolled into FBI's Rap Back service, which will allow The CFPB to receive notification from the FBI of criminal matters (e.g., arrests, charges, convictions) involving enrolled individuals in near real-time.

Qualifications

1. Law Degree: Applicants must be a graduate of an accredited law school with an LL.B., J.D. or equivalent.
2. Bar Membership: Applicants must be a current member of a bar with a valid license to practice law in a state, territory of the United States, District of Columbia, or Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
3. Specialized Experience: Applicants must have at least one year of specialized experience at the next lower grade level, or equivalent, that has equipped them with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to successfully perform the duties of this position.

To qualify for this Executive-level position, you must have substantial specialized experience, which is defined as:

  • Experience directing the planning, implementation, and evaluation of the operations of a general counsel's office or similar legal operation for an organization or a Federal or state agency, or as a partner in a law firm; AND
  • Experience leading a legal team in analyzing, addressing, and litigating complex legal issues in federal court; AND
  • Experience in analyzing and addressing issues related to administrative law.


The experience may have been gained in either the public, private sector or volunteer service. One year of experience refers to full-time work; part-time work is considered on a prorated basis. To ensure full credit for your work experience, please indicate dates of employment by month/day/year, and indicate number of hours worked per week on your résumé.

Education

Law Degree: Applicants must be a graduate of an accredited law school with an LL.B., J.D. or equivalent.

Additional information

OTHER INFORMATION:

  • We are concurrently accepting resumes directly for this opportunity. To learn more about how you can send your resume directly to the CFPB, please check out our Careers Page.
  • We may select from this announcement or any other source to fill one or more vacancies.
  • This announcement may be used to fill like positions in other organizations within the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
  • All candidates will be considered without regard to any non-merit reasons such as race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, lawful political affiliation, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, protected genetic information, parental status, membership in an employee organization, or other non-merit factors.
  • This is a non-bargaining unit position.
  • Telework may be available according to agency policy.
  • Bureau employees are subject to government-wide ethical standards of conduct, financial disclosure requirements, and post-employment prohibitions, which applicants may review at www.oge.gov. In addition, employees must comply with the Supplemental Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (5 CFR 9401), which, among other things, prohibit an employee or the employee's spouse or minor child from owning or controlling a debt or equity interest in an entity supervised by the Bureau. Regulations also impose restrictions on the outside activities of certain Bureau employees, including examiners and attorneys. Applicants may review the Bureau ethics regulations and a summary of the regulations at www.consumerfinance.gov. Questions regarding these requirements and prohibitions should be directed to the Bureau Ethics Office at EthicsHelp@cfpb.gov.

CFPB uses an experience-based process to set pay for employees. Experience is evaluated and credited using the employee's résumé. If you are selected for a position, in order to ensure that all of your prior work experience (e.g., internships, volunteer work, details, part-time, self-employment, secondary jobs, etc.) is considered and accounted for, we will ask for a comprehensive resume that should cover the following:

  • your entire work history with specific start and end dates (MM-DD-YYYY) provided for each listed position
  • hours worked per week for each position
  • degrees and the dates conferred (MM-YYYY)

Part-time experience will be credited pro-rata based on a 40-hour work week, while work of 32 hours or more will be rounded up to full-time experience. If you have multiple positions that have overlapping start and/or end dates, only 40 hours of experience will be credited for a given work week. Refer to Resume Tips for more information on how to submit a comprehensive résumé. See information on our base pay ranges and salary structure.

Our comprehensive benefits are among the most generous in the federal government. They include:- Challenging and rewarding work benefiting American consumers - Opportunities for development and advancement- Comprehensive Federal health, vision, dental, life, and long-term care insurance programs- Learn more about Federal benefits programs at: http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/201706_cfpb_benefits.pdf

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.

We will evaluate your application by comparing your description of your work experience, level of responsibility, and accomplishments, with the requirements of the position to determine whether you meet all the qualification requirements. The assessment questions are for information gathering purposes only.

Veterans preference is not applied but considered a positive factor.

The Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act prohibits specific inquiries concerning an applicant's criminal or credit background unless the hiring agency has made a conditional offer of employment to the applicant. An applicant may submit a complaint, or any other information, to the agency within 30 calendar days of the date of alleged non-compliance by contacting: Ana.GuzmanEvans@cfpb.gov

What are criminal history inquiries?

Required Documents

A complete application includes 1. A résumé, 2. Vacancy question responses, and 3. Submission of any required documents.
Please note that if you do not provide all required information, as specified in this announcement, you may not be considered for this position (or may not receive the special consideration for which you may be eligible). Please ensure all required documents, including any required work samples, narratives, or other materials as stated in this announcement, are attached to your application package.

All applicants are required to submit a résumé either by creating one in USAJOBS or uploading one of their own choosing. (Cover letters are optional.) Please limit your résumé to 2 pages. If more than 2 pages are submitted, your resume will still be accepted, however only the first 2 pages will be reviewed and considered for qualifications and eligibility determination in whether or not the minimum qualifications for the position have been met. To receive full credit for relevant experience, please list the month/date/year and number of hours worked for experience listed on your résumé. We suggest that you preview the online questions, as you may need to customize your résumé to ensure that it supports your responses to these questions. Please view résumé tips.

VETERANS' PREFERENCE DOCUMENTATION: If you are claiming veterans preference as a positive factor, please see applicant guide for required documentation. In order to be considered for veterans preference, you must submit all required documentation as outlined in the applicant guide.

EDUCATION DOCUMENTATION:

For positions with an education requirement, or if you are qualifying for this position by substituting education or training for experience, you MUST submit a copy of your transcripts or equivalent if selected. An official transcript will be required if you are selected. A college or university degree generally must be from an accredited (or pre-accredited) college or university recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. For a list of schools which meet these criteria, please refer to Department of Education Accreditation page. If you are qualifying based on foreign education, you must submit proof of creditability of education as evaluated by a credentialing agency. Refer to the OPM instructions.

See our tips on the application process and printable checklist to ensure each step of the application is completed.

RECOMMENDED DOCUMENTS:

In addition, we recommend that you submit copies of the following:1. Proof of Active Bar Membership: Applicants must be a current member of a bar with a valid license to practice law in a state, territory of the United States, District of Columbia, or Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. 2. Official or unofficial law school transcripts; 3. A cover letter; and 4. a recent legal writing sample.

How to Apply

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has partnered with the Treasury's Common Services Center (TCSC) to provide certain personnel services to its organization. TCSC's responsibilities include advertising vacancies, accepting and handling applications, and extending job offers.

Please review the entire announcement before applying.

The following instructions outline our application process. You must complete this application process and submit any required documents by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on the closing date of this announcement. We are available to assist you during business hours (normally 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. ET, Monday - Friday). If applying online poses a hardship, please contact us by noon ET on the announcement's closing date.

You may be entitled to a reasonable accommodation as part of the job application process if you need one due to a disability, pregnancy; childbirth; or related medical conditions, or religion. Learn more about reasonable accommodations.

  • 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 (USAJOBS Login), all of your applications will appear on the Welcome screen
-Under "application status," click "Track this application" and you will be taken to the agency website where you can check your application status.

For more information regarding the job and applicant status, please refer to USAJOBS Help Center - How to see your application and job status If you wish to make changes/updates to your application and the vacancy is still open, you can click on the job announcement and "Update Application" to be taken back to your application. No updates can be made once the announcement has closed. Please notify us if your contact information changes after the closing date of the announcement. Also, note that if you provide an email address that is inaccurate or if your mailbox is full or blocked (e.g., spam-blocker), you may not receive important communication that could affect your consideration for this position.

For additional information on how to apply, please visit the Partnership for Public Service's Go Government website.

To preview the questionnaire: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12971841

Agency contact information

Applicant Call Center
Phone
304-480-7300
Email
cfpbinquiries@fiscal.treasury.gov
Address
Office of the Director
Treasury Common Services Center
Parkersburg, WV 26101
US

Next steps

Once the online application is submitted, you will receive an acknowledgement email that your submission was successful. We will review your résumé and transcript(s) (if appropriate) to ensure you meet the basic qualification requirements. We will evaluate each applicant who meets the basic qualifications on the information provided and may interview the best-qualified applicants. After making a tentative job offer, we will conduct any required suitability and/or security background investigation.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a 21st century agency that implements and enforces Federal consumer financial law and ensures that markets for consumer financial products are transparent, fair, and competitive. Our goal is to recruit, hire, and retain the highest quality workforce based on merit, and to create a workplace that supports and develops talented individuals who want to do meaningful work on behalf of the Bureau.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Legal Division is seeking an executive-level managing attorney to serve as the Deputy General Counsel leading the CFPB's Office of Litigation, one of the Legal Division's four offices. The Deputy General Counsel for the CFPB's Office of Litigation oversees a team of supervisory and staff attorneys primarily charged with representing the CFPB in all defensive and appellate litigation involving the CFPB, including statutory and constitutional challenges to the CFPB's rulemaking, supervisory, enforcement, and operational activities. The Deputy General Counsel also advises the CFPB Director and CFPB components on issues presenting litigation, mission-related, and reputational risks.

If you are an experienced litigator with management experience and a proven track record of winning complex cases, developing sophisticated courtroom strategies, and building cohesive, high-performing legal teams, then we invite you to apply.

Agency contact information

Applicant Call Center
Phone
304-480-7300
Email
cfpbinquiries@fiscal.treasury.gov
Address
Office of the Director
Treasury Common Services Center
Parkersburg, WV 26101
US