Director, Performance Audits

Clarification from the agency

This vacancy announcement is open to Federal employees and other eligible applicants.

Major Duties

• Plan, direct, and coordinate a comprehensive audit program to ensure the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of NSF's programs, operations, and processes.
• Lead development of audit scope, objectives, methodologies, and work plans for performance, financial, operational, and compliance audits.
• Serve as a technical advisor, reviewing audit reports and other audit products, developing and planning audits and reviews, ensuring relevant and actionable audit recommendations are made and implemented, and establishing OIG audit policies and procedures.
• Oversee the auditing of NSF grantee institutions for compliance with federal cost principles and administrative requirements.
• Oversee the performance of quality assurance reviews of Certified Public Accountant (CPA) audits of grantee institutions performed under the Single Audit Act.
• Direct audit teams in the planning and implementation of audits and evaluations of agency programs to assess vulnerabilities in operations, processes, and systems.
• Lead the review of policies, procedures, regulations, manuals, and guidelines to identify areas of vulnerability that may result in financial recoveries and savings in agency programs and operations.
• Oversee analysis and evaluation of the effectiveness of programs or operations in meeting established goals and objectives.
• Review audit reports and products to ensure the findings, conclusions, and recommendations are accurate, supportable, and actionable.
• Work with key agency management officials to provide precise guidance on how to improve their operations' efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
• Ensure adherence to professional audit standards and requirements.
• Monitor and evaluate audit work plans, assignments, and outcomes to ensure quality, timeliness, and strategic alignment with OIG priorities.
• Plan work to be accomplished by subordinate auditors; set priorities; and assign work to subordinates based on priorities, complexity, and staff capabilities.
• Evaluate staff performance, provide coaching and counseling, and address administrative and work-related concerns.
• Identify employee developmental and training needs and provide or arrange the necessary development and training.
• Represent the Assistant Inspector General for Audit in meetings, conferences, and consultations with high-level officials and professional organizations.

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.

Conditions of employment

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYEMENT:

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• You may be subject to a background/security investigation
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID-compliant cannot be used as acceptable forms of identification for employment.
• This is a positive education position. Transcripts are required to be considered for this position.
• You must meet all eligibility requirements within thirty days of the date the announcement closes and continue to meet these requirements throughout the hiring process. Offers can be rescinded if requirements are not met.
• You will not need a clearance to accept this position, but you must be able to obtain a clearance if needed.
• If you are a current federal employee holding a General Schedule (GS) position, you must meet the time-in-grade requirements.

All online applicants must provide a valid email address. If your email address is inaccurate or your mailbox is full/blocked, you may not receive important communication that could affect your consideration for this position.

Qualifications

BASIC REQUIREMENTS

1. Degree: accounting, auditing, or a degree including auditing courses in a related field such as business administration, finance, or public administration that included or was supplemented by 24 semester hours in accounting. The 24 hours may include up to 6 hours of credit in business law.

   OR

2. Combination of education and experience: at least 4 years of experience in accounting, or an equivalent combination of accounting experience, college-level education, and training that provided professional accounting knowledge. The applicant's background must also include one of the following:

   1. Twenty-four semester hours in accounting or auditing courses of appropriate type and quality. This can include up to 6 hours of business law;
   2. A certificate as a Certified Public Accountant or a Certified Internal Auditor, obtained through written examination; or
   3. Completion of the requirements for a degree that included substantial course work in accounting or auditing, e.g., 15 semester hours, but that does not fully satisfy the 24-semester-hour requirement of paragraph A, provided that (a) the applicant has successfully worked at the full-performance level in accounting, auditing, or a related field, e.g., valuation engineering or financial institution examining; (b) a panel of at least two higher level professional accountants or auditors has determined that the applicant has demonstrated a good knowledge of accounting and of related and underlying fields that equals in breadth, depth, currency, and level of advancement that which is normally associated with successful completion of the 4-year course of study described in paragraph A; and (c) except for literal nonconformance to the requirement of 24 semester hours in accounting, the applicant's education, training, and experience fully meet the specified requirements.

To qualify at the GS-15 level, you must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-14 level in the Federal service.

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE:
To qualify at the GS-15 level, you must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-14 level in the Federal service that includes:
Experience in planning and executing complex performance audits of major agency programs and activities within an Office of Inspector General (OIG), and ensuring that audit work is conducted in accordance with Generally Accepted Government Audit Standards (GAGAS). Also, has experience briefing reports and findings to senior OIG leadership, agency management, officials, and other major stakeholders.

This experience must be fully supported and articulated in your resume to receive consideration. Please do not cut and paste the specialized experience from this announcement into your resume, as this will not be considered a demonstration of your qualifications for this position.

TIME-IN-GRADE: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-14 position, you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-13. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate that you possess one year of time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one year of time-in-grade. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. Do not submit an award SF-50. It is highly recommended that multiple SF-50s are submitted to verify time-in-grade requirements are met.

How you will be evaluated

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

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:

• Auditing
• Government Auditing Standards
• Strategic Thinking
• Oral Communication
• Written Communication
• Accountability
• Developing Others

Your experience must be fully documented on your resume and include the job title, duties, grade/salary, and dates worked. A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited based on the time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. If your resume is missing the job title, duties, grade, or salary, and dates worked, you might not be referred for consideration to the hiring manager.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE.

To evaluate the quality of applicants for referral to the selecting official, a four-phase process will be used.

Phase 1: Applicants' resumes and supporting documents will be reviewed by Human Resources (HR) to determine whether they meet the basic qualification requirements.

Phase 2: Applicants who are minimally qualified may be advanced to a Structured Resume Review assessment conducted by a Subject Matter Expert (SME) panel. SMEs may review applicants' resumes to evaluate technical qualifications for this position based on the required specialized experience.

Phase 3: Applicants who successfully pass the Structured Resume Review assessment may be advanced to a Structured Interview conducted by a Subject Matter Expert (SME) panel. SMEs may assess applicants' ability to demonstrate the required competencies for the position.

Phase 4: A final score, which may combine the results from one or more assessments, may be used to identify the top-rated applicants. Applicants meeting the established cut-off score may be referred to the selecting official for consideration and may be required to participate in one or more additional interviews as part of the hiring process.

RESUME: You must submit a resume (a two-page or less resume is required) containing the following pieces of information for each job entry listed in your employment history:

Resumes must include all of the following information outlined below:

• Contact Information: Name and preferred contact method, including email address and phone number.
• Relevant Work Experience
  • Job Title and Employer
  • Start and end dates with month/year (e.g., 05/2019 -08/2022 or present)
  • The number of hours you worked per week
  • Series and grade for any Federal positions, and salary for non-Federal positions
  • If work was completed as a contractor, please clearly indicate that

MOST RECENT PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL: If a performance appraisal is not dated within the last 18 months, or if you are unable to provide a performance appraisal, an explanation of why must be provided. Please include a document in your application package explaining why the performance appraisal is not available.

NOTIFICATION OF PERSONNEL ACTION (SF-50): You must submit your most recent SF-50 (Notification of Personnel Action) or equivalent agency form. Do not submit an award SF-50; these do not contain sufficient information about your appointment. Your SF-50 should list the full position title, series, grade, and step, organization, duty location, service computation date, effective date, and your service type and tenure status. Applicants are encouraged to submit multiple SF-50s to meet eligibility requirements.
If you are a current or former Federal employee:

1. You must submit your most recent SF-50 (Notification of Personnel Action) or equivalent agency form. Do not submit an award SF-50; these do not contain sufficient information about your appointment. Your SF-50 should list the full position title, series, grade, and step, organization, duty location, service computation date, effective date, and your service type and tenure status. Applicants are encouraged to submit multiple SF-50s to meet eligibility requirements.
2. Submit a copy of your most recent performance evaluation or appraisal, signed, showing your final rating. If a performance appraisal is not available, submit a statement explaining why one is not available.

If you are a Veteran or a qualifying parent or spouse:

1. When claiming a Veteran's Preference, you must submit your last DD-214 (Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty) form, specifically the Member #4 Copy, indicating dates and character of service and discharge type.
2. If you are a Veteran with a service-connected disability rating, you will need to additionally submit the SF-15 (Application for 10-point Veterans Preference) and a copy of your VA Letter stating your disability rating.
3. If you are the qualifying parent or spouse of a disabled, deceased, or deployed Veteran, and are seeking a derived preference eligibility, you must submit appropriate supporting documentation, such as the Veteran's DD-214, SF-15, VA Letter, and/or Permanent Change of Station (PCS) orders. See Veteran Family Preference for more information.
4. For more information on each type of Veterans Preference, and the documentation required for each, see FedsHireVets.

If you are applying for consideration under the Military Spouse Appointing Authority: Military spouses of the armed forces on active duty should visit the following site for information on required documentation: https://help.usajobs.gov/working-in-government/unique-hiring-paths/military-spouses

If you are a person with a disability, claiming eligibility under Schedule A:

1. You must submit "proof of a disability" documentation ("Proof of a disability" is a letter stating that you have an intellectual disability, severe physical disability, or psychiatric disability).
2. You must get this letter from your doctor, a licensed medical professional, a licensed vocational rehabilitation specialist, or any Federal, state, or local agency that issues or provides disability benefits.

The NSF OIG provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities where appropriate. Individuals with disabilities may contact
OIG-HR@nsf.gov for assistance with the application or hiring process.

Individuals who are eligible for a non-competitive appointment under an Office of Personnel and Management (OPM) special appointing authority may apply for consideration under a comparable non-competitive appointing authority.

Selectees will be required to complete a "Declaration of Federal Employment" (OF-306) prior to being appointed to determine their suitability for Federal employment and to authorize a background investigation. False statements or responses on your resume or questionnaire can jeopardize your employment opportunity and subject you to disciplinary action, including removal from federal service.

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