Clarification from the agency

Open to current and former Federal employees with competitive or excepted status; and all U.S. Citizens. Former members of the Peace Corps may be considered for ODNI employment only if five full years have elapsed since separation from the Peace Corps.

Major Duties and Responsibilities:

The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) is an independent activity within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and is aligned within OESET. IARPA invests in high-risk/high-payoff research programs that have the potential to provide our nation with an overwhelming intelligence advantage over future adversaries.

IARPA drives ground breaking research and development to address, support, and advance IC strategies and mission requirements, enhance innovation across the breadth of IC activities, and allow the IC to take advantage of cutting-edge technology that result in critical advances that propel the IC forward.

IARPA was established to provide a community-wide focus on innovative, path-breaking scientific research and development for the Intelligence Community (IC) that:

Extends the IC's capabilities to collect and analyze foreign intelligence;

Leverages the IC's competitive advantage against emerging threats;

Pursues innovative concepts and advances in cutting edge technologies that can be applied to complex intelligence challenges; and

Promotes cross-community and multi-disciplinary R&D collaboration by bringing together this nation's best minds in an open, forward-looking work environment.

Today, IARPA is approaching 20 years of success and continues to focus on high risk, high payoff research that addresses the demand signals and needs of the IC's mission.

The successful candidate will serve as the Deputy Director of IARPA. Major duties and responsibilities include:

Partner with the Director in implementing the strategic direction and leadership for IARPA. Maintain and enhance a culture of innovation, creativity, respect, diversity and inclusion.

Promote an environment that attracts exceptional technical experts from academia, industry, and government with innovative ideas and enable them to create and execute research programs that tackle some of the hardest challenges that the IC will face in the coming years.

Assist the Director in overseeing the portfolio of research activities across IARPA, ensuring research activities are high-risk, high-payoff, have clear technology transition plans, and are technically credible and programmatically well-run while assuring alignment and synchronization with IARPA's tactical and strategic goals.

Represent and build support for IARPA's programs and research strategy, foster collaboration and partnerships throughout the IC; leverage these relationships to help ensure IC relevance of IARPA's programs, and to effect transition of results.

Assist in recruiting, hiring, and supervising Office Directors, Program Managers and operational staff.

Strategically plan and oversee IARPA's internal and external profile, ensuring that information conveyed to partners, stakeholders, collaborators, and oversight about IARPA is credible, professional, and security-conscious.

Oversee implementation and improvement of IARPA processes to enhance effectiveness and ensure timely execution of the IARPA R&D budget.

Align and coordinate the activities of contracts, acquisition and technical personnel to ensure coordinated reviews, approvals, and execution of contracts and interagency agreements associated with IARPA's research programs.

Collaborate with other ODNI elements to refine policies and procedures that improve execution effectiveness.

Foster an open and supportive working environment consistent with all applicable safety, security, legal policies and procedures.

Lead and manage a professional staff in successfully defining and managing complex programs and projects that may include ill-defined requirements, ambiguity, parallel tasks, multiple dependencies, high risks, and multiple

Conditions of employment

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

• You must be registered for the Selective Service, if applicable.
• You must be a U.S. citizen and at least 18 years of age.
• You must be willing to move to the Washington Metropolitan Area (WMA).
• You must successfully complete a medical and psychological exam, a polygraph interview, and a comprehensive background investigation.

PROBATIONARY & TRIAL PERIODS

Employees newly appointed to the Senior National Intelligence Service (SNIS) are subject to a twelve (12)-month probationary period to assess their ability to perform assigned duties and responsibilities at a level of excellence expected of a senior executive. For permanent employees newly hired into the ODNI, the probationary period will run concurrently with the first twelve (12) months of a new employee's two (2)-year trial period.

EXECUTIVE CORE QUALIFICATIONS (ECQs)

To meet the minimum qualification requirements for this position, you must show that you possess the five Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) and the Intelligence Community Senior Officer Core Qualification (ICSOCQ) in your resume. Please see qualification section.

FREE RESPONSE ESSAY QUESTIONS

All applicants must answer the following four short, free response essay questions. Responses cannot exceed 200 words per question. Submitting your responses to the following questions, you certify that you are using your own words and did not use a consultant or AI.

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.

Qualifications

Mandatory Requirements:

Demonstrated success in senior leadership roles in government. Strong leadership and management skills as demonstrated by effective management of a complex organization in strategic business policies and workforce dimensions.

Superior ability to manage and motivate subordinate personnel, encouraging and rewarding the application of increased skill, expertise and collaboration across all occupations in the work unit, to include subordinate managers and supervisors.

Excellent interpersonal skills including the ability to build and foster networks within and outside the IC, earn and maintain credibility and trust from senior leadership and subordinates, shape and influence the strategic directions of stakeholders and agency oversight.

Excellent oral and written communication skills and demonstrated ability to collect, filter, and synthesize data inputs into clear, logical, and concise products for consumption by audiences of widely varying technical sophistication, as well as the ability to mentor others in the art of cogent written communications and archival record-keeping.

Extensive knowledge and experience with Research and Development (R&D) acquisitions, with thorough understanding of FAR and non-FAR-based acquisition policies and procedures

Extensive knowledge of the IC, mission, objectives, policies, R&D needs and authorities; especially those that pertain to advanced R&D efforts.

Ph.D. in a science, technical, engineering or mathematics (STEM) discipline.

Desired Requirements:

Proven programmatic expertise demonstrated by effective execution and delivery on a program with a well-articulated program plan having clear and measurable milestones and metrics.

Awareness of the technical capabilities in industry, national labs and academia that could be brought to bear on IC R&D challenges.

Successful record of addressing difficult or complex personnel, technical, and resource issues; with sensitivity to personnel policies and practice.

Superior skill in working with multiple Intelligence Community agencies.

EXECUTIVE CORE QUALIFICATIONS (ECQs)

To meet the minimum qualification requirements for this position, you must show that you possess the five Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) and the Intelligence Community Senior Officer Core Qualification (ICSOCQ) listed below in your resume. RESUMES MUST NOT EXCEED TWO (2) PAGES. Resumes over the two (2)-page limit will not be reviewed and will be disqualified. Your resume should include examples of experience, educations, and accomplishments applicable to the qualifications. If your resume does not demonstrate evidence of these qualifications, you may not receive consideration for the position. For more information regarding ECQs, please visit the Executive Core Qualifications page on the OPM website.

ECQ 1: Commitment to the Rule of Law and Principles of the American Founding
This core qualification requires a 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
This core qualification involves the 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
This core qualification involves the demonstrated knowledge, ability and technical competence to effectively and reliably produce work that is of exceptional quality.

ECQ 4: Leading People
This core qualification involves the 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 to hold individuals accountable.

ECQ 5: Achieving Results
This core qualification involves the demonstrated ability to achieve both individual and organizational results, and to align results to stated goals from superiors.

ISCOCQ: Leading the Intelligence Enterprise
This core qualification involves the ability to integrate resources, information, interests, and activities effectively in support of the Intelligence Community's mission and to lead and leverage cross-organizational collaborative networks to achieve significant mission results. Inherent to this senior officer qualification is a deep understanding of the intelligence enterprise and a shared commitment to the IC's core values.

Note: If you are a member of the SES or have been certified through successful participation in an OPM-approved SES Candidate Development Program (SESCDP), or have SES reinstatement eligibility, you do not need to respond to the ECQs. Instead, you should attach proof (e.g., SF-50, Certification by OPM's SES Qualification Review Board (QRB)) or your eligibility for noncompetitive appointment to the SES.

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 supporting documentation to ensure you meet the basic qualification requirements. If you are among the best qualified, you may be referred to the hiring manager for consideration and may be called for an interview. After reviewing your resume and supporting documentation, a determination will be made. You must submit the supporting documents listed under the required documents section of this announcement.

A complete application package must include the following:

a. RESUME: Resumes must be no longer than two (2) pages in length. Resumes longer than two (2) pages will be removed from consideration. To meet the minimum qualification requirements for this position, your resume must show that you possess the five Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) and the Intelligence Community Senior Officer Core Qualification (ICSOCQ) listed in the Qualifications section. Your resume should include examples of experience, education, and accomplishments applicable to the qualifications. If your resume does not demonstrate evidence of these qualifications, you may not receive consideration for the position.

b. ESSAY QUESTION RESPONSES: The responses cannot exceed 200 words per question (please see questions in the Requirements section above). By submitting your responses to these questions, you certify that you are using your own words and did not use a consultant or AI (such as a large language model [LLM]).

c. COVER LETTER: Applicants must submit a cover letter as a supplement to the resume to elaborate on their qualifications and previous work performed.

d. CURRENT SF-50: Federal Government employees must provide their official most recent SF-50 (i.e., dated within the last 52 weeks from the closing date of this vacancy announcement). SF-50, "Notification of Personnel Action" is used to verify to verify current federal status, position, title, grade, and organization of record. If your SF-50(s) does not provide the information needed to make a final determination for qualification, you will be found ineligible for the position.

e. POSITION NUMBER: Reference the position number on each document submitted.

Next steps