IT Program Manager (Service Designer), GS-2210-15, FPL 15, (DHA) Job

Vacancy No. FSA-2025-0027 Department Federal Student Aid
Salary $146,481.00 to $195,200.00 Grade 15 to 15
Perm/Temp Permanent FT/PT Full-time
Open Date 9/18/2025 Close Date 9/26/2025
Job Link Apply Online Who may apply Public
Locations:
San Francisco County, CADenver, COWashington, DCAtlanta, GA


Summary

The position is located in the Department of Education, Federal Student Aid. As a Service Designer, you will assist in transforming how millions of students and families access financial aid and play a vital role in implementing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). 

This job is open to

Clarification from the agency

United States Citizens. This position may be filled through the Direct Hire Authority. All applicants who meet the qualification requirements will be forwarded to the selecting official for further consideration. Category Rating, Veterans Preference, Schedule A and traditional rating and ranking of applicants does not apply to this vacancy.

Duties

APPLICATION LIMIT: This vacancy announcement is limited to the first 200 applications received and will close at 11:59PM Eastern Time on the day that we receive the 200th application, or at 11:59PM Eastern Time on the listed closing date, whichever occurs first.  

We encourage you to read this entire vacancy announcement prior to submitting your application.

As an IT Program Manager, GS-2210-15, you will be responsible for:
• Working with cross-functional agile development teams and directly with users to transform the way FSA uses technology to improve service delivery including Artificial Intelligent (AI) and AI-enabling technologies. 
• Identifying, prioritizing and implementating customer experience strategies and processes with a focus on continuous improvement to maximize entire end-to-end experiences.
• Leading the user experience design and research discipline and serves as the voice for users by advocating for and teaching about best practices for user-centered design and user research across FSA.
• Working with communications and engagement offices across FSA and Ed to support and coordinate field research and usability testing by facilitating access to users.
• Establishing, guiding and prioritizing an agency-wide research program to make data-driven recommendations for design change based on research findings and to ensure that resources are being directed towards solutions that maximize impact for FSA. 

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

  • Relocation will not be paid.
  • May be required to successfully complete a one-year probationary period.
  • Males 18 and over must be registered with the Selective Service.
  • Must be a US Citizen
  • Background Investigation is required.

You must meet all qualification requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this vacancy announcement.

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. We will consider all qualifying experience, including any volunteer experience.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualification Requirements
You may meet the minimum qualifications for the GS-15, if you possess the specialize experience.

Specialized Experience for the GS-15
One year of experience in either federal or non-federal service that is equivalent to at least a GS-14 performing two (2) out of three (3) of the following duties or work assignments:
1. Experience leading or serving in a senior role of a multi-disciplinary project involving the design, development, and implementation of a new system or a major enhancement to an existing IT system.     
2. Experience serving as a design lead, overseeing adoption of new functionalities or technologies for users.   
3. Experience communicating technical concepts to non-technical audiences and translating business requirements into technical user stories.  

Basic Experience Requirements:

You must possess IT related experience (paid or unpaid experience and/or completion of specific, intensive training (e.g., IT certification), as appropriate) demonstrating each of the four competencies listed below.
1.    Attention to Detail - Is thorough when performing work and conscientious about attending to detail.
2.    Customer Service - Works with clients and customers (i.e., any individuals who use or receive the services or products that your work unit produces, including the general public, individuals who work in the agency, other agencies, or organizations outside the Government) to assess their needs, provide information or assistance, resolve their problems, or satisfy their expectations; knows about available products and services; is committed to providing quality products and services.
3.    Oral Communication - Expresses information (e.g., ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (e.g., technical, sensitive, controversial); makes clear and convincing oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately.
4.    Problem Solving - Identifies problems; determines accuracy and relevance of information; uses sound judgment to generate and evaluate alternatives, and to make recommendations.



Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs)
The quality of your experience will be measured by the extent to which you possess the following knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs). You do not need to provide separate narrative responses to these KSAs, as they will be measured by your responses to the occupational questionnaire (you may preview the occupational questionnaire by clicking the link at the end of the Evaluations section of this vacancy announcement).

1.    Skills in applying product design practices such as user-centered design, user research, interaction design, information architecture, visual design, and accessibility to deliver high-quality software products.
2.    Knowledge of agile software development methodologies that ensure iterative and value-driven delivery of software products.
3.    Ability to clearly articulate where new design activities should be injected into existing product development.
4.    Knowledge of leading, organizing and facilitating user research initiatives that create understanding and empathy around user needs, stated and unstated.
5.    Ability to utilize strong analytical and design capabilities in synthesizing user research to share findings and address user needs.

Education

Education cannot be substituted for experience for this position and grade level. 

Additional information

Veterans’ Career Counseling: If you are a veteran interested in receiving tips on preparing a Federal resume and/or how to prepare for an interview, you may email sro_recruiting@ed.gov to schedule a session with a career counselor (“Veterans Counseling Session” should be placed in the subject line of the email).

Student Loan Default: If selected for this position, we will verify that you have not defaulted on any loan funded or guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Education. If you are found to be in default, we will contact you to make arrangements for repayment prior to making an official offer of employment.

Suitability and Investigation: If selected for this position, you will be required to complete the Declaration for Federal Employment (OF-306) to determine your suitability for federal employment and successfully complete a pre-appointment investigation/background check.

Essential: This position is considered essential for purposes of reporting to work during federal government closures.

Financial Disclosure: This position does not require financial disclosure.

Bargaining Unit: This position is included in the bargaining unit (American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 252). 

Selections: Agencies have broad authority under law to hire from any appropriate source of eligibles and may fill a vacancy in the competitive service by any method authorized. We may make additional selections from this vacancy announcement within 90 days from the date the selection certificates are issued, should vacancies occur. We may also share selection certificates amongst program offices across the agency.

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.

Benefits

As an ED employee, you will also benefit from our family-friendly work environment. As part of our commitment to maintain a work life balance, we offer excused leave for Parent/Teacher Conferences (3 hours); excused leave for annual health screenings (4 hours); and matching leave for community volunteer service. Other flexibilities that may be available to you include alternative work schedules. You may be eligible to receive a recruitment incentive for this position. To receive this incentive payment, you will be required to sign a service agreement obligating you to remain with the U.S. Department of Education for a specified period as agreed upon. You may be eligible to receive a relocation incentive for this position. To receive this incentive payment, you will be required to sign a service agreement obligating you to remain with the U.S. Department of Education for a specified period as agreed upon. You may be eligible to participate in the Student Loan Repayment Program as a recruitment incentive for this position. To receive student loan repayments, you will be required to sign a service agreement obligating you to remain with the U.S. Department of Education for a specified period as agreed upon.

Review our benefits

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 application and documentation submitted to ensure you meet the basic qualification requirements. We will refer the best qualified candidates to the Selecting Official of the job for further review and consideration. You will be evaluated to determine if you meet qualifications required, and on the extent to which your application shows that you possess the knowledge, skills and abilities associated with this position as defined below. Please be sure to give examples in your resume and explain how often you used these skills, the complexity of the knowledge you possessed, the level of people you interacted with, and the complexity and sensitivity of the issues you handled.

CTAP/ICTAP candidates must be rated and determined to be well qualified (or above), based on an evaluation of their applications; possessing the knowledge, skills, and abilities which clearly exceed the minimum qualification requirements for the position.


You may preview questions for this vacancy.

Required Documents

You must submit (REQUIRED FOR ALL APPLICANTS):

  • A resume demonstrating your education, experience, training, and accomplishments as it relates to the qualifications for this position and substantiating your responses to the occupational questionnaire. 

    Please limit your resume to 2 pages with the font size no smaller than 10 points.  If your resume is more than 2 pages, only the first 2 pages will be reviewed and considered for the qualification's determination. 

  • Transcript: If you meet the qualification requirements based on education you must submit an unofficial transcript that includes the following information: name of accredited institution, major(s), grades earned, completion dates, and quarter and semester hours earned. Unofficial transcripts are acceptable; however, if you are selected for the position, you will be required to produce the original official transcripts. This also applies to ED employees.

Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP), or Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP): Visit the https://www2.ed.gov/about/jobs/open/edhires/ictap.html  or https://www2.ed.gov/about/jobs/open/edhires/ctap.html for information on how to apply as a CTAP, or ICTAP eligible. To exercise selection priority for this vacancy, CTAP/ICTAP candidates must meet the basic eligibility requirements and all selective factors. CTAP/ICTAP candidates must be rated and determined to be well qualified (or above) based on an evaluation of the competencies listed in the How You Will Be Evaluated section.

If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.

How to Apply

Step 1: Create a USAJOBS account (if you do not already have one) at www.usajobs.gov.

Step 2: Create a resume using the USAJOBS resume builder or upload a resume into your USAJOBS account. Ensure that your resume demonstrates your education, experience, training, and accomplishments as it relates to the qualifications for this position and substantiates your responses to the occupational questionnaire.

Step 3: Upload any required documents into your USAJOBS account (must be less than 3MB and in one of the following document formats: GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, PDF, or Word (DOC or DOCX)).

Step 4: Click "Apply Online" and follow the prompts to complete the occupational questionnaire and attach any required documents. Verify that uploaded documents from USAJOBS transfer into the agency's hiring system. You will have the opportunity to upload any additional required documents in the agency's hiring system. Click “Finish” to submit your application.   

NOTE: You may update your application or required documents at any time while the announcement is open by logging into your USAJOBS account, clicking on "Application Status," clicking on the position title, clicking "Update Application,” and following the prompts.

In order to receive consideration for this position, you must submit your complete application, including all required documents, by 11:59 PM Eastern Time on the closing date of the vacancy announcement. If the vacancy announcement has an application limit, we recommend that you submit your complete application at the time of initial application. We will not accept any required documentation after the closing date of the vacancy announcement.  

If you have any questions regarding submitting your application, please contact the HR Specialist listed under the Agency Contact Information.

Agency contact information

Taliah Walker
Phone
202-987-1187
Fax
202-987-1187
Email
taliah.walker@ed.gov
Address
EDUCATION-OFC OF FEDERAL STUDENT AID
801 F Street NW
Attn: Human Resources Services
Washington, District of Columbia 20202
United States

Next steps

As an applicant, you may check your application status through your USAJOBS account at any time.  We will also notify you via email of your application status at three key stages in the recruitment process.
1.    Once the vacancy announcement closes, we will inform you that your application has been received.
2.    After we review your submitted resume and supporting documentation, we will inform you if you are eligible and qualified, if your application was referred to a subject matter expert or panel of subject matter experts for further evaluation, and if you were amongst the most highly qualified candidates referred to the selecting official.
3.    Finally, we will inform you of your final disposition for this announcement (e.g., if/when a selection is made, if/when the announcement is cancelled).

Additional Locations

  • Chicago, IL
  • Kansas City, MO
  • New York, NY
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Dallas, TX
  • Seattle, WA


Note: We cannot accept applications on behalf of Federal Agencies. Application instructions are listed within the Job Description.


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