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.

APPLICATION LIMIT: This vacancy announcement is limited to the first 250 applications received and will close at 11:59PM Eastern Time on the day that we receive the 250th 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 a IT Specialist (Security), GS-2210-14, you will be responsible for:
•    Overall procurement, development, integration, modification, operation, maintenance, and retirement of an information system.
•    Developing a system design specifications ensuring the security and user operational needs are documented, tested, and implemented.
•    Providing technical advice and counsel to management on matters relating to new or modified policies, strategies and programs affecting or relating to current and existing functions and programs.
•    Coordinating with the Information System Security Officer (ISSO) ensuring proper physical, administrative, and technical controls are 1) offered to the dependent systems whether common or hybrid 2) in place to protect Personally Identifiable Information (PII) if found in the system.

Conditions of employment

• Relocation will not be paid.
• You may be subject to serve a 1-year probationary period.
• Males 18 and over must be registered with the Selective Service.
• Must be a US Citizen.
• Must complete a Background Investigation and Fingerprint check.

Condition of Employment:

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you may be required to serve a probationary period or trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest.

In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct;

• the needs and interests of the agency;

• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and

• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your probationary period OR trial period your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

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-14, if you possess the specialize experience.

Specialized Experience for the GS-14
One year of experience in either federal or non-federal service that is equivalent to at least a GS-13 performing two (2) out of three (3) of the following duties or work assignments:

1. Experience ensuring compliance with federal information security and privacy requirements including implementing and assessing National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publication (NIST SP 800 53) controls; supporting Authority to Operate (ATO) processes; and coordinating cross-functional security, audit, and compliance efforts to address vulnerabilities, incidents, and risks to maintain IT system operations, and ensure continual security posture improvement.

2. Experience leading cross functional teams as an Information System Owner in the planning, operation, and continuous improvement of federal information systems to ensure secure system design, configuration management, vulnerability remediation, and alignment with NIST, Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA), and the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) requirements for federal IT systems including Software as a Service (SaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) solutions meet functional, non-functional, contractual and budget requirements.

3. Experience in mission critical IT modernization initiatives including coordinating with stakeholders to resolve technical issues, assess system security impacts, and implement protective measures for High Value Assets (HVAs) – cloud-based, hybrid, and on-premises environments - to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of enterprise information technology systems.

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.    Skill in leading and directing people, teams and programs / projects associated with IT application development; the development of mission-critical enterprise class applications, and enterprise-wide IT projects.
2.    Ability to develop and assess complex security, design and architecture artifacts to determine system compliance and to provide recommendations for alternate courses of action, when required.
3.    Ability to review and distill large amounts of complex information into executive level presentations to be consumed by various levels of leadership for decision making.
4.    Skill in applying information systems security principles, methods and network operations and protocols, requirements analysis principles and methods, and IT security products and services.

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.

• Your resume should include relevant work experience, applicable education and your contact information. For current or previous federal employees, include the pay plan, series and grade.

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 qualifications determination. 

• Transcript: This position has a positive education requirement and requires proof of education for eligibility. 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. If any required coursework is not easily recognizable on transcripts, or if you believe a portion of a particular course can be credited toward meeting an educational requirement, you must also provide a memorandum on letterhead from the institution's registrar, dean, or other appropriate official stating the percentage of the course that should be considered to meet the requirement and the equivalent number of units. 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.
• 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.
• If you are claiming Veteran's Preference, you must submit: A copy of your DD-214 that shows active service and character of discharge, OR A certification of expected discharge or release from active duty under honorable conditions within 120 days from the date of application (Current Active Duty Members only); AND/OR The Application for 10-Point Veteran Preference (SF-15) AND all documents indicated on the form as proof of type of preference; AND/OR Proof of Sole Survivorship Preference (e.g., certificate of death or 100% disability as a result of serving in the armed forces).
• Are you claiming special priority selection rights under the Interagency/Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP/CTAP)?
• If you are a current or former Federal employee who was displaced (for example, due to a Reduction-in-Force) and want priority consideration, you must submit the documents listed below.
• Required documents for Interagency/Career Transition Assistance Plan consideration (All are required):
1. Proof that you were displaced, such as Reduction-in-Force (RIF) notice or notice of proposed removal.
2. SF-50s (Notification of Personnel Action) showing:
• RIF as the Nature of Action (Box 5B)
• Career or career-conditional status (Box 24 must be 1 or 2)
• Competitive status (Box 34 must be 1)
• Promotion potential or full performance level of the position from which you were or are being displaced. This is likely your appointment SF-50 for that position.
• Duty location
3. Your most recent performance appraisal showing a rating of Fully Successful or higher.
• Your Federal position at the time you were displaced must be within the local commuting area for a location listed in this announcement. The definition of local commuting area varies based on duty location and hiring agency policy. To receive priority consideration, you must also be found well-qualified, which means you score 75 or higher based on this announcement's assessment rating criteria.

Next steps

Additional locations