Information Technology Specialist (Security) Job in Washington, DC

Vacancy No. 25-DTS-12683478 Department Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts
Salary $101,402.00 to $190,061.00 Grade 00 to 00
Perm/Temp Permanent FT/PT Full-time
Open Date 2/4/2025 Close Date 2/18/2025
Job Link Apply Online Who may apply Public
Locations:
Washington, DC


Summary

This position is located within the Department of Technology Services (DTS), Information Technology Security Office (ITSO). The incumbent is a recognized IT security expert with a strong defensive cyber background and "hands-on" experience in incident response. The incumbent will perform multiple and varying assignments under the direction of the Chief, Incident Response Branch - Security Operations Division

This job is open to

Clarification from the agency

This announcement is open to applicants who currently live in the Washington, DC commuting area and/or federal judiciary employees nationwide. This position allows for recurring and situational telework, but does not qualify for full-time or remote telework.

Duties

The Incident Response Subject Matter Expert (SME) under the direction of an Incident Commander, is responsible for analyzing intrusion alerts, assessing impact, implementing containment measures to limit threat propagation, and facilitating the recovery of compromised systems. This role supports 24x7x365 security operations and requires availability between 0600 and 2100 EST during incident response activities, with additional on-call responsibilities for weekends and after-hours incidents. The incumbent must be able to perform the tasks and meet the knowledge and skill statements as described in NIST Special Publication 800-181 National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) Cybersecurity Workforce for the roles of Defensive Cybersecurity (PD-WRL-001) and Incident Response (PD-WRL-003).

Duties include, but are not limited to the following:

  • Conducting thorough analysis of network, endpoint, and application logs to identify and assess intrusions, determine their impact, and implement appropriate containment strategies to mitigate threats.
  • Providing timely and accurate incident status updates to key stakeholders, including the incident commander, SOC leaders, and executives.
  • Developing and tests enterprise-wide detection and response capabilities, including endpoint artifact retrieval, isolation techniques, and Yara rule creation, to improve threat detection and containment at scale.
  • Maintaining and enhances the organization's incident response framework by defining and refining incident declaration processes, updating the Judiciary's Incident Response Plan, and identifying gaps in existing procedures.
  • Driving continuous improvement through the development and validation of readiness exercises, standard operating procedures, and playbooks, while pioneering innovative incident response techniques for PaaS and SaaS cloud environments and leveraging automation to streamline response efforts

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

  1. All information is subject to verification. Applicants are advised that false answers or omissions of information on application materials or inability to meet the following conditions may be grounds for non-selection, withdrawal of an offer of employment, or dismissal after being employed.
  2. Selection for this position is contingent upon completion of OF-306, Declaration of Federal Employment during the pre-employment process and proof of U.S. citizenship for competitive status positions or conversion to a competitive status position with the AO. If non-citizens are considered for hire into a temporary or any other position with non-competitive status or when it is confirmed by the AO Human Resources Office there are no qualified U.S. citizens for a competitive status position (unless prohibited by a law or statue), non-citizens must provide proof of authorization to work in the U.S. and proof of entitlement to receive compensation. Additional information on the employment of non-citizens can be found at USAJOBS Help Center | Employment of non-citizens/. For a list of documents that may be used to provide proof of citizenship or authorization to work in the United States, please refer to Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification.
  3. All new AO employees will be required to complete an FBI fingerprint-based national criminal database and records check and pass a public trust suitability check.
  4. New employees to the AO will be required to successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights/responsibilities, visit https://www.e-verify.gov/.
  5. All new AO employees are required to identify a financial institution for direct deposit of pay before appointment.
  6. You will be required to serve a trial period if selected for a first-time appointment to the Federal government, transferring from another Federal agency, or serving as a first-time supervisor. Failure to successfully complete the trial period may result in termination of employment.
  7. If appointed to a temporary position, management may have the discretion of converting the position to permanent depending upon funding and staffing allocation.

Qualifications

Applicants must have demonstrated experience as listed below. This requirement is according to the AO Classification, Compensation, and Recruitment Systems which include interpretive guidance and reference to the OPM Operating Manual for Qualification Standards for General Schedule Positions.

Applicants must have at least one full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience, which is in or directly related to the line of work of this position. Specialized experience is demonstrated experience in ALL of the following:
  • Development experience to include proficiency in 1 or more of the following: .NET, PowerShell, C# or Python.
  • Comprehensive understanding of adversarial techniques, with the capability to technically diagram and articulate the stages of an intrusion.
  • SME-level experience examining enterprise audit logs including Windows Event Log and Sysmon in Windows environments, and auditd in Linux environments.
  • Knowledge of forensic methodologies and the processes involved in collecting, preserving, and analyzing digital evidence to accurately reconstruct events and support incident response efforts.
  • Experience in analyzing sophisticated attacker techniques that exploit email and cloud services as attack vectors.
Desired, but Not Required:
  • GIAC Certified Incident Handler (GCIH)
  • GIAC Certified Forensic Analyst (GCFA)
  • GIAC Certified Forensic Examiner (GCFE)
  • GIAC Cloud Incident Response (GCIR)
  • Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)

Education

This position does not require education to qualify.

Additional information

The AO is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Benefits

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.

Review our 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 review your resume and supporting documentation and compare this information to your responses on the occupational questionnaire to determine if you meet the minimum qualifications for this job. If you meet the minimum qualifications for this job, we will evaluate your application package, to assess the quality, depth, and complexity of your accomplishments, experience, and education as they relate to the requirements listed in this vacancy announcement.

You should be aware that your ratings are subject to evaluation and verification. If a determination is made that you have rated yourself higher than is supported by your resume and/or narrative responses, you will be assigned a rating commensurate to your described experience. Failure to submit the mandatory narrative responses will result in not receiving full consideration and/or rating credit. Deliberate attempts to falsify information may be grounds for not selecting you, withdrawing an offer of employment, or dismissal after being employed.

Required Documents

For this job announcement the following documents and/or information are required:

  • Resume - Any written format you choose to describe your job-related qualifications.
  • Citizenship - Include country of citizenship on resume.
  • Notification of Personnel Action (SF-50) - All applicants outside of the AO must submit a copy of your latest SF-50 to verify current or former Federal employment status.
  • Veterans Preference documentation - Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty (DD Form 214), if applicable Application for 10-Point Veteran Preference (SF-15) and an official statement, dated 1991 or later, from the Department of Veterans Affairs or from a branch of the Armed Forces, certifying to the veteran's present receipt of compensation.

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

To apply for this position, you must complete the online application and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below.

The complete application package must be submitted by 02/18/2025 to receive consideration.
To begin, click

  • Apply Online to access an online application. Follow the prompts to select your USAJOBS resume and/or other supporting documents. You will need to be logged into your USAJOBS account or you may need to create a new account.
  • You will be taken to an online application. Complete the online application, verify the required documentation, and submit the application.
  • You will receive an email notification when your application has been received for the announcement.
  • To verify the status of your application, log into your USAJOBS account, https://my.usajobs.gov/Account/Login, select the Application Status link and then select the More Information link for this position. The Application Status page will display the status of your application, the documentation received and processed, and your responses submitted to the online application. Your uploaded documents may take several hours to clear the virus scan process.
  • Click the following link to view and print the occupational questionnaire https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12683478

Agency contact information

Bassin Njie
Address
Department of Technology Services
One Columbus Circle, NE
Washington, DC 20544
US

Next steps

After a review of your complete application is made, you will be notified of your rating and referral to the hiring official if determined qualified. If further evaluation or interviews are required, you will be contacted.


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


© 2006-2025, exclusive of U. S. government job opportunity announcements