Interdisciplinary Economist or Statistician Job in Washington, DC

Vacancy No. DRS-25-01-DH Department Federal Housing Finance Agency
Salary $74,076.00 to $117,783.00 Grade 9 to 9
Perm/Temp Permanent FT/PT Full-time
Open Date 11/13/2024 Close Date 11/21/2024
Job Link Apply Online Who may apply Public
Locations:
Washington, DC


Summary

The Economist/Statistician applies their knowledge and skills to conduct tasks and projects related to the lifecycle of data, research, and analysis, and to lead production, dissemination, and promotion of accurate and reliable mortgage and housing data and statistics.

Duties

Division of Research and Statistics Overview

The Division of Research and Statistics (DRS) serves as a leading source of informative research, accessible data, and recognized expertise in housing finance. DRS produces and disseminates high-quality data, research, statistics, and analysis to internal and external stakeholders. DRS executes life-cycle data management and provides agency-level data governance. Finally, DRS contributes economic expertise and analyses to policy, regulatory and supervisory decision-making.

DRS carries out its work through four main organizational areas - the Office of Research and Analysis (ORA), the Office of Data and Statistics (ODS), the Office of the Chief Data Officer (OCDO), and the Climate Change and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) Branch. ORA is responsible for producing and disseminating high quality research and analysis related to housing market and housing finance. ODS is responsible for primary collection, development, production, management, validation, documentation, and dissemination of data and statistics over several key FHFA datasets. OCDO supports FHFA in managing and leveraging data as a strategic asset by improving data governance, lifecycle data management, analytics capabilities, and public data dissemination for DRS and throughout the Agency. The Climate Change and ESG Branch provides the coordination needed to achieve the Agency's Climate Change and ESG strategic objectives and leads the Agency's research on climate change.

The incumbent will possess knowledge in economics, statistics, housing finance, accounting, and credit, financial, and regulatory reporting. This includes demonstrated skills in research, analysis, assessment, programming, and data analytics with formal training in economics, statistics, or a related quantitative field.

Major Duties & Responsibilities

The Economist/ Statistician duties listed below are at the EL-09 level:

  • Performs various aspects of the lifecycle of data: design, development, collection, storage, production, validation, management, maintenance, documentation, dissemination, usage, and user support.
  • Conducts primary data collection of administrative and survey data, including mortgage, borrower, and property data.
  • Conducts validation and quality assessment of data to produce and disseminate accurate and reliable data and statistics.
  • Conducts survey design, questionnaire design, sampling, survey weights, data imputation, non-response analysis, and bias analysis.
  • Conducts research, analysis, assessment, modeling, and programming to improve production and dissemination of housing and mortgage data and statistics.
  • Writes and disseminates technical documentation, technical reports, statistical blogs, analytical insights, and research papers, including internal and external presentations.
  • Develops, creates, and produces statistical products, including dashboards and other similar tools.
  • Provides support of internal and external users of the data and statistics produced and disseminated by the office.
  • Communicates with users of data and statistics to improve and further development data and statistics.
  • Monitors developments in data and quantitative methods and industry best practices in economics, statistics, housing finance, and credit, financial, and regulatory reporting to improve and further develop data production and dissemination.
  • Provides technical information and briefings to peers and senior staff in the agency, regulated entities, industry groups, and the public.
  • Performs other duties as assigned.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

  • Must be a U.S. Citizen
  • Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service
  • May be required to successfully complete a probationary period
  • Only experience and education obtained by the closing date of this announcement will be considered.
  • Suitable for Federal employment, as determined by background investigation
  • Resume and supporting documents (See How To Apply)
  • This position is eligible for inclusion in the bargaining unit. The union that represents employees in this position is the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) Chapter 343.
  • FHFA participates in e-Verify. All New hires must complete the I-9 Employment Verification form either on or before their first day of employment. If a discrepancy arises, you must take affirmative steps to resolve the matter.
  • If you are currently, or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES or Presidential Appointee employee in the Executive Branch, you must disclose this information to the Human Resources Office.
  • This position may be required to complete a financial disclosure report.
  • This is NOT a remote position; you MUST live within or be willing to relocate within a commutable distance of the duty location.

Qualifications

You may qualify for your desired series and grade level if you meet the following qualification requirements:

BASIC REQUIREMENTS:

Basic Entry Requirements for an Economist (0110 series):

A. Degree: economics, that included at least 21 semester hours in economics and 3 semester hours in statistics, accounting, or calculus. -OR-

B. Combination of education and experience: courses equivalent to a major in economics, as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. Examples of qualifying experience include:
  1. individual economic research assignments requiring planning, information assembly, analysis and evaluation, conclusions and report preparation;
  2. supervisory or project coordination assignments involving a staff of professional economists, and requiring the evaluation and interpretation of economic information; or
  3. teaching assignments in a college or university that included both class instruction in economics subjects and one of the following (1) personal research that produced evidence of results, (2) direction of graduate theses in economics, or (3) service as a consultant or advisor on technical economics problems.
Note: Experience in related fields that did not involve the use and understanding of economic principles and theories may not be used as qualifying experience for these positions. Special attention on this point should be given to certain types of work that may or may not have provided professional economic experience. The following examples of work require special care in such determinations:
  1. economic statistics;
  2. industrial surveys;
  3. management of individual business enterprises, including farms;
  4. industrial planning;
  5. writing or editorial work in economic subjects; and
  6. financial market analysis.

Basic Entry Requirements for a Statistician (1530 series):

A. Degree: that included 15 semester hours in statistics (or in mathematics and statistics, provided at least 6 semester hours were in statistics), and 9 additional semester hours in one or more of the following: physical or biological sciences, medicine, education, or engineering; or in the social sciences including demography, history, economics, social welfare, geography, international relations, social or cultural anthropology, health sociology, political science, public administration, psychology. -OR-

B. Combination of education and experience: courses as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. The experience should have included a full range of professional statistical work such as (a) sampling, (b) collecting, computing, and analyzing statistical data, and (c) applying statistical techniques such as measurement of central tendency, dispersion, skewness, sampling error, simple and multiple correlation, analysis of variance, and tests of significance.


In addition to meeting the above basic education or education and experience requirements, applicants must also meet the following minimum qualifications for their desired grade level:

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

Minimum Qualification EL-09: Applicants must have 52 weeks (one-year) of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level and/or directly related education as described below. From the description below, if you choose options "B" or "C" you must provide transcripts with your application.

A. Experience: I qualify for the EL/GS-09 because I have at least 52 weeks of specialized experience at the EL/GS-07 or equivalent demonstrating work experience with the following: (A candidate would need to have 3 of the 5 listed below to qualify)
  • Working with financial institutions' associated issues and industry practices related to data analysis using statistical software like SAS or R;
  • Analyzing and summarizing data and information using statistical software like SAS or R;
  • Performing some of the listed aspects of the lifecycle of data: design, development, collection, storage, production, validation, management, maintenance, documentation, dissemination, usage, and user support--using statistical software like SAS or R;
  • Conducting validation and quality assessment of data to produce and disseminate accurate and reliable data and statistics;
  • Producing statistical products, including dashboards and other similar tools.
-OR-

B. Education: Completion of two (2) academic years of graduate-level education, or a master's degree or equivalent graduate degree from an accredited college of university directly related to the work of the position (e.g., accounting, banking, business administration, commercial or banking law, data science, economics, econometrics, finance, marketing, public policy, or statistics) -OR-

C. Combination of education and experience as described above in options "A" and "B". Note: Less than one year of specialized experience may be combined with graduate education more than the amount required for the next lower grade level. One academic year of graduate education is the number of credits hours determined to represent one academic year of full-time study (i.e., 18 semester hours (or 27 quarter hours).


**Failure to provide your transcripts, when required, for any of the options above will remove you from the hiring process.**

Do not copy and paste the duties, specialized experience, or occupational assessment questionnaire from this announcement into your resume as that will not be considered a demonstration of your qualifications for this position.

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. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Education

ARE YOU USING YOUR EDUCATION TO QUALIFY? You MUST provide transcripts or other documentation to support your educational claims. Unless otherwise stated: (1) official or unofficial transcripts are acceptable, or (2) you may submit a list with all of your courses, grades, semester, year, and credit for the course. All materials must be submitted by the closing date of the announcement.

GRADUATE EDUCATION: One academic year of graduate education is considered to be the number of credits hours your graduate school has determined to represent one academic year of full-time study. Such study may have been performed on a full-time or part-time basis. If you cannot obtain your graduate school's definition of one year of graduate study, 18 semester hours (or 27 quarter hours) should be considered as satisfying the requirement for one year of full-time graduate study.

FOREIGN EDUCATION: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. For further information, visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html

Additional information

An Overview of FHFA's Benefits for Fiscal Year 2024-2025 provides a summary of benefits for the current fiscal year.

FHFA may select from this announcement or any other source to fill vacancies.

This position may be required to complete a financial disclosure report.

If you are a veteran with preference eligibility and are claiming 5-points veterans' preference, you must submit a copy of your DD-214 or other proof of eligibility. If you are claiming 10-point veterans' preference, you must also submit an SF-15, "Application for 10-Point Veterans' Preference" plus the proof required by that form. For more information on veterans' preference visit: https://www.usajobs.gov/Veterans.

Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered or exempt from Selective Service (see https://www.sss.gov/RegVer/wfRegistration.aspx).

Career Transition Assistance Programs: These programs apply to employees who have been involuntarily separated from a Federal service position within the competitive service or Federal service employees whose positions have been deemed surplus or no longer needed. To receive selection priority for this position, you must: (1) meet CTAP or ICTAP eligibility criteria; (2) be rated well-qualified for the position; and, (3) submit the appropriate documentation to support your CTAP or ICTAP eligibility. For more information visit: http://www.opm.gov/rif/employee_guides/career_transition.asp.

FHFA is an Equal Opportunity Employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment regardless of race, color, religion, gender (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity), national origin, disability (physical or mental), age (40 years of age or over), genetic information, parental status, marital status, prior protected EEO activity, political affiliation, or other non-merit factors.

REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION:FHFA provides reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, except when doing so would pose an undue hardship on the Agency. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process, please notify FHFA. The Agency's decision on granting a reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis.


Ethics: FHFA employees are subject to government-wide ethical standards of conduct, financial disclosure requirements, and post-employment prohibitions. In addition, certain FHFA employees are prohibited from accepting compensation from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for a two-year period after terminating employment with FHFA. Furthermore, to avoid financial conflicts-of interest or the appearance of conflicts-of-interest, FHFA employees may need to divest or sell certain assets they, their spouse, or minor children own or control, including securities issued by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, or the Federal Home Loan Banks. Employees who work on Federal Home Loan Bank issues may need to sell or divest financial interests with any of the Federal Home Loan Bank members, which may include stock in bank holding companies, insurance companies, and other financial services firms. Questions regarding these requirements and prohibitions should be directed to the Office of General Counsel at (202) 649-3088.

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.

This position is being filled through Federal Housing Finance Agency's hiring authority granted by the Housing Economic Recovery Act (HERA). All applicants meeting the basic qualification requirements will be forwarded to the selecting official for consideration. Candidates with Veteran's preference, who meet the specialized experience and education requirements for this vacancy, will be given priority consideration over non-preference candidates.

We recommend that you preview the online questions for this announcement before you start the application process. To preview the assessment questionnaire: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12598639

All of the information you provide will be verified by a review of the work experience and/or education as shown on your application forms, by checking references or through other means, such as the interview process. This verification could occur at any stage of the application process. Any exaggeration of your experience, false statements, or attempts to conceal information may be grounds for rating you ineligible.

In accordance with the Fair Chance Act, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) may not request, in oral or written form, that an applicant for an appointment to (FHFA) disclose criminal history record information before the appointing authority extends a tentative offer to the applicant. Allegations of FHFA violations of this Act may be submitted to fairchanceactcomplaints@fhfa.gov or to Fair Chance Act Complaints, Office of Human Resources Management, Employee Relations Branch, FHFA 400 7th Street, SW Washington DC 20219 within 30 days from the agency employee's alleged non-compliance with the law.

Required Documents

FHFA's application process has been specifically developed to ensure that we only ask you for the information we absolutely need to evaluate your qualifications and eligibility. All applicants are required to submit the following supportive documents:

1. Your Resume: If you have not written a federal resume before, you may want to watch this Resume Writing Tutorial video on the USAJOBS YouTube channel, or read through a helpful Resume Writing FAQ on the USAJOBS Help Site to learn what details you should, and should not, include in your resume. A CV (curriculum vitae) may not contain enough information to meet these resume requirements.

  • Your resume should list all work experience (paid and unpaid); you must list the full name of each employer.
  • For all types of work experience, you should indicate the start and end date (include month and year); you must also list the average number of hours per week that your worked.
  • Your resume should also include any education and training you have completed (list the program title, subject area, number of hours completed, and completion date).
2. Required, if applicable: This position may require a minimum level of education or a combination of education and experience. Please submit your transcripts (official or unofficial) along with your application. Failure to provide transcripts, when required, will result in removal from the hiring process. Note: If you are selected for a position, an official transcript will be required before onboarding.

3. Required, if applicable: CTAP/ICTAP documentation (a copy of a separation notice or other proof of eligibility for priority selection; a copy of an SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action, showing current position, grade, promotion potential, and duty location; AND a copy of your most recent performance appraisal.)

4. Required, if applicable: Veteran's Preference Documentation (DD-214, Member Copy 4 or other documentation containing dates of service and character of discharge. Disabled veterans and other applicants eligible for 10-point Veteran's Preference please include: documentation to validate your claim - VA letter, SF-15, etc.).

5. Other Supporting Documents:
  • Cover letter, optional
  • SF-50, optional
Important Notes:
  • Utilize the preview feature of USA Jobs to view your documents and ensure the formatting remains and all documents are legible.
  • Additional materials will not be accepted after the announcement closes (e.g. updated grades, updated resume, etc.).
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  • If the position has an education requirement or you are qualifying on the basis of education, you need to list your education history including the type of degree and your major of study. If the position requires a certain number of credit hours, you are strongly encouraged to list the relevant courses in your resume. Do not include a photograph or video of yourself, or any sensitive information (age, date of birth, marital status, protected health information, religious affiliation, social security number, etc.) on your resume or cover letter. We will not access web pages linked on your resume or cover letter to determine your qualification.


Failure to submit any of the above-mentioned required documents may result in loss of consideration due to an incomplete application package. It is your responsibility to ensure all required documents have been submitted.

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.

A complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 11/21/2024 to receive consideration.

  • To begin, click Apply to access the online application. You will need to be logged into your USAJOBS account to apply. If you do not have a USAJOBS account, you will need to create one before beginning the application.
  • Follow the prompts to select your resume and/or other supporting documents to be included with your application package. You will have the opportunity to upload additional documents to include in your application before it is submitted. Your uploaded documents may take several hours to clear the virus scan process.
  • After acknowledging you have reviewed your application package, complete the Include Personal Information section as you deem appropriate and click to continue with the application process.
  • You will be taken to the online application which you must complete in order to apply for the position. Complete the online application, verify the required documentation is included with your application package, and submit the application.

To update your application, including supporting documentation: During the announcement open period, return to your USAJOBS account, find your application record, and click Edit my application. This option will no longer be available once the announcement has closed.

To view the announcement status or your application status: Click on this: https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/how-to/application/status/. Your application status page is where you can view your application status, and review your notifications sent by the hiring agency regarding your application.

If you are unable to apply online, you must request an alternative application which is available from the Human Resources Office. Please contact Andrea Engler Lepage at andrea.lepage@fhfa.gov or 000-000-0000 to obtain an alternative application.

Agency contact information

Andrea Engler Lepage
Address
FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY
400 7th Street, SW
Washington, DC 20219
US
Learn more about this agency

Next steps

After all application packages have been received, we will review your materials to ensure you meet the qualification requirements for the position. We will evaluate each applicant who meets the qualifications on the information provided in their resume and the completed Occupational Questionnaire. Applicants deemed best qualified may be contacted for an interview. We anticipate making a final job offer for this position within 45 days after the application deadline. All candidates will be notified of the final disposition.

There is currently one vacancy available for this announcement. However, should additional vacancies become available within three months from the closing date of this announcement, eligible applicants for this position may be referred for consideration for the additional position(s).

FHFA may select from this announcement or any other source to fill one or more vacancies. This announcement may be used to fill like positions in other organizations within the Federal Housing Finance Agency. FHFA benefits remain the same.


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


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