Personnel Research Psychologist II Job in Washington, DC

Vacancy No. DEST-12659374-25-CEB Department U.S. Postal Service
Salary $94,940.00 to $113,290.00 Grade 23 to 23
Perm/Temp Permanent FT/PT Full-time
Open Date 1/13/2025 Close Date 2/12/2025
Job Link Apply Online Who may apply Public
Locations:
Washington, DC


Summary

Come join the U.S. Postal Service!

The United States Postal Service has the following challenging and exciting employment opportunity for a highly motivated and experienced human resource professional.

The successful candidate leads small to medium scope projects to develop, validate and implement selection, assessment, performance management, and related tools and programs. Serves as a consultant for validation and assessment of HR tools, processes and programs.

This job is open to

Clarification from the agency

Applicants must be a U.S. citizen or have permanent resident alien status. Current career Postal Service employees are ineligible to apply to this posting. A Moderate Background Investigation (MBI) is required.

Duties

  1. Leads small to medium scope selection and assessment development and validation projects. Develops, validates, and maintains selection and other assessment systems, tools, processes, and procedures including for employment and training purposes. Conducts content analysis and needs assessments to identify examination and assessment requirements and to ensure validity, reliability, and defensibility of the selection and learning instruments.
  2. Leads meetings with stakeholders to discuss selection and assessment system, tools, and/or process needs. Develops project plans to include determining resource needs, timelines, and budget requirements. Identifies job, training, and/or development requirements using psychometric principles and methods to develop valid examinations and assessments measuring applicant and employee knowledge, skills, and abilities.
  3. Develops, validates, and deploys selection and evaluation tools and systems of larger scope, impact, content, and complexity. Ensures development and validation methods, processes, and procedures used align with professional standards, legal guidelines, and internal requirements. Applies testing theories such as item response theory and classical test theory to develop, analyze, and calibrate reliable, valid, predictive, and legally defensible assessment systems, tools, and processes.
  4. Compiles and analyzes data to investigate the psychometrics properties of assessments and related tools, and to gain insights into the characteristics elements of the sample being measured. Conducts technical and complex data analyses (e.g., Factor Analysis, MANOVA/MANCOVA, Multiple Regression) to develop, support, and improve selection, assessment and related tools using statistical analysis software (e.g., SPSS, SAS, R).
  5. Serves as a technical resource (liaison) to the function and organization on selection and assessment-related topics. Consults with internal stakeholders to identify, address, or resolve problems with selection/evaluation systems. Collaborates with team members to implement personnel selection evaluation systems.
  6. Researches current trends and changes in professional standards regarding selection and evaluation methodologies; develops recommendations to advance selection/evaluation programs and procedures.
  7. Develops and presents technical reports and presentations summarizing results of projects (e.g., job analyses, validation studies, competency models) to technical and non-technical audiences.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

Key Requirements

  • You must be a U.S. Citizen.

Qualifications

  1. Ability to use standard office software (e.g., Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, Word) sufficient to develop reports, presentations, and graphically present data.
  2. Ability to apply the principles of psychometric theory (e.g., classical test theory, item response theory) sufficient to analyze and estimate the reliability and validity of test content and related components.
  3. Ability to design and conduct job analytic procedures (e.g., data analysis, needs assessment, competency modeling) and perform the appropriate data analyses in the development of reliable, valid, and legally defensible selection procedures.
  4. Ability to perform advanced quantitative (e.g., Factor Analysis, MANOVA/MANCOVA, Multiple Regression) and qualitative (e.g., open coding, focused coding) analyses to make appropriate conclusions from data using standard social science statistical analysis packages (e.g., R, SAS, SPSS, Text Analytics).
  5. Ability to communicate orally and in writing sufficient to convey a range of technical concepts related to selection programs, policies, and procedures to technical and non-technical audiences.
  6. Knowledge of ethical, legal and professional standards related to testing and assessment development (i.e., Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures [EEO], Principles for the Development and Validation of Employee Selection Procedures [SIOP] and Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing [AERA, APA]) sufficient to identify legal and professional implications for the development and deployment of high stakes selection and training procedures.
  7. Ability to develop, validate, and evaluate selection testing and evaluation initiatives and programs.
  8. EDUCATION REQUIREMENT: Graduate degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology or degree in a closely related field, which included a focus on selection methods and/or psychometrics from a college or university accredited by a national or regional accreditation organization recognized and sanctioned by the U.S. Department of Education.
  9. Knowledge of content, construct, and criterion-related validation methods, including the appropriate conditions under which each may be used and methodologies for establishing each type of validity of an assessment instrument.
  10. SPECIAL CONDITIONS: Applicant must submit to a Moderate Background Investigation (MBI) or Tier 2 investigation. This investigation requires, among other things, completion of a questionnaire and fingerprinting for a criminal records check. The investigation may require a drug test. The successful applicant will be required to meet and maintain the requirements of this level of background investigation while holding this position.
Qualified applicant must successfully pass a drug screening.

Education

Please read the "Qualifications" section.

Additional information

Benefits

The salary will be based on previous experience, and current postal pay policies. We offer excellent benefits including health and life insurance, retirement plan, savings/investment plan with employer contribution, flexible spending, flextime scheduling of core work hours, annual and sick leave.

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 documents to ensure you meet the basic qualification requirements. We will evaluate each applicant who meets the basic qualifications on the information provided and evaluate your relevant professional, educational, and work experiences as it relates to fundamental competencies, identified in the Qualifications section above, required for this position.

Required Documents

Cover letter, resume, and transcript (official or unofficial).

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

You will need to apply via our on-line application process at https://about.usps.com/careers/welcome.htm. You will need to create an applicant profile.

Once you are on the website, click "Search our latest job postings" OR select "Start your eCareer profile." You will have an opportunity to upload any requested documents to your profile.

This is a two-step application process requiring you to create a profile and submit an application for the position you are applying for.

You will receive two email confirmations:

  1. An email confirming your profile is complete.
  2. After submitting your application you will receive a second email confirming your application has been successfully submitted.

Agency contact information

Human Resources
Address
United States Postal Service
Headquarters
475 L'Enfant Plaza, SW
Washington, DC 20260
US
Learn more about this agency

Next steps

You will be contacted via email on the status of your application.


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


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