Personnel Security Specialist Job in Washington, DC

Vacancy No. 25R-SA-312914-MPA-OHR Department Smithsonian Institution
Salary $69,923.00 to $109,975.00 Grade 09 to 11
Perm/Temp Permanent FT/PT Full-time
Open Date 9/8/2025 Close Date 9/19/2025
Job Link Apply Online Who may apply Status Candidates
Locations:
Washington, DC


Summary

The Smithsonian Institution is the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex, with 21 museums and the National Zoo.  This position is located the Office of Human Resources (OHR), Under Secretary for Finance and Administration, Smithsonian Institution. OHR is responsible for overseeing a large museum/complex security program and leading and providing protection throughout the Smithsonian Institution.

This job is open to

Clarification from the agency

Current Smithsonian Institution Internal Employees/Agency Employees Only may apply including current Smithsonian Institution employees with Federal career/career-conditional status or eligibility. More than one selection may be made from this announcement.

Duties

As a Personnel Security Specialist, you will perform a full range of tasks related to administering regulations, directives, policies, and procedures for both the personnel security suitability and identity management programs.

In this position, you will:

  • Receive and review background investigation reports upon completion by the investigative service provider.
  • Apply Office of Personnel Management (OPM) suitability adjudicative standards and expert judgment to assess investigative sufficiency and make sound determinations for moderate to major cases involving substantial issues.
  • Make decisions on cases with moderate to major issues, identifying potential sources of derogatory information disclosed during pre-employment checks or through background investigations.
  • Maintain contact with representatives from the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) to monitor ongoing investigations, stay informed about policy changes, and track developments in the field of personnel security.
  • Use federal personnel security data repositories (e.g., NBIS, NP2 Portal, CVS, and e-QIP) to initiate and track investigations, determine reciprocity, and retrieve or update information.
  • Interpret and clarify policies, standards, and procedures for employees and management at all levels regarding background investigations, suitability adjudications, and position risk/sensitivity.

The major duties listed above represent the higher grade level of GS-11.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

  • Requires career/career-conditional status or eligibility.
  • Males born after 12/31/59 must be registered with Selective Service.

Conditions of Employment

Qualification requirements, including one year time-in-grade at the next lower grade level for promotion candidates, must be met within 30 days of the job announcement closing date. See the 'Required Documents' section for additional information.

For information on qualification requirements, see Qualification Standards Handbook for General Schedule Positions viewable on OPM Website.

Qualifications

Grade 09: You qualify for this position if you possess one year of specialized experience at the GS-07 level.  For this position specialized experience as defined as experience 1) initiating and adjudicating suitability background investigations; 2) reviewing submitted documents for accuracy; 3) organizing documents required to finalize security credentialing and adjudication process; and 4) documenting movement of security packages through background process.

OR You qualify with Education: Master's or equivalent graduate degree; 

OR   2 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree; 

OR LL.B. or J.D., if related 

OR You may qualify by a combination of experience and education.  

Grade 11: This specialized experience is defined as 1) initiating and adjudicating suitability background investigations; 2) reviewing submitted documents for accuracy; 3) organizing documents required to finalize security credentialing and adjudication process; 4) documenting movement of security packages through background process; and 5) Maintaining ongoing relationships with Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA)  and other federal agencies to monitor investigations, stay current on personnel security policies, and exchange best practices relevant to institutional security programs.

OR You qualify with Education: Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree;

OR 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree;

OR LL.M., if related;

OR You may qualify by a combination of experience and education.  


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.

Part-time and/or unpaid experience related to this position will be considered to determine the total number of years and months of experience. Be sure to note the number of paid or unpaid hours worked each week.

Special Instructions for Foreign Education: If you are qualifying by education and/or you have education completed in a foreign college/university described above, it is your responsibility to provide transcripts and proof of U.S. accreditation for foreign study. For instructions on where to fax these documents, see the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.

In an effort to streamline our hiring process, SI employees whose current position of record is in the same job series (0080) and who are in a Federal competitive as this advertised position, are not required to submit a transcript with your application package. However, if selected, you will be required to provide a copy of your transcript before your start date in the position.

Time-in-Grade Requirements: Under competitive merit promotion procedures, any individual who is currently holding, or who has held within the previous 52 weeks, a General Schedule position under a non-temporary appointment in the competitive or excepted service, must meet "time-in-grade" requirements (have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade of the grade for which you are applying).

Education

There is no Basic Education Requirements for this series. 

Additional information

  • This position is included in the bargaining unit.  

Recruitment Incentive: Recruitment incentive(s) may be authorized for this position.  However, approval for incentives are contingent upon various availability. If authorized, certain incentives will require the incumbent to sign a service agreement to remain in the Federal government for a certain time period.

Note: This statement does not imply nor guarantee an incentive will be offered and paid.

Selections may be made for vacancies across the Smithsonian Institution (SI). By applying to this position, you agree to allow your application and other personal information to be shared with one or more SI hiring officials for employment consideration for same/similar positions within the location(s) identified in this announcement.

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

The Smithsonian offers a comprehensive benefits package that includes, in part, vacation and sick leave, holidays, health/life insurance, accident insurance, and excellent retirement program options.

Please see Benefits at https://www.si.edu/OHR/benefits for a complete description.

Flexible Spending Accounts - https://www.fsafeds.com/
Health Insurance - http://www.opm.gov/insure/health/index.asp
Leave - http://www.opm.gov/oca/leave/index.asp
Life Insurance - http://www.opm.gov/insure/life/index.asp
Long Term Care Insurance - http://www.ltcfeds.com
Retirement Program - https://www.opm.gov/retirement-services/

How You Will Be Evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Your application will be evaluated first for the basic qualifications described above. The applications that meet the basic qualifications will be evaluated further against the following criteria:

  1. Knowledge, in personnel security administration concepts, principles,
    and practices sufficient to adjudicate intermediate to complex background investigations.

  2. Ability, to use institutional and federal systems to perform background checks, process documents, and record the movement of security packages from receipt to close.

  3. Knowledge, in the application of federal and institutional policies and procedures associated with processing security adjudications for individuals seeking any level of access to the institution.

  4. Ability, to coordinate program reporting and assessment of security administration operations.

  5. Ability, to coordinate and liaison with institutional personnel or individuals externally to adjudicate the security process for individuals seeking various levels of access.

Important Note:

Your resume and supporting documentation will be compared to your responses to the occupational questionnaire or other assessment tool for consistency. If a determination is made that you have rated yourself higher than is supported by your resume, you will be assigned a rating commensurate to your described experience. Your resume should provide detailed information regarding how your education and experience relate to this position, including the major duties and qualifications criteria listed.


You may preview questions for this vacancy.

Required Documents

Your application package should include the following documents:

  • Resume - Your resume can be uploaded and attached to your application or created using the USA Jobs on-line resume builder. Ensure your resume contains the job title (including the occupational series and grade if it is Federal), job-related qualifications, starting and ending dates (month and year), hours worked per week, and salary for each employment period. It is your responsibility to ensure all information is submitted. Failure to include this information may result in disqualification for the position.

    For assistance with creating a resume, please click here.

  • Current and former employees MUST submit a copy of their Standard Form (SF)-50, “Notice of Personnel Action,” that indicates proof of status and time-in-grade eligibility. The SF-50 must include your position title, series, grade, step, salary, type of service (competitive or excepted in block 34), and tenure (1 or 2 in block 24). Please provide a SF-50 that shows the length of time you have been in your current/highest grade level.  Examples of appropriate SF50s include: Appointments, Reassignments, Within-grade/range increases or Promotion actions.  NOTE: Pay adjustments and award SF-50s do not include the length of time in your current position, therefore, they are NOT acceptable SF-50’s on their own. You may need to provide more than one SF-50. Failure to provide the appropriate SF-50(s) may prevent you from receiving consideration for this position.

  • Unofficial school transcripts, if the position has an education requirement or if you are using education to qualify. If selected for the position, you must provide an official transcript before appointment.
  • Proof of U.S. accreditation for foreign study, if applicable.

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

Click on the "Apply Online" button on the upper right side of the page.
Please Note:

  • You must apply for this position online through the 'Apply Online' button and submit required supplemental documents (if they are relevant to you).
  • You may submit required documents by uploading them online during the application process.
  • If you are unable to apply online, paper applications may be accepted with prior approval of the Contact Person listed below.

Agency contact information

Ms. Assefaw
Phone
202-633-6299
TDD
202-633-6409
Email
Assefaws@si.edu
Address
SMITHSONIAN
Office of Human Resources
POB 23772, 600 Maryland Avenue, MRC 517
Capital Gallery
Washington, District of Columbia 20013-7012
United States

Next steps

At the end of the application process you will be able to create and save a PDF file that contains your responses to the assessment questions. You may save this file as initial receipt of your application. After the job announcement closes, you will receive an email from the Smithsonian with confirmation of receipt.

The Smithsonian receives many applications for each job. Each application is reviewed carefully which may take a few weeks. We will send you an e-mail to update you as we go through phases of the application review process. You may also check your application status by logging into www.usajobs.gov and selecting the tab "My USAJOBS;" e-mailing vacancy.info@si.edu; or by contacting the Office of Human Resources Representative listed.

Additional Information:

  • Tips on applying for Smithsonian jobs are available at https://www.si.edu/OHR/howtoapply.
  • The Smithsonian does not pay relocation expenses.
  • The Smithsonian Institution is an equal opportunity employer. Additional information can be found on our website at (www.si.edu/oeesd).


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