Program Analyst

Clarification from the agency

Department of the Interior (DOI)-Wide: This is a Merit Promotion announcement for career and career-conditional DOI employees, Career Transition eligibles (CTAP), and current or former time-limited employees eligible under Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act (LMWFA). Refer to Required Documents section for more information.

The Program Analyst leads and manages high-visibility Service-wide and Department-wide projects, coordinating all phases of the project life cycle across diverse functional areas. The incumbent provides expert project management support, ensuring effective collaboration with senior leadership and external stakeholders to deliver complex, mission-critical initiatives. As a Program Analyst the duties include but are not limited to the following:

• Provides project management expertise and coordinates all phases of the project life cycle of critical, high visibility projects.
• Responsible for planning, directing, managing, coordinating, and evaluating large-scale projects.
• Develops annual and multi-year project plans, identifies system requirements, formulates budget requests, isolates existing constraints and possible challenges and vulnerabilities, and develops solutions to resolve current or expected problems and risks.
• Evaluates project implementation and develops and implements corrective action plans to close identified gaps in project planning and implementation.
• Incumbent partners with management, employees, and customers to serve and advance the mission of the Service by ensuring consistent and reliable administrative and support services.

Conditions of employment

• Must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
• Appointment subject to background investigation and favorable adjudication.
• Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service.
• Direct Deposit participation required.
• Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more, visit https://www.e-verify.gov/.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, may be required to serve a one (1)-year probationary period. This probationary period allows the Agency to evaluate an employee's fitness for Federal service and to determine whether the employee's continued employment advances the public interest.

The probationary period is an extension of the appointment process. During this time, the Agency will evaluate whether an employee's continuation in the position supports the Agency's mission and organizational goals, aligns with Agency needs and interests, promotes the efficiency of the service, and otherwise advances the public interest. In making this determination, the Agency will consider the employee's performance and conduct; the needs and interests of the Agency; whether continued service supports broader Agency or Government objectives; and whether continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Under applicable law, an employee's service during a probationary period automatically terminates at the end of that period unless the Agency affirmatively certifies, in writing, that the employee's continued employment advances the public interest and that the employee's appointment should be finalized. If the Agency does not issue this written certification, the appointment will be terminated at the conclusion of the probationary period.

Qualifications

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement - 10/01/2026 - unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement.

Competitive candidates must also meet Time-in-Grade requirements as defined in 5 CFR 300, Subpart F.

For current Federal employees, if hours worked per week are not included on your resume, you must submit a non-award SF-50 as part of your application to be used to validate your work schedule and determine the amount of specialized experience that you will be granted. An award SF-50 will not be acceptable documentation for which to consider your amount of qualifying experience. For periods of time that reflect military service, the DD-214 or Statement of Service is sufficient to meet the work schedule requirement as the service dates will be reflected. For all other applicants who are not current federal employees, your resume must state either "full-time" (or "40 hours a week") or "part-time" with the number of hours worked per week to ensure proper crediting of specialized experience.

Minimum Qualification Requirements: To qualify for this position, you must meet the following minimum qualifications:

Minimum Qualifications at the GS-13 grade level:
Specialized Experience: To qualify, you must possess at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). Specialized experience is defined as demonstrated experience. Specialized experience may include: 1) developing a strategic communications plan to roll-out new initiatives and programs and developing and presenting training on project implementation; 2) collecting and analyzing workforce data for large scale government wide projects and making recommendations to the team concerning program trade-offs based on program assessments and evaluations; 3) preparing data for briefings with Senior Leadership to review, evaluate, and improve business processes and activities related to current and proposed initiatives; and 4) ensuring consistent and reliable administrative and support services by maximizing resources for mission delivery; and, building credibility by focusing on the achievement of planned outcomes and goals. You must include hours per week worked.

NOTE: There is no substitution of education for specialized experience at the GS-13 grade level.

Volunteer Experience: 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.

How you will be evaluated

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

Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g. resume, supporting documents), the responses you provide on the application questionnaire, and the result of the additional assessment(s) required for this position. To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process.

Your resume must not exceed 2 pages. Only the document submitted as the "Resume" under the Documents section will be used to determine your qualifications/eligibility and for rating purposes. In the event you submit more than one resume, only the latest submission will be reviewed.

You will be assessed in the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics):

• Accountability
• Influencing/Negotiating
• Planning and Evaluating
• Technical Competency - Management/Program Analysis
• Technical Competency - Program Management

To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and application questionnaire, this position requires successful completion of additional assessment(s), including a structured resume review. These assessments measure the critical competencies listed above that are required to successfully perform the job.

All qualified non-competitive applicants and the best-qualified Merit Promotion applicants will be referred to the hiring manager for consideration.

DUE WEIGHT: Please submit 1) a copy of your most recent performance appraisal/evaluation and 2) a list of any awards (e.g. superior performance awards, special act or achievement awards, quality step increase, etc.) you received in the last 5 years. Any performance appraisal/evaluation and award documentation you provide will be forwarded to the selecting official. The selecting official will review this documentation and give it due weight consideration during the overall selection process. If you do not have your most recent performance appraisal/evaluation, you must submit a statement as to why it is not available. Please indicate if any prior performance appraisals/evaluations were at an acceptable level.

Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration or your score may be lowered. Cheating on an assessment may also result in your removal from consideration. Applicants who include vulgar, offensive, or inappropriate language or information in their application package will be ineligible for further consideration for this position.

Current or former displaced Federal employees who are surplus, displaced, or involuntarily separated have special priority selection rights under the Agency Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) or the Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP). To be considered under CTAP/ICTAP, you must be well-qualified, score at least 85 (i.e., meet the minimum qualification requirements, including any selective placement factors; education, and experience requirements), and be able to perform the duties of the position upon entry.

The following documents are required and must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) - 10/01/2026 - unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement:

1. Resume which includes a list of all significant jobs held and duties performed, with dates in month-year format (include month/day/year format if needed for 52 weeks of experience), and indicate hours worked per week (or full-time). Your resume must clearly show how long you have held each grade/rank. Resumes must not exceed 2 single-sided pages and resumes longer than 2 pages will not be accepted. The minimum font size is 10-point for all body text. All resumes must maintain a minimum 0.5-inch margins on all sides to ensure readability and prevent excessive content compression. Including supplemental pages or attachments disguised as resume extensions are prohibited and will not be reviewed. Your 2-page resume must contain information sufficient to make a valid determination that you fully meet the specialized experience requirements. Resume Builder: https://help.usajobs.gov/faq/application/documents/resume/what-to-include
2. Complete All Required Assessment(s).
3. Performance Appraisals and Awards: All applicants must submit their most recent performance appraisal showing the official rating of record and signed by a supervisor. If the performance appraisal is not dated within the last 18 months OR no performance appraisal is available, you must submit a statement as to why it is not available (including if any prior performance appraisals/evaluations were at an acceptable level).
4. Eligibility Documentation:
   • Current Federal employees must submit latest SF-50 (i.e. Promotion, Separation, Within Grade Increase (WGI)) showing tenure 1 or 2 in block 24, grade, and if applicable, an additional SF-50 showing the highest grade or promotion potential held. Time in grade will be determined by reviewing your resume and required SF-50s. If your SF-50 showing highest permanent grade held has an effective date within the past year, your resume must clearly show that you held that grade for one year. Do not submit award SF-50s.
   • Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act (LMWFA): If you are applying under LMWFA, you must submit ALL Appointment AND Termination SF-50s for EACH appointment verifying the Position Occupied code 1-Competitive Service (block 34); AND Documentation of satisfactory performance for each period of temporary employment claimed, such as, performance evaluations, memorandum of record, whereas the supervisor(s) documented an acceptable performance level for a specified rating/employment period.
   • Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP): You MUST submit proof of eligibility including 1) copy of the agency notice, e.g., RIF Separation Notice, Notice of Proposed Removal, etc.; 2) SF-50s (Notifications of Personnel Action) showing career/conditional tenure competitive status, promotion potential and duty location; and 3) your most recent performance appraisal. To exercise selection priority, displaced or surplus Federal employees must be well qualified. For more information visit: USAJOBS Help Center - Career Transition Programs (CTAP, ICTAP, RPL).

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

Do not submit photographs with your application package. Do not upload Adobe portfolio documents.

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