Statistician (Confidentiality Officer) Job in Anywhere in the U.S. (remote job)

Vacancy No. JP-24-155 Department Office of Justice Programs
Salary $122,198.00 to $158,860.00 Grade 14 to 14
Perm/Temp Permanent FT/PT Full-time
Open Date 6/5/2024 Close Date 7/8/2024
Job Link Apply Online Who may apply Public
Locations:
Anywhere in the U.S. (remote job)


Job Description (Please follow all instructions carefully)

Summary

This position is located in the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS).

This job is open to

Clarification from the agency

This position is being filled under the Direct Hire Authority. U. S. Citizenship required.

Duties

  • Designs and operates the Bureau's confidentiality program for access to the organization's statistical data, including implementing governing standards to assess data sensitivity, application of appropriate statistical disclosure limitation (SDL) techniques and disclosure risk procedures to determine appropriate tiered access methods.
  • Develops and implements Disclosure Review Program at the organization to perform comprehensive risk assessments on the organization's data assets.
  • Advising on, and developing statistical policies, methods, and standards to protect confidentiality through all phases of the data lifecycle.
  • Performs research and development activities that support the use of statistical techniques to mitigate privacy threats and minimize risk of inadvertent disclosure of confidential data.
  • Provides advanced expertise on federal laws, regulations, policies, and other authorities governing confidentiality protection.
  • Develops and implements confidentiality policies and procedures for agency staff, agency data collection agents, and users of agency restricted data.
  • Delivers confidentiality training to agency staff and develops materials to provide guidance on statistical methods and practices to protect confidentiality.
  • Provides statistical consultation on data sensitivity levels and tiered access methods.
  • Conducts disclosure risk assessments on the agency's microdata prior to releasing files to determine the appropriate access method to protect confidentiality.
  • Advises on the use of appropriate disclosure limitation techniques and tiered access methods to mitigate threats to confidentiality.
  • Reviews files proposed for public release to assess disclosure risk and make recommendations to minimize risk.
  • Plans for and institutes programs in anticipation of special needs and potential challenges to confidentiality protection.
  • Advances knowledge of current and developing regulations and best practices concerning confidentiality by participating in committees, workshops, training and conferences.
  • Designs and implements activities to expand access to confidential organization data for approved statistical and research purposes within DOJ, the federal government, the statistical and academic communities, state, local and tribal governments and the wider community of BJS organization's data consumers.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

  • U.S. Citizenship required.
  • Subject to background/suitability investigation/determination.
  • Federal payments are required to be made by Direct Deposit.
  • Requires registration for the Selective Service. Visit www.sss.gov.
  • Pre-employment drug testing required.
  • 1-year probationary period may be required.
  • Confidential Financial Disclosure may be required
  • Security Requirements: Non-Sensitive/Moderate Risk

Qualifications

Special Placement Factor:
  • Experience with performing or overseeing application of statistical techniques to mitigate privacy threats and minimize risk of disclosure of confidential data, which can include experience serving as a disclosure review officer or on a disclosure review board.
Basic Entry Requirements:
  • 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, etc. Credit toward meeting statistical course requirements should be given for courses in which 50 percent of the course content appears to be statistical methods, e.g., courses that included studies in research methods in psychology or economics such as tests and measurements or business cycles, or courses in methods of processing mass statistical data such as tabulating methods or electronic data processing.
OR
  • 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.

Specialized Experience:
Applicants must have one (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-13 level. Specialized experience is experience which is in or related to the line of work of the position to be filled and which has equipped the applicant with the specific knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position.

Examples of specialized experience include:

  • Collecting, acquiring, analyzing, storing, disseminating, and sharing statistical data in compliance with federal laws and best practices for protecting confidentiality and privacy.
  • Providing expert advice on Statistical Disclosure Limitation (SDL) techniques and other data privacy methods, including the use of methods involving differential privacy and synthetic data.
  • Developing standards to assess data sensitivity levels and conduct risk assessments on each dataset, consistent with regulatory requirements.
  • Contributing to the development, implementation, and oversight of best practices to properly balance data utility and confidentiality protection.
  • Providing expert advice on laws, regulations, and policies protecting confidentiality and privacy, including the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018.
Additional information on the qualification requirements is outlined in the OPM Qualification Standards Handbook of General Schedule Positions and is available at OPM's website: https://www.opm.gov/qualifications/standards/indexes/num-ndx.asp

All qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement.

Education

This position has a positive education requirement. Please see the Qualifications section for more information.

Additional information

  • OJP offers opportunities for flexible work schedules.
  • Recruitment incentives may not be authorized.
  • This position included in the bargaining unit.
  • This vacancy announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.
  • Please do not indicate current or former position salary in your application or resume.
  • As the federal agency whose mission is to ensure the fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans, the Department of Justice is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment. To build and retain a workforce that reflects the diverse experiences and perspectives of the American people, we welcome applicants from the many communities, identities, races, ethnicities, backgrounds, abilities, religions, and cultures of the United States who share our commitment to public service.
  • Remote work is an arrangement in which an employee works at an approved alternative worksite (e.g., from home) that is at a location away from the agency worksite. The selectee's residence is the full-time official duty location. The difference in salary is determined by the locality pay in each location. Salary range listed on this announcement is the Rest of U.S. pay scale. Actual salary will be dependent upon physical location of selectee and is determined by the locality pay in each duty location. Upon selection, the salary will be adjusted to include locality. Salaries for all areas are available on the OPM website at: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-wages/2023/general-schedule/

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.

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.

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

Direct Hire applicants: Your resume and supporting documentation will be used to determine whether you meet the job qualifications listed on this announcement. Your resume must contain sufficiently detailed information upon which to make a qualification determination. Qualified candidates will be considered in accordance with the Office of Personnel Management Direct Hire guidelines. Veterans' Preference does not apply to direct hire recruitment procedures.

Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP)/Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP): The ICTAP provides eligible displaced Federal competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. The CTAP provides eligible surplus and displaced competitive service employees in the Department of Justice with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. If your agency has notified you in writing that you are a displaced employee eligible for ICTAP consideration, or if your Department of Justice component has notified you in writing that you are a surplus or displaced employee eligible for CTAP consideration, you may receive selection priority if: 1) this vacancy is within your ICTAP/CTAP eligibility; 2) you apply under the instructions in this announcement; and 3) you are found well-qualified for this vacancy. To be well-qualified, applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors if applicable and must be proficient in most of the requirements of the job. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website, which can be found at https://www.opm.gov

Required Documents

REMINDER: ALL DOCUMENTS MUST BE RECEIVED BY 11:59 Eastern Time (Washington, D.C. time) ON 07/08/2024 .

REQUIRED DOCUMENTS (ALL APPLICANTS):

  1. Resume (To receive credit for experience, your employment history must be documented in month/year format (MM/YYYY), reflecting starting date and ending date and include the number of hours worked per week. Failure to follow this format may result in disqualification), and
  2. Unofficial transcripts (official transcripts will be required if selected), and
  3. Responses to the online questionnaire.
Note: Incomplete applications will not be considered.

If you are claiming CTAP/ICTAP eligibility,
you must submit proof by the closing date of the announcement that you meet the requirements of 5 CFR 330.605(u) for CTAP and 5 CFR 330.704 for ICTAP or you will not receive priority consideration. The proof includes a copy of the Agency notice, your most recent performance appraisal, and your most recent SF-50 Notification of Personnel Action for Competitive Appointment.

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 supporting documentation specified in the Required Documents section above.

A complete application package, to include the responses to the online Assessment Questionnaire, must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 07/08/2024 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 résumé 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 verify the status of your application, log into your USAJOBS account (https://my.usajobs.gov/Account/Login), all of your applications will appear on the Welcome screen. The Application Status will appear along with the date your application was last updated. For information on what each Application Status means, visit: https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/how-to/application/status/. If you need help with the application process, please see the USAJOBS Help Site .

If you are unable to apply online, please contact Abygail Sharrar-Armendariz at
abygail.sharrar-armendariz@usdoj.govor 202-702-9332 for alternate application procedures.

Agency contact information

Abygail Sharrar-Armendariz

Address

Bureau of Justice Statistics
DO NOT MAIL
Washington, DC 20531
US
Learn more about this agency

Next steps

Once your completed application is certified and received you will receive an acknowledgement email that your submission was successful. After a review of your complete application is made you will be notified of your status and/or referral to the hiring official. If further evaluation or interviews are required you will be contacted. After making a tentative job offer, we will conduct a suitability/security background investigation. We expect to make a final job offer within 80 days after the closing date of the announcement.


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