Summary
Join the Department of Justice's Civil Division and support one of its key compensation programs. The Division seeks a Supervisory Program Specialist to lead RECA payment operations, oversee claim review workflows, and ensure accurate, timely, and compliant delivery of monetary awards to eligible claimants.
This job is open to
Clarification from the agency
Applications will be accepted from current permanent Department of Justice employees with competitive status and CTAP/RPL eligible candidates.
Duties
As a Supervisory Program Specialist in the Civil Division, you will oversee critical operational functions supporting the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) Program. Two positions will be filled: one specializing in payment operations and one specializing in helpline operations. Each Specialist will supervise staff, ensure compliance with RECA requirements, and contribute to the program's mission of delivering accurate, timely, and equitable service to claimants and beneficiaries.
Supervisory Program Specialist (Payments)
The Payments Specialist oversees the full lifecycle of RECA payment processing and financial documentation.
Specific duties include:
- Supervising staff responsible for preparing, reviewing, and processing RECA monetary awards.
- Ensuring the accuracy of payment actions, including acceptance forms, budget memos, fund transfers, and supporting documentation.
- Reviewing and analyzing program costs and supporting budget administration activities.
- Responding to audits, conducting quality-control review of claim files and denied claims, and ensuring consistency, accuracy and timeliness of dispositions.
- Coordinating with attorneys, claims examiners, and budget personnel to resolve payment issues and maintain compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements.
- Reviewing claimant correspondence to ensure clarity and accuracy regarding payment outcomes and program effects.
Supervisory Program Specialist (Helpline)
The Helpline Specialist is responsible for supervising claimant support operations and ensuring high-quality communication with applicants, beneficiaries, and the public.
Specific duties include:
- Supervising staff who respond to claimant inquiries and provide guidance on eligibility, documentation, deadlines, and the RECA claims process.
- Ensuring helpline communications are timely, accurate, consistent, and aligned with RECA statute and program policies.
- Reviewing correspondence and public-facing communication for clarity, correctness, and compliance.
- Training and mentoring staff to ensure professional, high-quality claimant support.
- Collaborating with claims examiners, payment specialists, and leadership to resolve complex claimant issues and maintain consistent messaging across the program.
- Monitoring inquiry trends and recommending improvements to claimant service workflows and informational materials.
Requirements
Conditions of employment
- You must be a United States Citizen or National.
- You will be required to complete a suitability review.
- You must be a current permanent Department of Justice employee with competitive status or a CTAP/RPL eligible candidate.
- You must meet all eligibility requirements by the closing date of this announcement and continue to meet those requirements throughout the hiring process. Offers can be rescinded if requirements are not met.
- Financial Disclosure: If selected, you may be required to disclose financial information in accordance with DOJ and Federal ethics guidelines.
- Additional selections may be made from this announcement, within 90 days, if further openings occur in this office or in other offices within the Civil Division.
- This position has supervisory/managerial responsibilities. A one-year supervisory/managerial probationary period is required upon selection. This may be waived if you have successfully completed the supervisory/managerial probationary period.
Qualifications
To qualify for the GS-12 level, applicants must have at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of this position.
Specialized experience for this position includes performing duties such as: defining and organizing tasks to be executed by staff; supervising staff responsible for processing award payments; reviewing and analyzing program costs to ensure accuracy and compliance with established requirements; reviewing audits of claim files and conducting comprehensive reviews of denied claims for consistency, accuracy, and timeliness; and reviewing correspondence and advising claimants on how authorized monetary awards may impact their eligibility for other benefit programs.
You
MUST meet all qualification requirements, including time-in-grade, by 10/16/2026 of this announcement.
Your resume must support your responses to the application questionnaire and the qualification requirements. Failure to do so may result in an ineligible rating.
See the Required Documents section for important notes about what must be included in your resume.
Additional information
Additional selections may be made from 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. Candidates will not be hired based on their race, sex, color, religion, or national origin.
EEO Statement/Policy: The United States government does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, retaliation, parental status, military service or other non-merit factor. More information can be found here: U.S. Department of Justice Equal Employment Opportunity Policy Issued December 31, 2025
DOJ Reasonable Accommodation Policy: Federal agencies must provide reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities where appropriate. Applicants requiring reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process should contact the hiring agency directly. Determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis. The DOJ Reasonable Accommodation policy can be found here: https://www.justice.gov/jmd/reasonable-accommodation#policy
Selective Service: If you were born male, on or after December 31, 1959, you must certify that you have registered with the Selective Service System or are exempt from having to do so under the Selective Service Law. Additional information is found at: www.sss.gov.
Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs: The Fair Chance Act prohibits Federal agencies from requesting an applicant's criminal history information before the agency makes a conditional offer of employment. If you believe a DOJ employee or Federal contractor acting on its behalf has violated your rights under this Act, you may submit a written complaint within 30 days of the date of the alleged non-compliance directly to civ.hr@usdoj.gov. Note: In accordance with 5 U.S. Code § 9202(c) and 5 C.F.R § 920.201(b) certain positions are exempt from the provisions of the Fair Chance Act.
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.
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.
Once the announcement closes, a review of your resume and supporting documentation will be conducted by the HR Specialist. This information will be compared against your responses to the application questionnaire to determine your eligibility for Federal employment, and then whether you are qualified for this particular position. If a determination is made that you have inflated your responses when compared to your background information, you may be deemed ineligible.
Additionally, you must meet the area of consideration (see above). Applicants who do not meet this requirement are ineligible for consideration.
Basis of Rating: DOJ's Merit Promotion Procedures will be used to evaluate candidates.
Your qualifications will be evaluated on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, and other characteristics):
- Attention to Detail
- Budget Administration
- Leadership
Due Weight for Performance:
Please submit 1) a copy of your most recent performance appraisal/evaluation within the last year and 2) performance award in the last three years (e.g. superior performance awards, special act or achievement awards, quality step increase, etc. Pay adjustments are not awards. ) 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 would like to preview the application questionnaire, please see: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12982118
Required Documents
Documentation requirements may vary from applicant to applicant based on your eligibility claims.
It is your responsibility to carefully review the list of document descriptions below, to see which documents are required for your application.
All Applicants: You must submit a resume (a two page or less resume is required) containing the following for each job entry listed in your employment history:
- Official position title,
- Employer name and contact information,
- Start and end dates (including month and year),
- Indicate full-time or number of hours worked per week if part-time, and
- A list of duties performed and accomplishments.
If you are a current or former Federal employee:
- You must submit your most recent SF-50 (Notification of Personnel Action) or equivalent agency form that shows that you are a career/career conditional employee.
- Your SF-50(s) must demonstrate that you meet the time in grade requirement. If it cannot be determined that you meet this requirement based on the SF-50 that you provide, you will be deemed ineligible.
- Your SF-50 should list the full position title, series, grade and step, organization, duty location, service computation date, effective date, and your service type and tenure status.
- Submit a copy of your most recent performance evaluation/appraisal, signed, showing your final rating within the last year. If a performance appraisal is not available submit a statement explaining why one is not available. You can also submit an award SF-50 that has been given within the last three years. Due weight will be given to appraisals and award SF-50s that are submitted.
- See USAJOBS Current & Former Employees for more information.
If you are a Veteran or a qualifying parent or spouse:
- Submit all DD-214 forms (Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty ), (Member-4 Copy will be required if selected)
- If you are a Veteran with a service-connected disability rating, submit the SF-15 (Application for 10-point Veterans' Preference) and a copy of your VA Letter stating your disability rating.
- If you are the qualifying parent or spouse of a disabled, deceased, or deployed Veteran, and are seeking a derived preference eligibility, you must submit appropriate supporting documentation such as the Veteran's DD-214, SF-15, VA Letter.
- For more information on each type of Veterans' Preference, and the documentation required for each, see FedsHireVets.
If you are a person with a disability, claiming eligibility under Schedule A:
- You must submit "proof of a disability" documentation ("Proof of a disability" is a letter from a medial professional stating that you are eligible under the Schedule A hiring authority and have an intellectual disability, severe physical disability or psychiatric disability. However, the letter does not need to detail your specific disability, medical history, or need for accommodation.)
- You must get this letter from your doctor, a licensed medical professional, a licensed vocational rehabilitation specialist, or any Federal, state, or local agency that issues or provides disability benefits.
- For more information about Schedule A and verification requirements, please see OPM's Schedule A site.
If you are a displaced Federal employee claiming eligibility under CTAP or ICTAP:
- You must submit your separation notice such as your SF-50 or agency RIF letter from your agency.
- If you have not yet been separated, you can provide the letter of intent to separate you from the agency because of reduction-in-force.
- A copy of your most recent performance appraisal
- See USAJOBS' Career Transition Programs for more information.
How to Apply
To apply for this position, you must complete the online application questionnaire and submit your supporting documentation. Your complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 10/16/2026
to receive consideration.
Please note that if the vacancy has an application limit, it will be listed at the top of the announcement by USAJOBS, and the closing date may be sooner than listed here.
If you would like to preview the assessment questionnaire, please see:
https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12982118
- Click "Apply Online" to get started.
- If you're not logged in to your USAJOBS account, you will need to login. If you don't have an account, please create one.
- You will be prompted to select one of your stored (or uploaded) resumes, and any supporting documents you have uploaded to USAJOBS. If you have not uploaded these documents, you can do so later before submitting your application.
- After acknowledging you have reviewed your application package, you will be asked to submit your demographic information (if you have provided this in your profile). Submission is optional and anonymous.
- You'll be asked to confirm your choices and certify the accuracy of your information before you're able to continue to the Application Manager system. Until you see the blue border and DOJ logo, you are still on USAJOBS. You'll see a folder animation just before you leave USAJOBS.
- Once you reach DOJ's Application Manager system, you'll be asked to verify the information you transmitted from USAJOBS. You will then respond to the application assessment questionnaires and indicate your eligibility options.
- After responding to the questionnaires, you will have the opportunity to attach the documents you brought over from USAJOBS *OR* upload documents directly from your computer or device.
- If you opt to upload a document directly, click the "Upload" button and select the document on your device, then wait for the upload to finish. Repeat as needed. Documents must be less than 3 MB each and should be in a compatible file format.
- Once all your documents are uploaded, you must assign the uploads to the appropriate document category. You may attach more than one document to each category. Click the drop-down menu for a document category, and select one of the available options in the menu. The document will be listed under this category. You can click the drop-down again to add other documents, as needed. You can have up to 15 document assignments.
- Once you've uploaded and assigned all your documents to an appropriate document type, you can proceed to the final verification step, and click Submit.
- If you have correctly submitted your application, you will receive an automated e-mail notification within 30-60 minutes. Be sure to review the announcement fully to make sure that your application contains everything that is required.
If you need help with the application process, please see the USAJOBS Help Site (for everything on the USAJOBS-side), or the Application Manager Help Site (for everything on the DOJ-side). Regrettably, the Department of Justice cannot assist you with USAJOBS account issues. If you contact us for assistance and the problem is related to your USAJOBS account, we will have to direct you to USAJOBS to remedy the issue.
REASONABLE ACCOMMODATIONS: If you are unable to apply online due to a disability or overseas deployment, you must request an alternative application, which is available from the Human Resources Office. Please contact Tina Minano at 202-598-3820 or tina.g.minano@usdoj.gov to discuss your situation. Accommodations are reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Indicate that you're asking for a
reasonable accommodation in your e-mail so the HR Specialist knows how to direct you.
Next steps
You will receive e-mail notifications as your application status is updated by DOJ. However, you can also see your application status any time by logging in to your USAJOBS account and looking on the "Applications" page. Click the position title to expand the display for each application in the list.
We strive to extend a final offer of employment within 90 days from the close of this announcement. Additional selections may be made from this announcement within 90 days.