Duties

The Director of OPATS performs the following major duties:

Responsible for the oversight, administration, and management of OPATS program and staff, comprising of the following sub-units:

Programming Unit - consisting of specialists with expertise in any of the following disciplines/sectors: agriculture, education, environment, youth development, community economic development and entrepreneurship, volunteerism, gender equality, working with people with disabilities, climate adaptation, and/or food security. Program specialists work with overseas programming staff to plan, design, and evaluate projects, provide a global perspective, share developing themes and trends, and collect and share research on innovative global trends in the disciplines in which they are focused, and develop partnerships and coordination with other international donor organizations. Evaluation specialists in this unit support overseas programming and evaluation staff in the evaluation of post projects and Volunteer training, as well the monitoring and reporting of Volunteer activities.

Training Unit - comprised of three sub-units: Intercultural Competency, Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion; Language; and Instructional Systems Design. Training specialists in this unit are responsible for setting the standards of training excellence, supporting the development of training resources for Volunteers, and providing support and learning opportunities for programming, training, and evaluation staff.

Production Unit - consisting of an editor, digital librarian and multi-media specialist. This unit ensures that all support materials are available on demand and that the most appropriate systems are developed and in place to provide access to the wealth of knowledge and learning not only within Peace Corps, but also with its stakeholders and partners.

Program and Policy Advice and Guidance: Serves as consultant and advisor to the Agency Director and other senior staff, coordinating with offices throughout the agency to develop, direct, and supervise a comprehensive, effective, innovative, and sustainable global strategy and program that is in line with Peace Corps' mission and responsive to host country needs. Advises on the appropriate methods and techniques to use in order to achieve program goals and objectives. Keeps abreast on program's operational efficiency and advises Agency leadership on problem areas, including plans to resolve issues and create synergies with other programs. Program Planning and Management: Provides strategic analysis on OPATS program planning, development, implementation, and expansion. Serves as the lead in developing strategies for planning and developing programming and training cross-cutting themes with wide scope and impact across the agency programs. Participates in the development and documentation of long- and short-range planning efforts. Reviews long- and short-range plans, resource projections, priorities, justifications, etc. Makes recommendations on planning efforts that can be undertaken within existing resource levels and advises on the impact of efforts that require additional resources. Supervisory and/or Managerial Responsibilities: Manages and supervises the activities of its staff, including the setting of performance goals and objectives, workload determinations, and priorities for strategic planning and budgeting. Ensures management and policies are based on sound organization, position, management and federal employment practices including EEO. Performs the administrative and human resource management functions relative to the staff supervised. Establishes guidelines and performance expectations for staff members, which are clearly communicated through the formal employee performance management system. Observes workers' performance; demonstrates and conducts work performance critiques. Provides informal feedback and periodically evaluates employee performance. Resolves informal complaints and grievances. Develops work improvement plans, recommending personnel actions as necessary. Provides advice and counsel to workers related to work and administrative matters. Effects disciplinary measures as appropriate to the authority delegated in this area. Reviews and approves or disapproves leave requests. Assures that subordinates are trained and fully comply with the provisions of safety regulations. Provides final decision-making authority for the full range of personnel actions and organization design improvements recommended by supervisors of subordinate organizations, including the approval of long-range work plans, and the management of major changes throughout the OPATS organization, such as major changes to the structure, priorities, and content of the OPATS program.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• Applicants must be U.S. citizens.
• Applicants must successfully complete a background security investigation with favorable adjudication. Failure to successfully meet this requirement will be grounds for employment termination.
• All Federal employees are required to have federal salary payments made by direct deposit to a financial institution of their choosing.
• A one year trial period is required.
• This is not a bargaining unit position.
• This position requires the filing of a Financial Disclosure report.
• This position requires a public trust background investigation.

Peace Corps Information

• This is a Federal civilian job in the Excepted Service. Peace Corps employees are paid on the Foreign Personnel (FP) pay scale.
• Initial appointment of employment cannot exceed five years.
• Additional hiring needs may be filled through this vacancy.
• The Peace Corps is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), 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 factors.
• The Peace Corps is a drug-free workplace and promotes a drug-free environment.
• The Peace Corps is committed to maintaining a diverse and inclusive culture. Our goal is to attract and develop the best and brightest from all lifestyles and backgrounds. The Peace Corps strives to create a culture of inclusion where individuals feel respected and are treated fairly in all aspects of differences. Our commitment is to make a difference in the lives of people around the world.

The Peace Corps provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the hiring process, please notify the Office of Human Resources by calling 202-692-1200 or the Office of Civil Rights and Diversity on 202-692-2139. Decisions on granting reasonable accommodation are made on a case-by-case basis.

Qualifications

Specialized Experience:

You must meet the specialized experience at the grade level(s) in which you choose to be considered by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on 07/04/2022 (the closing date of the announcement). You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. To ensure full credit for your experience, please indicate dates of employment by month, day, and year and the number of hours worked per week in your resume.

This vacancy is being announced at one grade level:

FP-1

Qualifying experience for the FP-1 level includes one year of specialized experience at least equivalent to the FP-2 or GS-14 level which is in or directly related to the line of work of the position to be filled and which has equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position. Specialized experience includes: Experience managing and supervising the activities of its staff, including the setting of performance goals and objectives, workload determinations, and priorities for strategic planning and budgeting; Experience developing, coordinating, and implementing strategic plans to include mission, goals, objectives, and implementation strategies; Experience formulating and implementing plans to improve program policies, practices, methods, and organizational structure; Experience performing the administrative and human resource management functions relative to the staff supervised.

Additional information on qualification requirements is outlined in the OPM Qualifications Standards Handbook of General Schedule Positions. It is available for your review on the OPM web site at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/

All qualification requirements must be met by 07/04/2022 (the closing date of this announcement). Qualification claims will be subject to verification.

Please note: Peace Corps employees are employed using the Foreign Personnel (FP) pay scale. The FP pay plan does not follow the same structure as the GS pay plan. In the FP pay plan, as the grade-level numbers decrease the level/pay for the position increases (e.g., the FP-09 is the lowest entry-level pay and the FP-01 is the highest senior-level pay).

Education

This job does not have an education qualification requirement.

Additional information

Intelligence Background Information

Peace Corps Manual Section 611 is applicable to this position. This section prohibits the employment of certain persons previously engaged in intelligence activities or connected with intelligence agencies within the past 10 years. If you have ever worked for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), you are not eligible for employment at the Peace Corps in any capacity, and you should not apply for employment.

Acceptance of employment with Peace Corps precludes employment by certain intelligence organizations for a specific period of time, determined by the employing agency, after Peace Corps employment ceases.

Applicants who are found to be otherwise qualified will be required to submit upon request in the future a completed Intelligence Background Questionnaire, or narrative signed statement, indicating whether the applicant has been involved in or has had any connection with intelligence activities or related work and, if so, the nature and dates of his or her involvement. Failure to meet this requirement will result in the applicant being rated ineligible for further consideration. If you have any other type of possible intelligence connection, your application will not be further considered until you submit this form. Except when the CIA or the National Security Agency (NSA) is involved (see below), if your connection with an Intelligence Agency involves an immediate family member who works or has worked in intelligence, the immediate family member should complete the form, not the applicant. Usually relying on memory is sufficient to answer most if not all of the questions.

If you have an immediate family member who works or has worked for the CIA, you should not give them this form to complete. Please contact your relative in person-not by phone, email, social networking, or any other means that is not in person- and ask him or her to contact the Office of General Counsel at the CIA.

If you or an immediate family member have been employed by or associated with the NSA, you or your family member must contact the NSA Prepublication Review Office at 443-634-4095.