Duties

At the Band III, the incumbent will serve as an Assistant Director providing leadership and methodological consulting services on the most complex engagements and issues. Duties include but are not limited to the following:

- Advises teams and assists them to select appropriate methodology and to implement an engagement in accordance with GAO and professional social science standards;
- Provides consultation on highly complex and/or sensitive engagements based on requests from congressional committees and mandates written into legislation, resolutions, and committee reports;
- Ensures the identification of all key issues related to significant savings, improvements, or benefits. Works to achieve results in support of key efforts identified in GAO's strategic plan;
- Anticipates information needs of external parties and facilitates making this information readily available. Utilizes negotiation skills to work with agency officials to obtain access to the information needed to conduct thorough, timely audits;
- Provides others with advice on methods and procedures and serves as a quality assurance point for final products. Maintains accountability by advising higher-level management of progress or problems;
- May serve as a Designated Performance Manager (DPM) responsible for supervising, evaluating and documenting work performance of assigned staff. Identifies training and developmental needs and makes provisions for training as required by performance expectations. Coaches staff in skills development, oversees individual development activities, and provides opportunities to develop increased capabilities through a variety of projects and assignments. Hears and resolves employee complaints, recommends disciplinary measures such as warnings and reprimands, and recommends other action in more serious cases;
- As required, may be assigned off line duties such as Professional Development Program (PDP) Advisor, staffing manager, recruiter, and others.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

Must be a full-time or part-time GAO employee on a permanent appointment.

You may be required to serve a one-year Supervisory probationary period.

All qualifications must be met by April 23, 2023 (effective date of promotion).

You must meet both the education and experience requirements for this position.

If selected, you will be required to provide official transcript(s) to verify your education.

Qualifications

In addition to the basic requirement as stated in the education section, you must have one year (52 weeks) of GAO experience equivalent to the next lower band level (PE-IIB, PA-II, PT-III, or MS-I) overseeing or leading the development of quantitative and qualitative social science research design approaches and methods, and experience guiding others to use these approaches to effectively perform evaluations or other applied research. Your experience must also demonstrate substantive knowledge of GAO's programs and activities, its mission, policies, objectives, management principles and processes; and the ability to manage staff, and independently analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of technical services and staff resources.

Education

Basic Requirement:

Social Science, Series 0101 Qualification standards

Degree: behavioral or social science; or related disciplines appropriate to the position; OR

Combination of education and experience that provided the applicant with knowledge of one or more of the behavioral or social sciences equivalent to a major in the field; OR

Four years of appropriate experience that demonstrated that the applicant has acquired knowledge of one or more of the behavioral or social sciences equivalent to a major in the field.

Additional information

Band III promotion opportunities for GAO's mission teams will be available in all applicable geographical locations. For information on the number of Band III promotion opportunities by team, please see the GAO-wide Notice published and distributed (via email) earlier this month.

BARGAINING UNIT STATUS: This position is not included in the bargaining unit.

If you would like to apply for Specialists promotion opportunities (IT Analyst, Financial Auditor, etc.), you must submit a separate application directly to the appropriate announcement for each Specialist position for which you wish to be considered.

This position is a moderate risk public trust position with possible upgrade to a Secret or Top Secret or SCI clearance depending on the type of engagement the employee will be assigned to within the mission teams.