Duties

Summary

Experience Your America and build a fulfilling career by joining the National Park Service (NPS) as we prepare for a second century of Stewardship and Engagement. Become a part of our mission to connect with our past and create important connections to the future by building a rich and lasting legacy for the next generation of park visitors, supporters and advocates.

This vacancy may be used to fill additional positions as vacancies become available.

Learn more about this agency

Responsibilities

This position is located in Herndon, Virginia in the Management Systems Team (MST) of the Accounting Operations Center (AOC) of the National Park Service (NPS) where the Incumbent serves as Information Technology Specialist and team member of the Administrative Financial System (AFS) team. The AFS team is responsible for end-to-end system, infrastructure, customer support, interfaces, and the entire systems software development life-cycle. AFS is a web-based system that is using an Oracle database and application servers on virtual machines that provides financial reporting and budgetary information and planning to all parks and field offices within the NPS. The AFS team is responsible for all phases of the AFS application/system from the initial analysis and design through the SDLC, training, interfaces and operations and maintenance.

At the full performance level (GS-13) the major duties of this position include, but are not limited to the following:

Provide the capability to analyze, understand, modify, and comprehend the data, functionality, and programming of interfaces, data load and AFS application development.

Develops and maintains interfaces, data loads and data integrity for daily financial and budget data coming to AFS; and provide any outgoing data timely. Performs the various aspects of data loads; monitoring and validating data being received by AFS.

Responsible for maintaining regular application processes including annual cleansing of the AFS Training database data, including schema and application package refreshes.

Serves as a senior full stack technical programmer for interfaces, data loads, new development, support and maintenance of the AFS system.

Provides full software development life-cycle (SDLC) support. Performs requirements gathering, analysis, design, development, testing, documenting, software version management, training and deployment to various environments.

Performs various software programming languages/techniques and development/reporting tools (PL/SQL, SQL, Java, Oracle Forms/Reports Development Suite, Toad, etc.).

Serves as a backup database administrator for an Oracle NPS service-wide financial database. Works with the primary database administrator to maintain a working knowledge of the database high-level functions.

Responsible for functional and technical requirements, writes and maintains functional and technical documentation for AFS software as needed. Writes User Guides and Training and Testing Manuals as needed.

The National Park Service has determined that the duties of this position are suitable for telework and the selectee may be allowed to telework with supervisor approval.

Salary Information: GS13 $ 99,172 - $128,920 per annum. First time hires to the Federal government normally start at the lower salary range of the grade level.

This vacancy is also announced as NPS-IB-19-022 (MP) for those applicants who apply and wish to be considered under Merit Promotion procedures.

Travel, transportation, and relocation expenses will not be paid. All travel, transportation, and relocation expenses associated with reporting for duty in this position will be the sole responsibility of the selected employee.

Security Clearance Required: You will be required to obtain and maintain a Public Trust Background Investigation if you are selected and hired for this position.

This is a permanent, full-time, career/career conditional appointment.

Travel Required

Not required

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
13

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• You will be subject to a background/suitability investigation/determination
• You will be required to have federal payments made by Direct Deposit.
• You must submit ALL required documents and a completed questionnaire.
• You must be a U.S. Citizen.

Selective Service: If you are a male applicant born 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. See http://www.sss.gov/ .

Qualifications

Minimum Qualification Requirements:

To qualify for this position you must meet the (1) Minimum Qualification Requirements AND (2) Specialized Experience for the grade to which you are applying.

(1) Applicants must meet the minimum qualification requirements described below:

Attention to Detail- Is thorough when performing work and conscientious about attending to detail.

Customer Service- Works with clients and customers (that is, any individuals who use or receive the services or products that your work unit produces, including the general public, individuals who work in the agency, other agencies, or organizations outside the Government) to assess their needs, provide information or assistance, resolve their problems, or satisfy their expectations; knows about available products and services; is committed to providing quality products and services.

Oral Communication- Expresses information (for example, ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (for example, technical, sensitive, controversial); makes clear and convincing oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately.

Problem Solving- Identifies problems; determines accuracy and relevance of information; uses sound judgment to generate and evaluate alternatives, and to make recommendations.

Experience must be IT related and may be demonstrated by paid or unpaid experience; and/or completion of specific, intensive training (for example, IT certification), as appropriate.

(2) Specialized Experience:

To qualify for the GS-13, you must possess at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 level in the Federal service, or comparable experience not gained through Federal service. Specialized experience is experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is in or related to the work of the position to be filled. Specialized experience is defined as demonstrated experience: 1. Provide complex database procedures/functions, packages, views, triggers, and expert knowledge of performance tuning; 2. Analyze, design, develop, test, debug, and deploy complex web-based Oracle 12c forms and reports on the Intranet; 3. Perform high level/advanced use of structure programming languages and methodologies for the design, coding, testing, debugging, tuning and deploying modular programs (i.e., PL/SQL, SQL, Java, HTML, etc. 4. Utilize tools such as Toad to analyze, develop, debug, tune, monitor and maintain the operations and maintenance of applications, interfaces and databases; 5. Design, develop and maintain interfaces and data loads into an Oracle 12c database that may come from multiple data sources (i.e., flat files).

Note:At the GS-13 level you maynotsubstitute education for experience.

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

Not Applicable

Additional information

Applicants who include vulgar, offensive, or inappropriate language or information in their application package will be ineligible for further consideration for this position.

Identification of promotion potential in this announcement does not constitute a commitment or an obligation on the part of management to promote the employee selected at some future date. Promotion will depend upon administrative approval and the continuing need for and performance of higher-level duties.

The application contains information subject to the Privacy Act (P.L. 93-579, 5 USC 552a). The information is used to determine qualifications for employment, and is authorized under Title 5, USC, Section 3302 and 3361.

Important Note: All Department of the Interior (DOI) employees are subject to the conflict of interest restrictions imposed upon all employees of the Executive Branch of the Federal Government and may be required to file a Financial Disclosure Report. In addition, DOI employees, GS-15 and above, who work in the Office of the Secretary; along with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) employees (at ALL grade levels), are further restricted concerning their interests in Federal lands and resources administered or controlled by the Department of the Interior. This includes holding stock in energy corporations which lease Federal lands (e.g.: oil, gas, coal, alternative energy resources, etc.). If you have any such investments you should contact the DOI, BOEM or BSEE Ethics Office before accepting employment. DOI employees are held to the highest level of integrity. Employees must be objective and impartial in the performance of their work. All potential issues (e.g.: work-related interactions with friends, family members, or previous employers) must be disclosed at the time of application or during the interview process.

NOTICE: This employer participates in E-Verify and will utilize your Form I-9 information to confirm you are authorized to work in the U.S.

A preliminary background check must be completed before a new employee can begin work with the U.S. Department of the Interior. The preliminary background check consists of a search of Office of Personnel Management and Department of Defense background investigation files and an FBI National Criminal History Fingerprint Check; it may take up to 3 weeks to complete. If selected for this position, you will be extended a tentative offer of employment pending a satisfactory background check. Current Federal employees or individuals with an existing completed background investigation may not be required to undergo another background check; these will be handled on a case-by-case basis in coordination with the Bureau security office.

How You Will Be Evaluated

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

Once the application process is complete, we will review your application to ensure you meet the job requirements. To determine if you are qualified for this job, a review of your resume, supporting documentation and responses to the online questionnaire will be made. Your responses to the online assessment will be used to measure the degree to which your background matches the requirements for this position. You are being evaluated under the Category Rating method, which means, if you are determined to be qualified you will be placed in one of three pre-defined categories. These categories are "Platinum", "Gold", and "Silver". However, your resume must support your responses to the scored occupational questionnaire, or your score may be lowered. Candidates placed in the "Platinum" category will be identified for referral to the hiring manager and may be invited for an interview. Veterans' preference rules for category rating will be applied.

Your answers to the on-line assessment will be used to evaluate your competencies in the following areas:

Information Technology - Knowledge and ability in applying advanced IT principles, concepts, methods, standards and procedures in the development and refinement of new and unique applications for existing computer technology to further design capability and ultimately improve products.

Analytical - Knowledge of and ability to analyze and interpret telecommunications, computer systems, and information technology policies and resolution of significant and often conflicting management problems.

Technology Application - Knowledge and ability to oversee, maintain, improve and upgrade mission support technology applications including the development and refinement of new and unique applications.

Oral Communication - Ability to communicate verbally to a wide variety of audiences including but not limited to information technology professionals, network administrators, business unit managers, independent auditors and senior leadership

Written Communication- Ability to write technical documentation, user guides and testing materials.

If you are a status applicant (current career or career-conditional Federal employee or former permanent Federal employee with reinstatement eligibility in the competitive service), or are eligible under a special appointing authority and you are selected under this vacancy, you may be subject to serving a new one-year probationary period.

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Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Other

Drug test required
No

Required Documents

Your resume must contain information sufficient to make a valid determination that you fully meet the specialized experience requirements as stated in this vacancy announcement and OPM qualification standards for each grade level(s) for which you are applying. It is strongly recommended that you use the USAJobs Resume Builder as it was designed to ensure that your resume includes the standard information needed. The Resume Builder is available at https://help.usajobs.gov/index.php/How_to_create_your_resume

Your application package must include: (1) Resume showing relevant experience as written in your own words; (2) Completed online Assessment Questionnaire; (3) College transcript (if applicable) for verification of qualifying education. Unofficial transcripts are acceptable; (4) Certificates, license, etc. (if applicable); (5) Form DD-214 OR VA letter and Standard Form 15 (if applicable).

NOTE: Applicants claiming veterans preference (TP, CP, CPS) must submit a copy of your DD-214, "Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty," (Member 4 copy is preferred), showing the dates of active duty, type of discharge, and character of service (must be honorable); OR acceptable proof of verification of your preference (i.e., official document, dated 1991 or later, from the Department of Veterans Affairs, or from a branch of the Armed Forces, certifying that the veterans total combined serviced-connected disability rating is 10% or more).

You will find additional information on the following topics: (1) e-Verify; (2) Selective Service; (3) CTAP/ICTAP; (4) Education - accreditation; (5) Foreign education; (6) Veterans preference; (7) Special appointing authority documentation; and more can be found on our web site: https://www.bsee.gov/careers/usajobs-assistance OR http://www.boem.gov/USAJobs-Assistance/ .

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(a) 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 Rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty station. To be considered well-qualified and exercise selection priority for this vacancy, you must earn a minimum score of 85 or above (prior to the assignment of veteran's preference) on the rating criteria for this position.

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.