Duties

Summary

This position is located in the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). This position reports to the Deputy Director, NMAAHC and is responsible for overseeing and tracking multi-phased projects, performing research, developing strategic communications and reports, and assisting in the preparation and scheduling of speaking engagements and media interviews.

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Responsibilities

The incumbent develops project scopes and objectives and ensures technical feasibility, resource availability and resource allocation for projects assigned by the Deputy Director. Develops detailed project plans to track progress and provides regular project status updates including timelines, milestones, risks, issues and budget expenditures. Recommends sequences for actions, procurement and purchases and coordinates necessary meetings to ensure the timely delivery of products and services. Facilitates work across project teams, develops a project schedule, leads meetings to track progress, troubleshoots problems as they arise, and directly manages assigned component projects and develops solutions to barriers and challenges to success in order to deliver projects on time, within budget and scope and with a keen focus on effective and consistent communication.

Performs background research and prepares speeches, talking points, backgrounders and other materials for speaking engagements and media interviews. Schedules and arranges interviews between media representatives and the Deputy Director.

Writes and edits speeches, statements, briefings and written communications for the Deputy Director ensuring a high level of consistency, accuracy, content and presentation for a wide variety of audiences. Provides advice to colleagues on communication matters to ensure consistency, quality and impact of NMAAHC publications, and provides updates to the Deputy Director to ensure congruence with editorial direction and alignment with NMAAHC's broader goals. Selects or recommends use of layouts, graphics, drawings, tables, exhibits, illustrations, charts, and storyboards to amplify or clarify objectives.

Performs in-depth analysis, research, and interpretation in order to design qualitative and quantitative reports for Deputy Director and Smithsonian Institution leadership, the Advisory Council, and other key stakeholders.

Develops and reviews documents for content, accuracy, clarity, format, and version control. Provides advice to colleagues on communication matters to ensure consistency, quality and impact of NMAAHC publications, and provides updates to the Deputy Director to ensure congruence with editorial direction and alignment with NMAAHC's broader goals.

Travel Required

Occasional travel - Occasional travel is required.

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
12

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• Pass Pre-employment Background Investigation
• May need to complete a Probationary Period
• Maintain a Bank Account for Direct Deposit/Electronic Transfer
• Males born after 12/31/59 must be registered with Selective Service.

Qualification requirements, including one year time-in-grade at the next lower grade level for promotion candidates, must be met within 30 days of the job announcement closing date.

For information on qualification requirements, see Qualification Standards Handbook for General Schedule Positions viewable on the web at http://www.opm.gov/qualifications.

Qualifications

Experience: You qualify for this position if you possess one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-11 level in the Federal Service or comparable pay band system. For this position Specialized experience is defined as managing projects for a senior leader of a museum or similar cultural entity by developing detailed plans, budgets and timelines; writing speeches, talking points, and other materials; and scheduling and arranging media interviews.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Part-time and/or unpaid experience related to this position will be considered to determine the total number of years and months of experience. Be sure to note the number of paid or unpaid hours worked each week.

Education

Additional information

Flexible Spending Accounts - https://www.fsafeds.com/
Health Insurance - http://www.opm.gov/insure/health/index.asp
Leave - http://www.opm.gov/oca/leave/index.asp
Life Insurance - http://www.opm.gov/insure/life/index.asp
Long Term Care Insurance - http://www.ltcfeds.com
Retirement Program - https://www.opm.gov/retirement-services/

How You Will Be Evaluated

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

Your application will be evaluated first for the basic qualifications described above. The applications that meet the basic qualifications will be evaluated further against the following criteria:

• Skill in project management in order to develop project plans, timelines, milestones, and budgets.
• Skill in writing and editing a wide-range of written materials appropriate for intended audiences.
• Ability to perform independent research in order to develop media briefing packages, reports and other materials.
• Skill in preparing and coaching others for high profile media interviews.
• Skill in oral communication.

BASIS OF RATING: Once the announcement closes, your application will be automatically evaluated and rated by the system and a Human Resources Specialist. To determine if you are qualified for this job, a review of your application and supporting documentation will be made and compared against your responses to the occupational questionnaire. The numeric rating you receive is based on your responses to the questionnaire. The score is a measure of the degree to which your background matches the knowledge, skills, and abilities required of this position. If, after the Human Resources Specialist reviews your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that the score you have received is not a true reflection of your qualifications and/or experience, your score can and will be adjusted to more accurately reflect the information you provided that support your abilities. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating. Your resume should provide detailed information regarding how your education and experience relate to this position, including the major duties and qualifications criteria listed.

Veterans Employment Opportunities Act (VEOA): If you are applying for a VEOA appointment, you must be a veteran and must be honorably separated and either a preference eligible or have substantially completed 3 or more years of active service. ("Active Service" under this law means active duty in a uniformed service and includes full-time training duty, annual training duty, full-time National Guard duty, and attendance, while in the active service, at a school designated as a service school by law or by the Secretary concerned.) A veteran who is released under honorable conditions shortly before completing a 3-year tour is also eligible.

Noncompetitive Appointment Authorities: The following links contain information on the eligibility requirements to be considered under a noncompetitive appointing authority:

• Primary Appointing Authorities for Career and Career-Conditional Appointments
• Hiring Authorities for Veterans
• People with Disabilities

Important Note:

Your resume and supporting documentation will be compared to your responses to the occupational questionnaire or other assessment tool for consistency. If a determination is made that you have rated yourself higher than is supported by your resume, you will be assigned a rating commensurate to your described experience. Your resume should provide sufficient information regarding how your education and experience relate to this position, including the major duties and qualifications criteria listed.

To preview questions please click here .

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Other

Drug test required
No

Required Documents

Your application package should include the following documents:

• Resume - Your resume can be uploaded and attached to your application or created using the USA Jobs on-line resume builder. If you want to receive full credit for relevant experience your resume MUST contain the job title (including the occupational series and grade if it is Federal), duties, starting and ending dates (month and year), hours worked per week, and salary.
  
  USAJOBS has guidance on how to ensure that you submit a complete resume: If you have not written a Federal resume before, you may watch this Resume Writing Tutorial video on the USAJOBS YouTube channel , or read through a helpful Resume Writing FAQ article on the USAJOBS Help Site to learn what details you should, and should not, include in your resume. If any of the above information is not included in your resume we may not be able to fully credit you for your experience.
  
• A copy of your most recent SF-50 which shows your position title, series, grade, step, salary, position occupied, and tenure to verify Time-in-Grade/competitive status. If you have previously held a higher grade and are applying based on that grade you must provide a copy of the SF-50 showing you held the higher grade and/or have promotion potential to the grade being advertised. Do NOT submit award SF-50s.
• Unofficial school transcripts, if the position has an education requirement or if you are using education to qualify. If selected for the position, you must provide an official transcript before appointment.
• Proof of U.S. accreditation for foreign study, if applicable.
• A recent performance evaluation
• Proof of Veteran's Preference - DD214 (Member 4 Copy) if you are requesting a special appointment authority, such as VRA or VEOA
• Proof of severe disability if you are requesting special placement consideration.
• Proof of eligibility for a military spouse appointment, such as a permanent change station military order.
• Proof of eligibility for any other special appointing authority not specifically mentioned here.

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.