Duties

Summary

This Senior Executive Service (SES) position is located in the Office of the Administrator, Washington, DC. For more information on this office, visit their website: https://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/about-office-administrator .

If selected, you must work at the location stated in this announcement.

Learn more about this agency

Responsibilities

The incumbent serves as Deputy Chief of Staff in the Office of the Administrator and provides advice and counsel on policy development, planning, coordination, and legislative matters as they relate to the programs of the Agency.

Specific duties include:

• Sharing fully with the Chief of Staff in all phases of work direction and delegated authority over subordinate staff including planning, direction, execution, and providing input to the overall management of program operations.
• Serving in roles such as the Senior Information Official, Senior Resources Official, and Deputy Civil Rights Official.
• Managing the career senior managers who report to the Immediate Office of the Administrator.
• Providing advice to the Chief of Staff, identifying problem areas, and developing and recommending solutions and specific policies in relation to highly urgent and sensitive operational or program matters.
• At the direction of the Chief of Staff, monitoring and assessing the actions involved in organizing, evaluating, and coordinating specific Agency management programs to achieve the policy objectives decided upon by the Chief of Staff with special emphasis on those programs and projects assigned to the incumbent for development and/or execution.
• Establishing contacts at the highest levels to develop information, evaluate findings, and prepare reports incorporating conclusions and specific recommendations pertaining to the Agency's activities.
• Ensuring that top management officials are fully aware of various environmental issues, many of which may be particularly sensitive or controversial.
• Representing the Chief of Staff at all levels of government, including Federal, state, municipal, and county agencies as well as private industry and citizen groups.
• Providing information and advice concerning the Environmental Protection Agency's activities and programs and interpreting existing and proposed plans and policies.

Supervisory status
Yes

Promotion Potential
00

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• You must be a U.S. citizen.
• You must submit resume and required documents (see How to Apply section).
• If you are selected, a pre-employment background check is required.
• You may be required to travel 1 to 5 days per month.
• Pre-employment drug testing is required and random testing thereafter.

If you are selected, you must complete a 1-year SES probationary period, if not previously completed.

The Ethics in Government Act, P.L. 95-521, requires the applicant selected for this position to submit a financial disclosure statement, OGE-278, prior to assuming the SES position, annually, and upon termination of employment.

This position is designated as High Risk and requires a background investigation. Unless an appropriate background investigation is already on record with the Office of Personnel Management, you must undergo a background investigation.

You will be required to obtain and maintain a top-secret security clearance.

Qualifications

The work of this position is classified in the Program Management, 0340 series where the qualifications include both general management skills and characteristics that are applicable to all SES positions and technical or program responsibilities specific to this position. Applicants must have substantive general experience which provides a good basic or general knowledge of the principles of organization, management and administration; and substantive specialized (operating administrative or managerial) experience in a type of work or a combination of functions directly related to this position.

All applicants must have one year of specialized experience at a level close to the work of this job that demonstrates the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities required to successfully perform in this role. Typically this experience can be found in work within this field or a field that is closely related.

As a basic requirement for entry into the Senior Executive Service, applicants must also provide evidence of progressively responsible leadership experience that is indicative of senior level management capability and directly related to the skills and abilities outlined under the Executive Core Qualifications and Technical Qualifications listed below.

A. Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) - Mandatory for competitive applicants - Failure to address these factors will result in your application being disqualified, unless you are a noncompetitive eligible applicant.

ECQ 1 - LEADING CHANGE. Involves the ability to bring about strategic change, both within and outside the organization, to meet organizational goals. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to establish an organizational vision and to implement it in a continuously changing environment.
ECQ 2 - LEADING PEOPLE. Involves the ability to lead people toward meeting the organization's vision, mission, and goals. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to provide an inclusive workplace that fosters the development of others, facilitates cooperation and teamwork, and supports constructive resolution of conflicts.
ECQ 3 - RESULTS DRIVEN. Involves the ability to meet organizational goals and customer expectations. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to make decisions that produce high-quality results by applying technical knowledge, analyzing problems, and calculating risks.
ECQ 4 - BUSINESS ACUMEN. Involves the ability to manage human, financial, and information resources strategically.
ECQ 5 - BUILDING COALITIONS. Involves the ability to build coalitions internally and with other Federal agencies, State and local governments, nonprofit and private sector organizations, foreign governments, or international organizations to achieve common goals.

Your responses should be clear and concise and show a level of accomplishment and a degree of responsibility. Leadership competencies for each ECQ can be found at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/senior-executive-service/reference-materials/guidetosesquals_2012.pdf

B. Technical Qualifications (TQs) - Mandatory for all applicants - Failure to address these factors will result in your application being disqualified.

TQ 1 - Demonstrated experience in leading and implementing a strategic workforce plan including areas such as gap analysis, career development, and succession planning for a large technical organization.


TQ 2 - Demonstrated experience leading and managing one or more comprehensive administrative programs for a large organization, including a commitment to high levels of customer service, respecting and leveraging diversity, and achieving high levels of excellence, in program areas such as contracts management, grants management, workforce/human resources management, budget/financial management, IT management, and/or facilities management.

Education

Additional information

Position has portable work and selectee may be authorized to telework after meeting eligibility requirements if approved by the supervisor/manager.

EPA participates in E-Verify. E-Verify is an Internet based system operated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in partnership with the Social Security Administration (SSA) that enables participating employers to electronically verify the employment eligibility of their newly hired employees. For additional information: EPA Announcement Policies and Procedures .

If you are selected, travel, transportation, and relocation expenses will not be paid by EPA. Any travel, transportation, and relocation expenses associated with reporting to work in this position will be your responsibility.

How You Will Be Evaluated

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

We will review your resume and required documents to ensure you meet the basic qualification requirements. If you meet basic qualification requirements, your application will be evaluated based on your narrative statements addressing the Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) and Technical Qualifications (TQs). It will then be forwarded to a three member Rating Panel consisting of SES members for further review. The Rating Panel will decide which Best Qualified applicants will be issued to the Selecting Official by the Human Resources Office.

To preview questions please click here .

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Top Secret

Drug test required
Yes

Required Documents

Documents to be submitted online:

-- Resume clearly stating your experience related to this position as described in the Duties section and Qualifications section. In describing your experience, you need to be clear and specific. We may not make assumptions regarding your experience.

-- A narrative statement covering each of following:

• Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) - Required for competitive applicants - Address all five factors within a limit of ten pages total. Exceeding this limit will result in disqualification of your application.
• Technical Qualifications (TQs) - Required for all applicants - Address all listed factors within a limit of two pages per factor. Exceeding this limit will result in disqualification of your application.

Your examples should emphasize your level of responsibilities, scope and complexity of programs managed, program accomplishments with results of your actions, policy initiatives and level of contacts. Additional information on the proper preparation of ECQ statements is available at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/senior-executive-service/reference-materials/guidetosesquals_2012.pdf

-- Senior Executive Service (SES) noncompetitive applicants: If you are currently serving under a career SES appointment, are eligible for reinstatement into the SES, or have successfully completed a SES Candidate Development Program approved by OPM, proof of SES noncompetitive eligibility must be submitted:

• SF-50 showing your status as a:
  
  • current Career SES appointee,
  • former Career SES appointee with career SES reinstatement eligibility, or
  • current or reinstatement eligible Career SES-equivalent executive who is/was employed in a Federal government agency that has an interchange agreement with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) allowing for movement between the agency's SES-equivalent personnel system and the SES; OR
• A certificate of completion from an OPM-approved SES Candidate Development Program (CDP). This applies only if your ECQs have been approved by an OPM Qualifications Review Board through the SES CDP.

You are not required to submit a narrative statement addressing the ECQs, but are encouraged to do so.

Additional information can be found on our website: EPA Announcement Policies and Procedures .

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.