Duties

Summary

The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Safety and Mission Assurance (SMA) Directorate is currently seeking interested candidates for the Senior Executive Service (SES) position: Deputy Director, SMA Directorate in Greenbelt, MD. If you're looking for a unique and challenging experience, we encourage you to apply!

This announcement has been modified to extend the closing date.
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Responsibilities

The Deputy Director of Safety and Mission Assurance (SMA) Directorate reports to the Director of SMA and acts for the Director in his/her absence. The Deputy Director, SMA shares broad responsibility and general authority to review all technical and flight safety aspects of GSFC projects, spacecraft systems, operational ground systems and scientific instruments.

Specific responsibilities include:
1. Provides administrative and technical recommendations to the Director of SMA related to mission, budget, and staffing requirements of the Directorate.

2. Manages the development and execution of Directorate policies, plans, and procedures for the implementation of the assurance program for GSFC managed flight and ground systems projects.

3. Determines appropriate Directorate and Center responses to policies and requirements promulgated by the NASA HQ, Associate Administrator.

4. Serves as consultant and advisor to the highest levels of GSFC management for assurance activities, his/her recommendations having far reaching impact on projects.

5. Serves as the focus for cross-Directorate decision making relative to appropriate assurance activities during the entire life of a project.

6. Provides an independent assessment of flight readiness for each GSFC spacecraft to the Center Director prior to launch.

Travel Required

Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel for this position.

Supervisory status
Yes

Promotion Potential
None

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• The individual selected will be required to file an 'Executive Branch Personnel Financial Disclosure Report (OGE-278) in accordance with the Ethics in Government Act of 1978.
• Initial Senior Executive Service (SES) Career appointee is subject to a one-year probationary period.
• Successful completion of a background investigation commensurate with the risk and sensitivity level of the position.
• Successful completion of pre-employment and random drug testing may be required.
• Must meet qualifications requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

Qualifications

You must have the skill and ability to perform the duties described above as demonstrated by progressively responsible supervisory/leadership experience, normally obtained over several years by serving in positions at the GS-15 level or equivalent.

To meet the minimum qualification requirements for this position, you MUST address each Executive Core Qualification (ECQ) and Mandatory Technical Qualification (MTQ) separately. If you fail to do so, your application will be rated ineligible. We recommend you provide two (2) examples of relevant experience for each ECQ. Responses to ALL ECQs must not exceed ten (10) pages; MTQ responses must not exceed one (1) page per MTQ. Please include your full name on all documents submitted.

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 and been certified by Office of Personnel Management (OPM) you MUST address the MTQs, but do not need to address the ECQs.

When preparing your responses to the ECQs and MTQs, you are encouraged to follow the Challenge, Context, Action, and Result model outlined in the OPM's Guide to Senior Executive Service Qualification and NASA's Guide to Effectively Preparing Executive Core Qualifications . For a sample template on how to format your ECQ narrative visit NASA's Executive Leadership Opportunities .

EXECUTIVE CORE QUALIFICATIONS:

ECQ 1 - Leading Change: 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: 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: 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: The ability to manage human, financial, and information resources strategically.

ECQ 5 - Building Coalitions: 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.

MANDATORY TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS:

MTQ 1- Demonstrated knowledge and experience with safety, reliability, and quality assurance policies and practices for design, development, test and certification of large spaceflight programs.

MTQ 2- Experience effectively leading an organization responsible for safety and mission assurance processes and procedures for complex systems, including workforce and budgets.

Education

This position has a positive education requirement. To be eligible, you must clearly state in your resume the following: degree, major and/or minor, and college/university.

A bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university with major study in engineering, physical science, mathematics, life sciences, computer science, or other field of science.

SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR FOREIGN EDUCATION: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show that the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs. These education credentials must be deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. For further information, click here .

Additional information

How You Will Be Evaluated

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

All qualifications requirements must be met by the closing date of the announcement. You will be evaluated 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 the basic qualification requirements, your application will be evaluated based on your narrative statements addressing the ECQs and MTQs. Your application will then be referred to and evaluated by an Executive Resources Panel (ERP) and will be placed in one of the following categories: Not Qualified, Qualified, or Highly-qualified. Candidates may receive an interview and/or be asked to provide a list of references. The ERP will make a recommendation to the appropriate approving authority.

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Sensitive Compartmented Information

Drug test required
Yes

Position sensitivity and risk
Special-Sensitive (SS)/High Risk

Trust determination process
National security

Required Documents

You must provide a complete application package. If you do not provide all required information, you will not be considered for this position. Only provide the following:

1. Resume showing relevant work experience (start/end dates stated in month/year, description of duties), applicable education at a minimum, and your contact information. For current or previous Federal employees, it should also include the Pay Plan, Series and Grade for each work experience entry. Limit your resume to 10 pages. If more than 10 pages are submitted, only the first 10 pages will be reviewed to determine your eligibility/qualifications.

2. Executive Core Qualifications narrative responses, if applicable. Limit your response to 10 pages. If more than 10 pages are submitted, only the first 10 pages will be reviewed to determine your eligibility/qualifications.

3. Mandatory Technical Qualifications narrative responses. Limit your response to 1 page per MTQ. If more than 1 page per MTQ is submitted, only the first pages for each MTQ will be reviewed to determine your eligibility/qualifications.

You may be asked to provide additional documentation to support your eligibility and the information provided in your application package. For example, we may request transcripts, SF-50s, SES Candidate Development Program certificate, etc. Therefore, we encourage you to have these documents prepared and ready when requested by the agency. If you fail to provide the required documents within the stated time period, we may withdraw a job offer and/or remove you from further consideration.