Duties

The Inspector General (IG) of the U.S. Department of Education (Department) heads an independent and objective organization responsible for audit, investigation, and other inspection services related to programs and operations of the Department. The IG provides leadership and coordination and recommends policies for activities designed to promote economy, efficiency, and effectiveness in the administration of programs and operations as well as to prevent and detect fraud and abuse in such programs and operations. The IG is the principal advisor to the Secretary of the Department on the above matters and is responsible for keeping the Secretary and Congress fully and currently informed about problems and deficiencies relating to the administration of the Department's programs and operations and the necessity for and progress of corrective action.

The Office of Inspector General consists of the following five components:

• Immediate Office

• Investigative Services

• Audit Services

• Management Services

• Information Technology, Audits and Computer Crime Investigations (ITACCI)

As a Statistician, the incumbent will perform the following duties:

Develop sound statistical approaches that assist in the efficient accomplishment of project goals.

Contribute to the successful use of sampling and data analysis by project teams by providing effective technical guidance.

Ensure that findings and recommendations that result from statistical methods are prepared in accordance with OIG policy and are adequately presented, projected, and supported.

Provide expert level advice and technical guidance when reviewing audit products.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• May be required to complete a one-year probationary.
• Males over 18 years old must be registered with the Selective Service.
• You must be a U.S. Citizen.
• You must complete a background investigation and fingerprint check.
• Drug Testing is Required.

As required by Executive Order 14043, Federal employees are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 regardless of the employee's duty location or work arrangement (e.g., telework, remote work, etc.), subject to such exceptions as required by law. If selected, you will be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and submit documentation of proof of vaccination before appointment or onboarding with the agency. The agency will provide additional information regarding what information or documentation will be needed and how you can request of the agency a legally required exception from this requirement.

Qualifications

BASIC REQUIREMENTS:

**YOU MUST PROVIDE DOCUMENTATION FOR THE BELOW IN YOUR APPLICATION**

A. Degree: that included 15 semester hours in statistics (or in mathematics and statistics, provided at least 6 semester hours were in statistics), and 9 additional semester hours in one or more of the following: physical or biological sciences, medicine, education, or engineering; or in the social sciences including demography, history, economics, social welfare, geography, international relations, social or cultural anthropology, health sociology, political science, public administration, psychology, etc. Credit toward meeting statistical course requirements should be given for courses in which 50 percent of the course content appears to be statistical methods, e.g., courses that included studies in research methods in psychology or economics such as tests and measurements or business cycles, or courses in methods of processing mass statistical data such as tabulating methods or electronic data processing.

OR

B. Combination of education and experience -- courses as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. The experience should have included a full range of professional statistical work such as (a) sampling, (b) collecting, computing, and analyzing statistical data, and (c) applying statistical techniques such as measurement of central tendency, dispersion, skewness, sampling error, simple and multiple correlation, analysis of variance, and tests of significance.

In addition to meeting the Basic Requirement above, the incumbent must also meet the minimum qualification requirement below:

Specialized Experience for the GS-14:

One year of specialized experience to at least the next lower grade level (GS-13) in the federal services that has equipped you with particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the three (3) following duties or work assignments below:

1. Experience in applying advanced statistical theories, principles, concepts, methodologies, standards and practices to effectively plan audit and inspection projects.

2. Experience in applying statistical sampling to develop projections, assist in presentation of results, and develop recommendations to improve operational results.

3. Experience in applying advanced techniques to identify useful patterns and relationships in large data sets.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs)
The quality of your experience will be measured by the extent to which you possess the following knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs). You do not need to provide separate narrative responses to these KSAs, as they will be measured by your responses to the occupational questionnaire (you may preview the occupational questionnaire by clicking the link at the end of the Evaluations section of this vacancy announcement).

1. Advanced and proficiency in applying statistical principles and practices in the design of complex statistical sampling methodologies.

2. Comprehensive knowledge of mathematical theory and quantitative methods and a demonstrated ability to effectively apply this knowledge in the evaluation of problems and development of alternative solutions.

3. Significant expertise in the application of statistical knowledge to research, analysis, audits and other reviews of complex issues and problems involving programmatic, management and administrative areas.

You must meet all qualification requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this vacancy announcement.

If you are a current federal employee, you must meet all time-in-grade and time-after competitive appointment qualifications within 30 days of the closing date of this vacancy announcement. To verify that you meet these requirements, we will review your responses to the core eligibility questions on the occupational questionnaire, as well as your submitted resume and required documents. To make an accurate determination, you will need to include on your resume your federal position title, pay plan, occupational series, grade level, agency, dates for which you held the grade level (stated as MM/YYYY to MM/YYYY, OR MM/YYYY to PRESENT), and total hours worked per week.

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).

Education

This position has a positive education requirement. Please see Basic Requirements above.

Additional information

Veterans' Career Counseling: If you are a veteran interested in receiving tips on preparing a Federal resume and/or how to prepare for an interview, you may email sro_recruiting@ed.gov to schedule a session with a career counselor ("Veterans Counseling Session" should be placed in the subject line of the email).

Student Loan Default: If selected for this position, we will verify that you have not defaulted on any loan funded or guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Education. If you are found to be in default, we will contact you to make arrangements for repayment prior to making an official offer of employment.

Suitability and Investigation: If selected for this position, you will be required to complete the Declaration for Federal Employment (OF-306) to determine your suitability for federal employment and successfully complete a pre-appointment investigation/background check.

Essential/Non-Essential: This position is considered non-essential for purposes of reporting to work during federal government closures.

Financial Disclosure: This position requires financial disclosure.

Telework: During the current period of mandatory telework required by the Agency's COVID-19 response, telework will be mandatory. When it is determined the Agency will be moving to the reopening phase, employees will be expected to physically return to the office of their official duty locations. Telework days and any required waiting period for eligibility will be determined at that time.

Bargaining Unit: This position is not included in the bargaining unit.

Selections: Agencies have broad authority under law to hire from any appropriate source of eligibles and may fill a vacancy in the competitive service by any method authorized. We may make additional selections from this vacancy announcement within 90 days from the date the selection certificates are issued, should vacancies occur. We may also share selection certificates amongst program offices across the agency.

INCLUDE ANY OTHER SPECIAL CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT OR WORKING CONDITIONS (e.g., required tour of duty, extensive travel requirements, expected overtime, etc.)