Duties

The Deputy Chief Counsel for Litigation (DCC) is the senior litigator in the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and functions as the legal counsel for TSA on matters involving litigation and torts. The responsibilities of the position have an agency-wide impact and influence, which includes providing innovative and expert legal counsel in the oversight and management of comprehensive legal activities and matters involving litigation, in accordance with applicable policies, procedures, laws and directives.

Major duties include:

• Serving as the senior litigator in TSA and functioning as the legal counsel for TSA on matters involving litigation and torts.
• Providing innovative and expert legal counsel in the oversight and management of comprehensive legal activities and matters involving litigation, in accordance with applicable policies, procedures, laws and directives which will have an agency-wide impact and influence in TSA.
• Developing policy guidance for advising on all aspects of litigation in which TSA may have an interest especially tort claims.
• Representing TSA before administrative bodies, courts, and other governmental or private sector entities, and working closely with the Department of Justice and U.S. Attorney's Office.
• Participating as a member of the Office of the Chief Counsel Leadership team and managing a professional staff and achieving results by ensuring that expert legal counsel and advice is provided to senior officials and to program office elements of TSA.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• You must possess U.S. Citizenship.
• You must complete a favorable Tier 5 Background Investigation (T5).
• You must be able to obtain and maintain a TS/SCI clearance.
• You must pass Drug Screening, subject to random drug tests.

You must meet the qualification requirements of this position no later than the closing date of the job opportunity announcement.

COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate:

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 by November 22, 2021, or before appointment or onboarding with the agency, if after November 22. 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.

Due to COVID-19, the agency is currently in an expanded telework posture. If selected, you may be expected to temporarily telework, even if your home is located outside the local commuting area. Once employees are permitted to return to the office, you will be expected to report to the duty station listed on this announcement. At that time, you may be eligible to request to continue to telework one or more days a pay period depending upon the terms of the agency's telework policy.

Qualifications

As a basic requirement, applicants must demonstrate progressively responsible leadership experience that is indicative of senior executive level managerial capability and directly related to the skills and abilities outlined under the Professional/Technical Qualifications (PTQs) and Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) listed below. Typically, experience of this nature will have been gained at or above the equivalent of the GS-15 grade level in the Federal service or its equivalent with state and local government, the private sector, or non-governmental organizations.

When describing your PTQs and ECQs, provide narrative statements that furnish examples and describe the context in which you applied your knowledge, discuss how you used skills relevant to the position, indicate the complexity, scope and impact of your work, note the level of people with whom you interacted, and explain the sensitivity and criticality of the issues you addressed. How you format your narrative responses can impact consideration. Please see the REQUIRED DOCUMENTS section of this Job Opportunity Announcement for specific instructions for presenting the PTQs and ECQs listed below.

If you are a current or reinstatement eligible Career SES/TSES member or a graduate of an Office of Personnel Management (OPM) approved SES Candidate Development Program (CDP) and your ECQs have been previously certified by OPM's Qualifications Review Board, you are not required to address the ECQs. However, you MUST address all PTQs.

Current and reinstatement eligible SES/TSES members please include with your application a copy of your SF-50 (Notification of Personnel Action) documenting your career appointment to the SES/TSES. SES CDP graduates, please include a copy of your OPM certificate.

Professional/Technical Qualifications (PTQs) :

1. Demonstrated knowledge and skill in interpreting and defending laws, regulations, policies, and agency programs before federal courts as well as administrative bodies such as the Merit Systems Protection Board, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and/or Federal Labor Relations Authority. This will include, in particular, demonstrated legal expertise in all aspects of civil litigation and administrative proceedings, including analyzing or advising on the Constitution, federal rules, statutes, regulations, or other regulatory materials, and interpreting law and policy in advising senior management officials.

2. Demonstrated ability to identify and successfully resolve novel and complex legal issues having significant policy implications.

3. Knowledge of the statutory and regulatory authority of the Department of Homeland Security in general, and the Transportation Security Administration in particular.

Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) :

ECQ 1 - LEADING CHANGE. This core qualification 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. This core qualification 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. This core qualification 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. This core qualification involves the ability to manage human, financial, and information resources strategically.

ECQ 5 - BUILDING COALITIONS. This core qualification 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.

FAILURE TO MEET OR FULLY ADDRESS EACH EXECUTIVE CORE QUALIFICATION AND PROFESSIONAL/TECHNICAL QUALIFICATION IN A NARRATIVE RESPONSE WILL ELIMINATE A CANDIDATE FROM FURTHER CONSIDERATION.

CURRENT OR FORMER POLITICAL APPOINTEES: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) must authorize employment offers made to current or former political appointees. If you are currently, or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES or Presidential Appointee employee in the Executive Branch, you must disclose this information to the Human Resources Office.

DRUG TESTING: You must pass a pre-employment drug test. In addition, you may be subject to random drug testing during employment.

SECURITY CLEARANCE: This position requires a TS/SCI (Top Secret/Secured Compartmentalized Information) clearance that must be completed prior to appointment. You will be subject to a 5-year periodic investigation and must be able to obtain and maintain a TS/SCI clearance.

MOBILITY: The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was created in the wake of 9/11 to strengthen the security of the nation's transportation systems while ensuring the freedom of movement for people and commerce. TSA employs a risk-based strategy to secure U.S. transportation systems, with nearly 50,000 Transportation Security Officers, each day at more than 450 airports nationwide. The agency continuously sets the standard for excellence in transportation security through its people, processes, technologies and use of intelligence to drive operations.

As a member of the TSES, you may be subject to frequent changes in posts of duty and positions. Mobility is a condition of employment, so you must be prepared to accept, without objection, the judgment of your superiors concerning reassignments for operational and/or career development purposes, or for other reasons determined to be in the best interest of the Transportation Security Administration.

Education

SPECIALIZED EDUCATION: You must possess a professional law degree (e.g., J.D., LL.B.) acquired through graduation from a School of Law accredited by the American Bar Association, and be a member in good standing of the Bar of a state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or a territory of the United States. You must submit documentation supporting that you meet this qualification when applying to this job opportunity announcement.

Additional information

• The TSA, an excepted service agency, was established by Public Law 107-71, the Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA), on November 19, 2001. ATSA provides TSA with the authority to modify and develop its own human capital program, provided such modifications are consistent with 49 USC 40122.
• This is an excepted service position. However, there is an interchange agreement with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and TSA that enables Career TSES members who have been approved by the Qualifications Review Board at OPM to qualify for Senior Executive Service (SES) positions without additional competition.
• You will be required to serve a probationary period of one year unless you previously completed the probationary period in a SES/TSES position.
• When you enter on duty, you will be required to complete a Public Financial Disclosure Report, OGE Form 278. You will need to provide this information annually.
• Veteran's Preference does NOT apply to SES/TSES positions.
• View common definitions of terms found in this announcement.