Duties

• Serves as the Deputy Division Chief for the Bureau of Land Managements (BLM) Division of Legislative Affairs, which reports to the Assistant Director for Communications.
• Provides expert advice on agency legislative priorities, programs, and policies, and is an expert communicator with Congress.
• Provides strategic counsel to the BLMs Director and other senior management on key legislative issues and priorities and communicates those priorities to Members of Congress and their staff.
• Ensures that BLM is properly represented before Congressional hearings and that witnesses are well prepared, properly briefed, and have appropriate backup at hearings.
• Ensures that inquiries from Congress are responded to accurately and promptly.
• Serves as a senior BLM liaison to Congress on complex and sensitive natural resource issues and ensures the Congress is informed timely on developing issues.
• Develops expert Congressional testimony and related briefing materials for Departmental and BLM witnesses in preparation for legislative, oversight, and budget hearings.
• Assists the Division Chief in coordinating the BLM Congressional Fellows program, which selects and coordinates one-year placements of BLM employees to assignments with Congressional members and Committee staff.
• Serves as the second-level supervisor (after the Division Chief) of Division staff, and in coordination with the Division Chief is responsible for position management.
• Recruits, coaches, and evaluates employees on matters of performance, conduct, and ethics; and serves as a performance rating official for members of the Division.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• U.S. Citizenship is required. Direct Deposit Required.
• Be sure to read the "How to Apply" and "Required Documents" Sections.
• You cannot hold an active real estate license; nor can you have an interest or hold stocks in firms with interest in Federal Land.
• DOI uses E-Verify to confirm employment eligibility of all newly hired employees. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, please visit: www.dhs.gov/e-verify
• Appointment will be subject to a favorably adjudicated background/suitability investigation/determination.
• BLM may use certain incentives, currently offered by the Federal government, to attract high quality applicants.
• Supervisory Probationary Period: If you are selected for this position, you will be required to serve a one year supervisory/managerial probationary period if one has not previously been completed.
• May require a one year probationary period.
• THIS IS A DRUG TESTING DESIGNATED POSITION. This position is subject to both pre-employment and random drug testing as a condition of employment. Applicants will not be appointed to the position if a verified positive drug test is received.

Qualifications

In order to be rated as qualified for this position, we must be able to determine that you meet the qualification requirements - please be sure to include this information in your resume. No assumptions will be made about your experience.

For the GS-14 Level: You must possess one (1) full year of specialized experience at or equivalent to the GS-13 level that is equivalent in difficulty and complexity as indicated by the following examples: Experience analyzing legislative or policy proposals related to federal land resources, regulatory, management or operational issues; managing a federal natural resources program; working with congressional staff, officials within your organization/federal agencies, state, tribal or local government officials, or interest groups on sensitive and controversial natural resource issues.

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.

Applicants must meet both eligibility and qualification requirements for the position of interest by the closing date of the announcement.

Federal employees in the competitive service are also subject to the Time-In-Grade requirement in accordance with 5 CFR 300.604. If you are a current Federal employee in the General Schedule (GS) pay plan and applying for a promotion opportunity, you must have completed a minimum of 52 weeks at the next lower grade level.

Physical Demands: The work is primarily sedentary with periods of occasional stress related to intense concentration, conflict resolution, and meeting tight deadlines.

Work Environment: Most of the work is performed in an office setting where risks generally associated with an office environment are present. Occasional travel to Capitol Hill may be required as determined by the Division Chief to accompany witnesses to hearings or briefings and to accompany senior management to meetings with congressional delegations is necessary.

Additional information

Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP)/lnteragency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP): These programs apply to employees who have been involuntarily separated from a Federal service position within the competitive service or Federal service employees whose positions have been deemed surplus or no longer needed. To receive selection priority, you must: 1) meet CTAP or ICTAP eligibility criteria; 2) be rated well qualified for the position with a score of 85 or above; and 3) submit the appropriate documentation to support your CTAP or ICTAP eligibility. For more information: CTAP or ICTAP

Males born after 12/31/59 must be registered for Selective Service

Tax Law Impact for PCS: Moving expenses reimbursement is a taxable benefit. However, the Federal Travel Regulation 18-05 issued by General Services Administration has authorized agencies to use the Withholding Tax Allowance and Relocation Income Tax Allowance to pay for "substantially all" of the increased tax liability resulting from the "2018 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act" for certain eligible individuals.

The official worksite for the selectee is the duty station identified in this vacancy announcement. The selectee will typically report to this duty location on a regular and recurring weekly basis. The selectee may be allowed to telework with supervisor approval.

Applicants who apply under this job opportunity announcement agree to have their application, associated documents and applicable personal information shared with other Bureaus/Offices within the Department of the Interior (DOI) who have vacancies within the same occupational series, grade, full performance level and in the same geographic location(s), including within the same metro/commuting area. Applying to this announcement does not replace the need to apply to other job opportunity announcements for which you wish to receive consideration.

If you are unable to apply online or need to fax a document, you do not have in electronic form; view the following link for information regarding an Alternative Application