Supervisory Foreign Affairs Officer

Summary

This position is located in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs Office of Assistance Coordination (NEA/AC). The incumbent serves as a Supervisory Foreign Affairs Officer and principal advisor with responsibility for policy formulation and the coordination development implementation budgeting and oversight of high-level USG foreign policy initiatives and foreign assistance activities in assigned Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries or thematic areas.

Duties

• Ensures that work is appropriately distributed among staff members and that it supports NEA/AC and U.S. Government (USG) goals and is in keeping with law regulation best practice and policy.
• Communicates foreign policy priorities to a wide range of internal and external stakeholders ensuring resource alignment with these priorities.
• Conducts overarching analyses of MENA regional dynamics emerging issues and exceedingly complex political military economic social security and other immediate developments and ongoing matters in MENA countries to identify potential weaknesses
• Recommends changes in programs adjustments or modifications to assistance policies or follow-up as appropriate.
• Represents the bureau and/or the Department in intradepartmental and interagency meetings on matters regarding U.S. foreign policy and MENA foreign assistance project-related issues/activities problems challenges and opportunities.

Requirements

Conditions of employment

• U.S. Citizenship is required.
• Incumbent will be subject to random drug testing.
• Must be able to obtain and maintain a Top Secret security clearance.

Qualifications

Applicants must meet all the required qualification requirements described below by the closing date of this announcement. If you are qualifying based on education OR if there are mandatory education requirements listed below you MUST submit a copy of your college transcript with your application.

NOTE: Applicants must meet time-in-grade and time after competitive appointment requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

Time-In-Grade Requirements: Federal applicants must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade to satisfy time-in-grade restrictions per 5CFR 300 Subpart F.

Applicants must have the required experience or education as described below and meet any selective factors when specified.

BASIC REQUIREMENTS: Have a bachelors or graduate degree from an accredited college or university in international law international relations political science economics history sociology geography social or cultural anthropology law statistics or in the humanities;

OR Have a bachelors or graduate degree from an accredited college or university that included a combination of courses with at least 24 semester hours in international law and international relations political science economics history sociology geography social or cultural anthropology law statistics or in the humanities;

OR Have 12 semester hours in one of the above disciplines and 12 semester hours in statistics / quantitative methods.

OR Have a combination of education and experience where your coursework was equivalent to a major or a combination of related courses totaling at least 24 semester hours (as shown above) PLUS appropriate relevant experience OR additional education.

OR Have completed at least 4 years of appropriate experience in one OR more of the fields listed above in work associated with international organizations problems or other aspects of foreign affairs.

NOTE: qualifying work experience may have been gained through residence study teaching business or commercial activities military service newspaper work military or civil government activities missionary or international relief work or other experience in foreign countries.

Note: If you are qualifying based on education you MUST submit transcripts as verification of educational requirement by the closing date of this announcement. If you fail to provide requested information or the information you submit is insufficient to verify your eligibility you WILL lose consideration for this position.

IN ADDITION to the basic requirements this position requires one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-14 level in the Federal service which provided the applicant with the particular knowledge skills and abilities to perform the duties of the position.

Qualifying specialized experience must demonstrate the following:

• Experience navigating and leveraging the foreign assistance budget cycle.
• Experience managing and guiding a team.
• Experience communicating between technical and policy stakeholders to achieve objectives and drive specific outcomes.
• Experience analyzing trends and evaluating foreign assistance needs in the Middle East and North Africa region.
• Experience persuading different stakeholders to achieve consensus around a preferred outcome.

Note: If you are qualifying based on education you MUST submit transcripts as verification of educational requirement by the closing date of this announcement. If you fail to provide requested information or the information you submit is insufficient to verify your eligibility you WILL lose consideration for this position.

In addition applicants experience must also demonstrate that the candidate possesses the following qualities:

• Ability to assign review and supervise the work of others;
• Objectivity and fairness in judging people on their ability and situations on the facts and circumstances;
• Ability to adjust to change work pressures or difficult situations without undue stress;
• Willingness to consider new ideas or divergent points of view; and
• Capacity to see the job through.

Education

See the qualifications section of this vacancy announcement for education requirements.

When an applicant has less than one year of specialized experience as described in the announcement he or she may combine successfully completed graduate-level education with experience to meet the total qualification requirements. Generally 18 graduate semester hours is equivalent to 1 full-time year of graduate study (your school and department determine what constitutes 1 full time year of graduate study). The percentage of specialized work experience (for example 6 months equals 50%) and the percentage of graduate study (for example 9 graduate hours for a GS-07 equals 50% where 18 graduate hours constitute a full time year) must total at least 100%.

Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet the education requirements if you can show that the foreign education is comparable to that received in an accredited educational institution in the United States. It is your responsibility to provide such evidence when applying. For a list of accredited organizations recognized as specializing in interpretation of foreign education credentials visit: information

As a condition of employment for accepting this position you will be serving in a position in Schedule Policy/Career of the excepted service. You will obtain competitive status after two years of service in this position if applicable. Your employment in this position will be at-will. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) appeals of adverse actions concerning performance discipline and other matters arising under chapters 23 43 and 75 of title 5 United States Code will not be available to an individual serving in this position. Allegations of prohibited personnel practices can be pursued through the relevant provisions of the Departments Civil Service administrative grievance procedures and not the Office of Special Counsel.

• To request a reasonable accommodation (RA) foradditionaltime on thetimed sections of theassessment pleasesubmityour request using the Request a Reasonable Accommodation button within theAssessment Application. Forall otherreasonable accommodationsat the U.S. Department of State please contact the Office of Accessibility and Accommodations(OAA)at .

  OAAis responsible forreviewing andadjudicatingRArequests for the Assessment Battery being usedfor this following applies to all RA requests:

  • RA requestscoveradditionaltime on timed sections only.

  • ApplicantsMUST attach supporting medical documentation signed by a licensed treating medical provider. The documentation should describe the nature severity and expected duration of the condition identifythe relevant medical condition or diagnosis and explain the basis for the requested extension. RA requests that do notcontainsupporting medical documentation attachmentsatthetime ofinitialrequest may be subject to further review.

  • Note:the following documents do not on their own qualify for automatic approval oftheRA request:Schedule A letters VA benefits lettersorSSA letters.

  • Applicants MUSTsubmittheir application before the vacancy closes even if pending anaccommodationdecision.

  • Applicants are encouraged to carefully follow instructions related to medical documentation provided in the vacancy announcement prior to beginning the RA process.

  • Applicants will have 48 hours after their RA request isadjudicatedto complete the assessment generated after the allottedtimeframewill not be admissible and the applicant will not be considered further for the vacancy.

• If eligible situational telework agreements may be permitted with supervisory approval.
• Multiple positions may be filled from this announcement. If eligible applicants to this announcement may be referred to other similar positions in other Bureaus/Offices in the Department for up to 240 days and may require a higher or lower security clearance. Telework eligibility and security clearance requirements may vary for such similar positions.
• Agency & Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program ( CTAP & ICTAP):You must be rated in the Well-Qualified category and submit supporting documents under the required documents section of this announcement to receive selection priority be considered Well-Qualified applicants must: score an85 or above meet Minimum Qualifications and demonstrateproficiencyin some but notall major aspects of the position.

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government passionate about the ideals of our American republic and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

Required Experience:

Manager