Senior Project Manager

Summary

The position is located in in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of the Secretary, Deputy Secretary, Environmental Review and Permitting Office. The incumbent serves as a senior project manager overseeing large scale or high priority projects and strategic planning efforts that impact USDA Secretary's responsibilities related to the Administration's priorities as well as its associated partners, communities, other government and non-government organizations, and other stakeholders.

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Duties

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• Implements corporate decisions and initiatives that come from the USDA's Environmental Review and Permitting Office in support of Chief Environmental Review and Permitting Officer and Deputy Chief direction, guidance, laws, regulations and policy
• Provide technical guidance to CERPO and Deputy CERPO in planning, coordinating, management, execution and evaluation of proposed projects and programs of interest to the USDA's Environmental Review and Permitting Office.
• Determines risk and develops contingency plans, options, and recommendations for management's consideration.
• Develops a detailed project plan and tracks work assignments and progress and adjusts plans for efficiency and effectiveness to meet schedules and deadlines, peak workloads, and changing priorities, and compares actual work against established plans.
• Evaluates impacts to projects and problems studied from policy perspectives, changes, resource availability and allocation and integrated schedules.
• Monitors critical milestones and activities to ensure completion of projects and the delivery of products on schedule and within budget.
• Develops and modifies new and existing grants and agreements, participating agreements, challenge cost share agreements, and other formal partnerships, and serves as the Project Manager in the administration of these grants and agreements.
• Leads efforts to improve the department-wide policy planning and decision-making by fully integrating activities with the management processes.
• Formulates policy standards that are implemented across USDA and have significant financial and functional implications, which all agency mission areas and staff are impacted.
• Manages and leads intra-mission area teams that develop national strategies around the development and implementation of policies and processes and exercises significant authority on behalf of the USDA CERPO.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

• You must be a US Citizen or US National.
• Males born after 12/31/1959 must be Selective Service registered or exempt.
• Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check.
• Direct Deposit - Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to their financial institution.
• Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit
• If selected, you may be required to serve a probationary period as applicable to appointment type. Refer to Next Steps section for additional information.

Qualifications

Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement including time-in-grade restrictions, specialized experience and/or education, as defined below.

Time in grade: Current federal employees applying for a promotion opportunity must meet time-in-grade (TIG) requirement of 52 weeks of service at the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the position being filled.

Minimum Qualifications: Applicants must meet the Specialized Experience requirements as shown below. If qualifying based on experience, your application or resume must clearly show that you possess the specialized experience requirements. Specialized experience is defined as experience that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled and has equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position.

For the GS-14 level

Specialized Experience: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience (equivalent to the GS-13 level) which is directly related to the work of this position and which has equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position. For this position, specialized experience is experience preparing and presenting comprehensive technical findings, project statuses, and recommendations on environmental processes to varied audiences to influence decision-making; and, managing highly complex environmental review projects or initiatives, including their design, development, implementation, and evaluation, from conception to completion.

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 and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Education

This job does not have an education qualification requirement.

Additional information

Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) or Reemployment Priority List (RPL): Visit the OPM website for information on how to apply as a CTAP or RPL eligible. To exercise selection priority for this vacancy, CTAP/RPL candidates must meet the basic eligibility requirements and all selective factors. CTAP candidates must be rated and determined to be well qualified (or above) based on an evaluation of the competencies listed in the How You Will Be Evaluated section and USA Hire assessment score. When assessed through a score-based category rating method, CTAP applicants must receive a rating of at least 85 out of a possible 100.

Farm Service Agency (FSA) County Employees: Permanent County employees without prior Federal tenure who are selected for a Civil Service position under Public Law 105-277 will be given a career-conditional appointment and must serve a 1-year probationary period.

The salary ranges vary according to the geographic area locality adjustments; therefore, rates advertised represent base pay only as pay will depend upon the selectee's duty location. Please see the 2026 General Schedule (GS) Pay Tables for more information.

Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Requests: If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended, that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a RA in your online application. Requests for RA for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for RA are made on a case-by-case basis. If you meet the minimum qualifications of the position, after notification of the adjudication of your request, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, based on your adjudication decision. You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, if you received the link after the close of the announcement. To determine if you need a RA, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments here.?

Incentives may be authorized.

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.

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A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.