Information Technology Specialist 'Continuity Manager' GS-2210-14 (DH)

Job Details

Qualifications & Requirements

Minimum Qualification Requirements You may meet the minimum qualifications for the GS-14, if you possess the specialize experience, education, or a combination of the two. Specialized Experience for the GS-14 One year of experience in either federal or non-federal service that is equivalent to at least a GS-13 performing two (2) out of three (3) of the following duties or work assignments: 1. Experience serving as a hands-on technical expert in large-scale (nationally or agency-scoped) business continuity, disaster recovery, or continuity of operations programs for Federal agencies/Business equivalent or mission-critical environments, leading efforts to modernize enterprise-level recovery strategies, systems, and operational processes. 2. Experience analyzing complex technical failures, operational risks, and business impact analyses across distributed IT systems, and formulating actionable recommendations for mitigation, redundancy, and recovery; translating those recommendations into written and oral briefings for both technical and non-technical (senior leadership) stakeholders. 3. Experience leveraging advanced knowledge of disaster recovery engineering, systems integration, cybersecurity, and continuity planning principles to design and implement enterprise-wide recovery procedures, standards, and technologies; as evidenced by obtaining recognized authority or professional certifications in continuity, disaster recovery, or IT governance (e.g., NIST, FISMA, federal COOP standards, or equivalent industry credentials). Basic Experience Requirements Example (IT Specialist GS-12 and Above GS or Equivalent): For positions at the GS-12, GS-13, GS-14, or GS-15 grade levels, applicants may qualify by meeting or exceeding the minimum proficiency level established for each of the required competencies, in addition to meeting the specialized experience requirement as demonstrated through the assessment of skills. You must possess IT-related experience (paid or unpaid experience and/or completion of specific, intensive training (e.g., IT certification), as appropriate) demonstrating each of the nine competencies listed below. Attention to Detail - Is thorough when performing work and conscientious about attending to detail. 2. Customer Service - Works with clients and customers (i.e., any individuals who use or receive the services or products that your work unit produces, including the general public, individuals who work in the agency, other agencies, or organizations outside the Government) to assess their needs, provide information or assistance, resolve their problems, or satisfy their expectations; knows about available products and services; is committed to providing quality products and services. 3. Decision Making - Makes sound, well-informed, and objective decisions; perceives the impact and implications of decisions; commits to action, even in uncertain situations, to accomplish organizational goals; causes change. 4. Information Management - Identifies a need for and knows where or how to gather information; organizes and maintains information or information management systems. 5. Interpersonal Skills- Shows understanding, friendliness, courtesy, tact, empathy, concern, and politeness to others; develops and maintains effective relationships with others; may include effectively dealing with individuals who are difficult, hostile, or distressed; relates well to people from varied backgrounds and different situations. 6. Oral Communication- Expresses information (for example, ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (for example, technical, sensitive, controversial); makes clear and convincing oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately. 7. Problem Solving- Identifies problems; determines accuracy and relevance of information; uses sound judgment to generate and evaluate alternatives, and to make recommendations. 8. Teamwork- Encourages and facilitates cooperation, pride, trust, and group identity; fosters commitment and team spirit; works with others to achieve goals. 9. Technical Competence- Uses knowledge that is acquired through formal training or on-the-job experience to perform one's job; works with, understands, and evaluates technical information related to the job; advises others on technical issues 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. Ability to analyze and synthesize enterprise DR, BCP, COOP, and incident response engineering concepts, methods, standards, and practices, and communicate technical information to a wide variety of stakeholders, including operational staff and senior leadership. 2. Knowledge of systems analysis, large-scale systems architecture, cloud infrastructure, data integrity, network recovery, distributed system dependencies, and federal security, continuity, and IT governance frameworks (e.g., NIST, FISMA, federal COOP standards). 3. Skill in conducting business impact analyses, risk assessments, scenario modeling, dependency mapping, and continuity architecture design; ability to lead cross-disciplinary engineering teams and advise senior executives on continuity decisions. 4. Ability to design and implement enterprise-scale DR architectures and restoration procedures across hybrid, cloud, and legacy environments; plan and execute complex DR exercises, integrate continuity processes with enterprise architecture, and coordinate cross-functional stakeholders. 5. Ability to exercise independent judgment and technical leadership to establish standards, policies, and governance for DR/BCP; innovate new recovery techniques; negotiate recovery priorities; resolve complex technical and operational issues; and operate effectively under high-risk, time-sensitive incident conditions.

Position Overview

This position is in the U.S. Department of Education (ED), Federal Student Aid (FSA), Technology Operations Division (TOD). The Technology Operations Division provides information technology operations services for all FSA systems, promoting the effective and secure use of technology to achieve FSA's strategic objectives through sound planning, investments, integrated technology architectures and standards, effective systems development, production support, and cybersecurity services.

Duties

• APPLICATION LIMIT: This vacancy announcement is limited to the first 200 applications received and will close at 11:59PM Eastern Time on the day that we receive the 200th application, or at 11:59PM Eastern Time on the listed closing date, whichever occurs first. This position may fall under the Presidential Memorandum titled "Return to In-Person Work" which will require you to go into the office if you are located within 50 miles of a Department of Education facility in these locations: Washington, DC, Dallas, TX, San Francisco, CA, Seattle, WA, Kansas City, MO, Chicago, Il, Atlanta, GA, Philadelphia, PA, and New York City, NY. We encourage you to read this entire vacancy announcement prior to submitting your application. As a IT Specialist (Continuity Manager) GS-2210-14, you will be responsible for: Providing authoritative technical leadership for enterprise Disaster Recovery (DR), Business Continuity Planning (BCP), Continuity of Operations (COOP), and emergency/incident management, ensuring operational resilience and recoverability of mission-critical business systems, applications, data, networks, and technology environments. Leading the development, maintenance, and continuous improvement of DR and continuity strategies, aligning them with enterprise architecture, business impact analysis (BIA) outputs, and regulatory requirements; conducts risk assessments and reviews BIAs to identify vulnerabilities and recommend mitigation and redundancy strategies. Directing integration and consolidation of enterprise recovery plans across all business units and CTO divisions, develops business cases and technical recommendations for DR tools and modernization, and coordinates cross-organizational planning to define recovery priorities and sequencing. Designing and establishing technical DR and system restoration procedures for enterprise applications, databases, servers, and cloud architectures, operationalizing recovery priorities, response level agreements, and contingency workflows; leads design, development, and execution of DR tests and coordinates actual recovery operations during incidents. Advising senior leadership on enterprise risk tolerance, continuity vulnerabilities, and DR readiness; establishes DR standards, policies, procedures, and technical protocols; trains business and technical personnel on DR and continuity responsibilities; researches emerging industry standards and technologies to drive innovation in DR program design.