Lead Public Affairs Specialist

Job Details

Position Overview

• Position(s) are to be filled in following area(s):
  • TS - Communications and Liaison - Program & Outreach Communication - Group 2

Duties

• Serves as a senior team lead and technical authority by providing expert-level guidance and direction to employees engaged in communications and liaison activities supporting IRS programs and initiatives. Ensures consistent interpretation and application of Communications and Liaison (C&L) policies, procedures, and messaging standards across program activities. Distributes, balances, and monitors workload in accordance with established priorities, ensuring timely completion of complex assignments and alignment with organizational objectives.
• Provides advanced advisory support to employees and management in the analysis of communication requirements, development of messaging strategies, and preparation of communication products. Interprets policy and guidance to address complex or sensitive communication issues, advises on appropriate approaches, and ensures alignment with national C&L strategies and program goals.
• Reviews work in progress and completed work for quality, accuracy, consistency, and adherence to established guidelines. Identifies systemic issues, emerging risks, and trends affecting communication effectiveness and program delivery, and provides recommendations to management to improve processes, enhance messaging strategies, and support organizational objectives.
• Serves as a liaison between management and staff by communicating assignments, priorities, and program changes. Coordinates with National C&L and other stakeholders to ensure consistency in messaging and outreach efforts. Provides input to management on program performance, operational risks, and improvement opportunities.
• Monitors workflow and analyzes program trends, stakeholder responses, and communication outcomes to evaluate effectiveness and support continuous improvement. Performs work consistent with the level and complexity of the employees being led.

Qualifications & Requirements

Federal experience is not required. Experience may have been gained in the public sector, private sector or through Volunteer Service. One year of experience refers to full-time work; part-timework is considered on a prorated basis. To ensure full credit for your work experience, please indicate dates of employment by month/day/year, and indicate number of hours worked per week, on your resume.

You must meet the following requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE GRADE-14: You must have one year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-13 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience MUST include:

• Coordinating assignments and tracking tasks;
• Reviewing, editing and publishing written content;
• Providing feedback on AP Style and other IRS writing standards;
• Assuring message consistency of communications delivered across multiple platforms and providing updates to management on team accomplishments and deliverables;
• Writing for IRS intranet and internet;
• Developing IRS Strategic Communications Plans
• Establishing working relationships with people from a variety of technical backgrounds and staff at executive levels
• Utilizing team building methods and techniques to facilitate, coordinate, coach, and resolve problems;
• Setting work objectives, organize resources to meet objectives in a timely and efficient manner;
• Developing responses to media inquiries

AND

You must also meet the following requirement(s):

• TIME AFTER COMPETITIVE APPOINTMENT (TACA): By the closing date (or if this is an open continuous announcement, by the cut-off date) specified in this job announcement, current civilian employees must have completed at least 90 days of federal civilian service since their latest non-temporary appointment from a competitive referral certificate, known as time after competitive appointment. For this requirement, a competitive appointment is one where you applied to and were appointed from an announcement open to "All US Citizens"
• TIME IN GRADE (TIG): For positions above the GS-05, applicants must meet applicable time-in-­grade requirements to be considered eligible. One year (52 weeks) at the next lower grade level is required to meet the time-in-grade requirements for the grade you are applying for. For positions at the GS-05, you cannot advance to the GS-05 if you have held a GS-02 in the past 52 weeks. There is no TIG restriction for GS-02, 03 or 04 positions.

For more information on qualifications please refer to OPM's Qualifications Standards.

Education

Requirements

• Probationary Period - A person who is required to go through a probationary period and then is transferred, promoted, demoted, or reassigned before he or she completes such period is required to complete the remainder of the probationary period in the new position.
• Government Credit Card - Obtain and use a Government-issued charge card for business-related travel.

Evaluations

• Oral Communication
• Planning and Evaluating
• Problem Solving
• Teaching Others
• Technical Competence

Required Documents

The following documents are required and must be provided with your application. All application materials, including transcripts, must be in English.
Incomplete or insufficient information may result in not being considered for the position, or not receiving special consideration for which you may be eligible.
Please view Application Preparation or How to write a resume for federal job.

1. Resume
… Your resume should:

• Be limited to two (2) pages. Applicants with resumes exceeding two-pages will be removed from consideration. We recommend utilizing a standard 8.5x11-inch document size, a sans-serif font such as Arial or Calibri with a font size no smaller than 10-point for the main text, and page margins of 0.5 inches. Applicants that attempt to circumvent the 2-page limit page limit, for example by materially reducing readability, will be deemed ineligible. If you update your application, only the most recent resume received (uploaded under the "Resume" document type) will be considered to determine qualifications.
• Include your name and contact information.
• Include relevant work experience - Employer Name, Job Title, Employment dates (start to end date or present), number of hours worked per week, and a brief description of duties that clearly demonstrate your qualifications. To receive full credit for work experience, you must include specific MM/DD/YYYY start and end dates for every position.
• Include pay plan, series, and grade (e.g., GS-0301-09) for all federal service jobs.
• Not include photographs, classified or sensitive information, SSN, encrypted/digitally signed documents, or other inappropriate content. Resumes containing prohibited information will be deemed ineligible.
• Not include embedded links as they will not be opened or considered when determining qualifications.
• Not include personal information such as age, sex, religion, race, or disability.
• Not include specialized experience copied from the announcement or position description, as this is not a demonstration of your experience.

• For positions with an education requirement, or if you are qualifying for this position based on education or training, submit a copy of your transcript(s) or equivalent. An official transcript(s) will be required if you are selected.

• Submit the most recent completed annual performance appraisal.
• Submit copies of any incentive/performance awards received that may have an impact on the qualifications for the position to be filled.

• Review and submit the required documentation as outlined under CTAP

• Submit your RPP Notice and most recent performance appraisal.
• Appraisal must reflect Fully successful or higher overall rating.

• If applying for a higher grade and you met time-in-grade (TIG) at another agency, it is recommended that you provide an SF-50(s) (Notification of Personnel Action) (or equivalent) which demonstrates you meet the 52-week TIG requirement (e.g., Promotion with an effective date more than one (1) year old, Within-Grade-Increase at the highest grade held). Failure to provide an SF-50(s) that shows your eligibility may result in an ineligible determination.

How to Apply

1. To begin the application process, click the "Apply Online" button.
2. You will be re-directed to USA STAFFING to continue your application process; answer the online questions. To preview the Application Questionnaire, please click the following link:https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13033710.
   • Upload all required documents. (To submit supporting documents, import documents from USAJOBS to the appropriate document types. If the document you need is not imported from USAJOBS, you may upload it directly into this application.)
3. Click the Submit Application button.