Information Technology Specialist (Applications Software)

Job Details

Position Overview

• Position(s) are to be filled in following area(s):
  • IT - Data and Platform Engineering - Cloud and Developer Experience
• Consider each location carefully when applying. if you are selected for a location, that location will become your official post of duty.

Duties

• Identifying resource requirements and assigning tasks to project members, reporting progress, and ensuring customer and management involvement throughout the software development process.
• Revolving critical issues affecting the configuration of the IT infrastructure and coordinating the demonstration of new and enhanced applications to customers and management.
• Drafting project plans for a multifunctional development project in software analysis, design, development, and implementation.
• Identifying and correcting weaknesses in critical performance parameters, and variances in achieving cost, schedule, and performance goals.
• Investigating, evaluating, and selecting tools and methods for improving productivity and software quality throughout the life cycle.

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.

QUALIFICATION REQUIRMENTS: To qualify for this position, you must meet the qualification requirements outlined below:

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR GRADE 12 LEVEL UP (GS or Equivalent) You must have Information Technology related experience demonstrating each of the following nine competencies: 1) Attention to Detail, 2) Customer Service, 3) Decision Making, 4) Information Management, 5) Interpersonal Skills, 6) Oral Communication, 7) Problem Solving, 8) Teamwork and 9) Technical Competence.

Specialized Experience GS-14 Level: 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 for this position includes:

• Leading or coordinating IT projects, application-related efforts, operational initiatives, or system-related activities that affect multiple users, teams, programs, or business processes.
• Applying advanced IT principles, concepts, methods, and practices to evaluate requirements; resolve technical issues; guide system, application, or code testing and configuration decisions; and ensure technical documentation and federal cybersecurity, privacy, or regulatory requirements are addressed.
• Engaging customers, stakeholders, users, product or business owners, and technical teams to define business or technical requirements, communicate technical impacts, and guide delivery of secure, reliable, scalable IT solutions.
• Evaluating system, service, or application performance, availability, reliability, security controls, usability, and operational effectiveness; identifying risks, issues, defects, or gaps; and leading corrective actions or improvement efforts.
• Analyzing competing technical approaches and providing authoritative recommendations to management, stakeholders, or IT specialists on the selection, design, configuration, implementation, or improvement of IT solutions with organizational impact.
• Leading teams that design and develop agency-wide applications which included review and approval of technical requirements for projects; developing project plans.
• Providing guidance to team members and serving as primary liaison between customers and vendors and IT management throughout the development process.
• Leading, coordinating, or providing technical direction for the modernization, design, development, integration, testing, deployment, maintenance, or enhancement of enterprise applications and related technology platforms.
• Guiding technical decisions involving APIs, web services, microservices, application integrations, databases, automated testing strategies, CI/CD and DevSecOps practices, containerized or cloud-based architectures, observability, performance monitoring, code quality, vulnerability remediation, and secure software development practices.
• Evaluating, guiding, or supporting the appropriate use of modern software engineering tools, including approved AI-assisted development tools where appropriate, to improve software delivery, documentation, testing, code quality, analysis, or maintainability while ensuring alignment with federal cybersecurity, privacy, accessibility, records management, and organizational policy requirements.
• Advising management and stakeholders on technical strategy, modernization opportunities, risk mitigation, architecture tradeoffs, operational resilience, scalability, and long-term maintainability of agency-wide applications.

AND

You must also meet the following requirement(s):

• PERFORMANCE RATING: Current federal employees must have at least a fully successful or equivalent performance rating to receive consideration.
• 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): Federal employees must meet time-in-grade requirements. 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.
• MINIMUM AGE REQUIREMENT: Minimum age for federal employment is 18 years old, or at least 16 years old and have:
  • Graduated from high school or been awarded a certificate equivalent to graduating from high school; or
  • Completed a formal vocational training program; or
  • Received a statement from school authorities agreeing with your preference for employment rather than continuing your education.

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

Education

Requirements

• Probationary Period - All newly appointed employees to the competitive (or excepted) service are subject to a probationary (or trial) period. During this time, your performance, conduct, and suitability for continued employment will be evaluated. You will not automatically convert to permanent status at the end of the probationary (or trial) period. Your supervisor must affirmatively determine that continued employment is in the best interest of the Federal service. If no certification is made before the probationary (or trial) period ends, your appointment will be terminated. You are encouraged to actively engage with your supervisor, seek feedback, and understand role expectations. Additional guidance and support will be provided during onboarding.
• 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.

• U.S Citizenship - Must be a U.S. Citizen or National and provide proof of U.S. Citizenship.
• Selective Service Registration - Males born after December 31, 1959 are required to be registered with the Selective Service System or prove they are exempt from having to do so.
• Personal Identity Verification (PIV) - Must provide 2 forms of identification from the Form I-9. Federal law requires verification of the identity and employment eligibility of all new hires in the U.S. These documents must be unexpired original or certified copies.

Evaluations

Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), your responses on the application questionnaire, and your responses to all assessments required for this position. Applicants who disqualify themselves will not be evaluated further.

You will be assessed on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics):

• Accountability
• Attention to Detail
• Customer Service
• Decision Making
• Flexibility
• Influencing/Negotiating
• Integrity/Honesty
• Interpersonal Skills
• Learning
• Reading Comprehension
• Reasoning
• Self-Management
• Stress Tolerance
• Teamwork

If you are selected, you may be subject to all requirements listed in the Requirements, Qualifications, and Additional Information sections of this announcement which includes, Prior Employment/Tax Checks, Fingerprint/Criminal History checks.

Required Documents

• 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.

• MUST submit a DD-214 (Member 4 copy), that shows dates and character of service (honorable, general, etc.). If you are serving on active duty and expect to be released or discharged within 120 days you must submit documentation related to your service which includes your rank, dates of service, character of service, and dates of impending separation.
• 10-point preference eligible - Submit an Application for 10-point Veteran Preference, SF-15, along with the required documentation listed on the back of the form if you are a 10-point preference eligible. For more information on claiming veterans' preference view here.
• Military Spouses - In addition to the documentation above you must also submit:
  • Verification of the marriage to the service member (i.e., a marriage license) AND
  • A copy of your spouse's active military orders OR Documentation of Service Connected Disability OR Death while on active duty (DD-1300/Death Certificate)

• Review and submit the required documentation as outlined under CTAP/ICTAP

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

• You MUST submit a copy of your most recent SF-50 (Notification of Personnel Action) (or equivalent) which shows your current grade and competitive service status, and Tenure.
• Provide an SF-50(s) (or equivalent) which demonstrates you meet the 52-week time-in-grade requirement (e.g., Promotion with an effective date more than one (1) year old, Within-Grade-Increase at the highest grade held).

• Submit a Disability Letter from your doctor or a licensed medical professional that proves your eligibility for Schedule A appointment.

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/13031610.
   • 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.
4. If you are required to complete any USA Hire Assessments, you will be notified after submitting your application. The notification will be provided in your application submission screen and via email. The notification will include your unique assessment access link to the USA Hire system and the completion deadline. Additionally, in USAJOBS you can click "Track this application" to return to your assessment completion notice.
   • Access USA Hire using your unique assessment link. Access is granted through your USAJOBS login credentials.
   • Review all instructions prior to beginning your assessments. You will have the opportunity to request a testing accommodation before beginning the assessments should you have a disability.
   • Set aside up to 3 hours to take the USA Hire Assessments; however, most applicants complete the assessments in less time. If you need to stop the assessments and continue later, you can re-use your unique assessment link.
   • Your responses to the USA Hire Assessments will be reused for one year (in most cases) from the date you complete an assessment. If future applications you submit require completion of the same assessments, your responses will be automatically reused.

• USA Hire Assessment 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. (https://appsupport-usastaffing.opm.gov/hc/en-us/sections/45063131363475-Reasonable-Accommodation-Information)

The Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act prohibits the Department of Treasury and its bureaus from requesting an applicant's criminal history record before that individual receives a conditional offer of employment. To learn more, please visit our page at: Treasury.gov/fairchanceact.

If selected, various checks will be conducted after acceptance of a tentative job offer.

• Verification of U.S Citizenship
• Selection Service Registration
• Prior Employment Check
• Tax Compliance Check
• FBI Fingerprint Check/Background Investigation
• eVerify (Eligibility to work in U.S Verification

• Primary form of ID - Must have at least one, but may have two (such as a U.S. passport/passport card, state driver's license or ID card that is compliant with REAL ID, or U.S. military ID card)
• Secondary form of ID - If you do not have two primary forms of ID, other acceptable forms of ID's are found on GSA's website (such as a U.S. Social Security card, original or certified U.S. birth certificate, certificate of naturalization, etc.).
• NOTE: Temporary Driver's License/state identification (paper copies) are not acceptable. If the name on your forms of ID do not match, you may need to bring the appropriate linking documentation (marriage license/court order) showing the change in names.