This position is located in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Science and Technology (S&T) Office of Science and Engineering (OSE) Technology Centers Division (TCD) in Washington DC. The primary purpose of this position is to plan statistical research projects that evaluate the social, economic, environmental, and demographic impact of key DHS mission domains for the Office of Homeland Security Statistics (OHSS).

Duties

As a Statistician, GS-1530-11/12, your typical work assignments may include: Planning, managing, and executing statistical projects to address a complex and wide range of issues across DHS mission domains. Collecting, processing, assessing statistical quality of, and analyzing raw data to describe and to support a better understanding of trends and changes in homeland security mission domains. Using advanced statistical software (SAS, R, Stata, Python, etc.) to interpret findings and describe results. Providing expert advice to leadership on statistical methods, descriptive and inferential statistics, and data protection methods. All DHS-HQ announcements have a 5 business day open period due to the number of applications received. View common definitions of terms found in this announcement: Common Definitions.

Requirements

• You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this position.
• Males born after 12/31/1959 must be registered for Selective Service.
• You must successfully pass a background investigation.
• You will be required to undergo pre-appointment drug testing for illegal drug use. Employment is contingent upon favorable results.
• You may be required to serve a one-year probationary period.
• Applying to this announcement certifies that you give permission for DHS to share your application with others in DHS for similar positions.
• You will need to set up direct deposit so we can pay you.
• This position is eligible for telework based on agency policy.
• You will be required to complete an OGE 450, Confidential Financial Disclosure Report, within 30 days of starting your federal employment and annually thereafter as long as you occupy a position that requires financial disclosure reporting.
• This position requires you to have access, safeguard, and store classified national security information on a regular basis. You must be able to obtain and maintain a Secret security clearance.
• This is not a bargaining unit position.

Qualifications

For the GS-12: Specialized Experience: You qualify for the GS-12 grade level if you possess one year of specialized experience, equivalent to the GS-11 grade level in the Federal government, performing duties such as: 1) Analyzing raw data to describe trends in program mission and inform policy; 2) Creating and completing statistical analysis projects, including research design, evaluating methodologies, and gathering applicable data sets; 3) Resolving issues on statistical techniques (i.e. designing, selecting samples, assessing data quality, performing non response bias analysis, accounting for missing data, tabulating/analyzing results, etc.) in order to ensure quality products; 4) Attending committees and working groups to ensure the program is utilizing the most recent advancements in data and research. Substitution of education in lieu of specialized experience may not be used for this grade level. For the GS-11: You qualify at the GS-11 grade level if you possess one of the following: One year of specialized experience, equivalent to the GS-09 grade level in Federal service, performing the following duties: 1) Utilizing statistical functions to analyze raw data and determine its significance; 2) Employing statistical theories and practices to plan statistical research projects; 3) Reviewing data products to ensure valid data and accurate products; 4) Researching statistical precedents and guidelines to apply to both general and unique problems; OR A Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree; OR 3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D.; OR A combination of successfully completed graduate level education and specialized experience as described above that, when combined, equal 100% of the total requirement. This will be calculated using your resume and unofficial transcripts or a list of courses/course hours submitted with your application. NOTE: Only graduate education in excess of the first two years may be used to qualify for the GS-11 level. All qualifications and eligibility requirements must be met by the closing date of the announcement. 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, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Current or Former Political Appointees: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) must authorize employment offers made to current or former political appointees. If you are currently, or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES or Presidential Appointee employee in the Executive Branch, you must disclose this information to the Human Resources Office.

Education

Applicants must possess the basic education requirements for the GS-1530, Statistics Series:

1. Degree: that included 15 semester hours in statistics (or in mathematics and statistics, provided at least 6 semester hours were in statistics), and 9 additional semester hours in one or more of the following: physical or biological sciences, medicine, education, or engineering; or in the social sciences including demography, history, economics, social welfare, geography, international relations, social or cultural anthropology, health sociology, political science, public administration, psychology, etc. Credit toward meeting statistical course requirements should be given for courses in which 50 percent of the course content appears to be statistical methods, e.g., courses that included studies in research methods in psychology or economics such as tests and measurements or business cycles, or courses in methods of processing mass statistical data such as tabulating methods or electronic data processing.

   or

2. Combination of education and experience -- courses as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. The experience should have included a full range of professional statistical work such as (a) sampling, (b) collecting, computing, and analyzing statistical data, and (c) applying statistical techniques such as measurement of central tendency, dispersion, skewness, sampling error, simple and multiple correlation, analysis of variance, and tests of significance.

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications; applicant's resumes and supporting documentation should only reflect education received from schools accredited by such institutions. Applicants can verify accreditation at the following Website: https://ope.ed.gov/dapip/#/home.

If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency (a U.S. private organization's interpretation that such education has been deemed at least equivalent to conventional U.S. education programs) with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For more information regarding evaluation of foreign education for federal employment, please visit the U.S. Department of Education webpage on the Recognition of Foreign Qualifications.

Contacts

• Address Department of Homeland Security Headquarters OCHCO/HRMS/MS #0170 6595 Springfield Center Drive Springfield, VA 20598-0170 US
• Name: Jenny Kern
• Phone: (912) 267-3100
• Email: [email protected]