This position is designed as a SES, Career-Reserved. USDA structures its SES positions into position levels. This is a position level two with a salary range of $198,538 to $210,220 per year. Exceptions to the salary cap may be considered in certain circumstances. SES employees are also eligible to receive bonuses and performance-based awards. Visit http://www.opm.gov/ses/ for additional information and benefits for SES employees.

Duties

Provide comprehensive legal advice and services to high-level USDA officials, on legal problems, procedures, and practices related to policy development, day-to-day operations, and integration with other government programs. Coordinate and manage litigation and appellate cases involving USDA, including those pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Courts of Appeals, and State appellate courts. Handle legal issues related to federal statutes and regulations, including the Federal Tort Claims Act, Freedom of Information Act, Privacy Act, Federal Advisory Committee Act, federal procurement laws, and fiscal laws. Oversee legal aspects of Departmental operations, including budget and fiscal matters, procurement, intellectual property, COOP and disaster preparedness, cybersecurity, and emergency response. Provide expert legal opinions, draft and review legislation, and coordinate the legal review of legislation and ancillary materials for USDA. Supervise and provide technical guidance to subordinate attorneys on the preparation of proposed legislation, legislative analysis, and development of the Department's position on legislative proposal within the responsibilities of the division. Represent USDA in meetings with the White House Counsel, OMB, DOJ, Congressional Committees (including the Senate and House Agriculture Committees and the Senate and House Appropriations Committees), and other federal agencies. Confer with Solicitor General, Assistant Attorneys General, U.S. Attorney’s Offices, and other Department of Justice officials regarding Departmental litigation at the appellate level. Attend conferences and meetings as counsel for the Department, providing expert legal advice to top officials from various government agencies and industry representatives. Ensure compliance with equal opportunity and nondiscriminatory practices in merit promotion, recruitment, hiring, and career development of staff. Develop and apply extensive knowledge of general and administrative law, including experience in trial and appellate litigation, legislative drafting, fiscal law, procurement law, and various federal statutes and regulations. Provide expertise in areas such as FOIA, Privacy Act, FACA, FTCA, Vacancies Reform Act, national and domestic security law, information technology law, cybersecurity, and intellectual property law. Ensure comprehensive understanding of USDA programs related to agricultural economics, statistics, crop reporting activities, research, education, and extension matters. Handle legal work arising from activities of the Agricultural Research Service, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the Economic Research Service, and the National Agricultural Statistics Service. Oversee legal aspects related to homeland security, emergency response, and cybersecurity. Provide technical assistance and legal review for USDA policy officials in drafting and analyzing legislative proposals and amendments. Develop briefs of legal authorities for legislative and statutory aspects of Department programs and agricultural issues. Supervise and review the preparation of briefs and presentation of oral arguments in appellate courts.

Requirements

• Veterans Preference is not applicable in the Senior Executive Service.
• Initial appointments are required to serve a 1-year probationary period
• Narrative Statements for the ECQs must not exceed 10 pages
• Background Investigation required.
• Must maintain an active bar license of a state, territory of the United States, District of Columbia, or Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

Qualifications

YOU MUST UPLOAD YOUR RESPONSES TO THE EXECUTIVE CORE QUALIFICATIONS (ECQs) AND TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS (TQs). As a basic requirement for entry into the SES, applicants must provide evidence of progressively responsible executive leadership and supervisory experience that is indicative of senior executive level management capability and directly related to the skills and abilities outlined under Executive Core Qualifications and Technical Qualifications listed below. Typically, experience of this nature will have been gained at or above the GS-14/15 grade level in the federal service or its equivalent in the private sector. As such, your resume should demonstrate that you have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully fulfill responsibilities inherent in most SES positions such as: - Directing the work of an organizational unit; - Ensuring the success of one or more specific major programs or projects; - Monitoring progress toward strategic organizational goals, evaluating organizational performance and taking action to improve performance; and - Supervising the work of employees; and exercising important policy-making, policy determining, or other executive functions. Failure to meet the basic qualification requirement and address all Mandatory Technical and Executive Core Qualification factors will result in your application being disqualified. EXECUTIVE CORE QUALIFICATIONS (ECQs): The ECQs were designed to assess executive experience and potential not technical expertise. They measure whether an individual has the broad executive skills needed to succeed in a variety of SES positions. All applicants must submit a written narrative to address the ECQs. Your narrative must address each ECQ separately and should contain at least two examples per ECQ describing your experiences and accomplishments/results. The narrative should be clear, concise, and emphasize your level of responsibilities, scope and complexity of programs managed, program accomplishments, policy Initiatives undertaken and the results of your actions. Applicants should not enter "Refer to Resume" to explain your answer. The narrative must not exceed 10 pages. NOTE: Current career SES members, former career SES members with reinstatement eligibility, and SES Candidate Development Program graduates who have been certified by OPM do NOT need to address the ECQs. 1. Leading Change: This core qualification involves the ability to bring about strategic change, both within and outside the organization, to meet organizational goals. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to establish an organizational vision and to implement it in a continuously changing environment. (Competencies: creativity and innovation, external awareness, flexibility, resilience, strategic thinking, vision) 2. Leading People: This core qualification involves the ability to lead people toward meeting the organizations vision, mission, and goals. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to provide an inclusive workplace that fosters the development of others, facilitates cooperation and teamwork, and supports constructive resolution of conflicts. (Competencies: conflict management, leveraging diversity, developing others, team building) 3. Results Driven: This core qualification involves the ability to meet organizational goals and customer expectations. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to make decisions that produce high quality results by applying technical knowledge, analyzing problems, and calculating risks. (Competencies: accountability, customer service, decisiveness, entrepreneurship, problem solving, technical credibility) 4. Business Acumen: This core qualification involves the ability to manage human, financial, and information resources strategically. (Competencies: financial management, human capital management, technology management) 5. Building Coalitions: This core qualification involves the ability to build coalitions internally and with other Federal agencies, State and local governments, nonprofit and private sector organizations, foreign governments, or international organizations to achieve common goals. (Competencies: partnering, political savvy, influencing/negotiating) Fundamental Competencies: These competencies are the foundation for success in each of the Executive Core Qualifications: Interpersonal Skills, Oral Communication, Continual Learning, Written Communication, Integrity/Honesty, Public Service Motivation. The Fundamental Competencies are crosscutting; and should be addressed over the course of each ECQ narratives. It is not necessary for you to address the Fundamental Competencies directly as long as the narrative, in its totality, shows mastery of these competencies on the whole. Applicants are encouraged to follow the Challenge, Context, Action and Result (C-C-A-R) model outlined in the guide. Challenge - Describe a specific problem or goal. Context - Describe the individuals and groups you worked with, and/or the environment in which you worked, to address a particular challenge (e.g., clients, co-workers, members of Congress, shrinking budget, low morale). Action - Discuss the specific actions you took to address a challenge. Result - Give specific examples of measures/outcomes that had some impact on the organization. These accomplishments demonstrate the quality and effectiveness of your leadership skills. Additional information about the SES and Executive Core Qualifications can be found on the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) SES Website. You are strongly encouraged to review OPMs Guide to SES Qualifications for specific examples and guidance on writing effective ECQ narrative statements. MANDATORY TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS (TQs): All applicants must submit a written narrative response to the following TQs. You must address each TQ separately. Each TQ narrative must not exceed two (2) pages. Please give examples and explain the complexity of the knowledge possessed and the sensitivity of the issued you handled. Describe demonstrated litigation experience regarding, and experience leading teams that litigate the many statutes and regulations that apply generally to all agencies of the Federal Government. These include, but are not limited to, the following: the Federal Tort Claims Act, Freedom of Information Act, the Privacy Act, Federal Advisory Committee Act, federal procurement statutes and regulations, fiscal laws, laws related to federal financial assistance, laws related to homeland security and emergency response, and federal intellectual property statutes. Describe knowledge of and experience in handling Bivens actions, and Administrative Procedure Act challenges in coordination with US Department of Justice . The incumbent should have experience in handling appellate cases; be able to liase with DOJ appellate litigation and Office of the Solicitor General staff, and to be able to analyze federal appellate cases in order to provide guidance and counsel to USDA agencies, the General Counsel, and their front office staff, and fellow senior OGC managers. Describe demonstrated knowledge and experience in Departmental operations, including budget and fiscal matters, procurement and contract matters, matters involving patent, trademark, and copyright law, claims for property damage and personal injury, real and personal property matters, COOP and disaster preparedness and response, the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, the Defense Production Act, and various information and cybersecurity laws, as well as knowledge of scientific research programs and grant program development. Describe demonstrated experience in providing sound legal advice and counsel to senior executives and management officials in analyzing complex legal problems, in making sound legal decisions, and in supervising and managing highly skilled attorneys and support staff.

Education

A professional law degree (LL.B. or J.D.) from an accredited law school, Law School transcript required AND active membership of the bar in good standing in any state, territory of the United States, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

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 :http://www.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/index.html.

Contacts

• Address Office of the General Counsel 1400 Independence Ave SW Washington, DC 20250 US
• Name: Michelle Williams
• Phone: 202-791-8477
• Email: [email protected]