NASA's Suborbital and Special Orbital Projects Directorate (SSOPD) is seeking a highly skilled candidate to serve as Chief of the Balloon Program Office (BPO). You will provide strategic direction, and advocate for the program within NASA, oversee flight operations, and develop key technologies to advance science. You will be responsible for providing institutional and programmatic management of the NASA Balloon Program, including oversight of the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility (CSBF).

Duties

Provides overall management of the NASA Balloon Program in order to maximize safety, flight opportunities, and mission success while striving to minimize costs and maintain a mission success rate of >85%. Directs efforts of individual Project Managers, Mission Managers, and Balloon Technology Managers for projects managed by the Balloon Program Office (BPO). Provides technical, budget, schedule, and contract management for the balloon program. Provides management oversight of BPO launch and mission operations, including the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility, U.S. remote, and foreign balloon launch facilities, balloon materials research laboratory, and the balloon manufacturer. Provides program leadership for effective management to support scheduling and completion of required balloon program reviews and development of required documentation for individual balloon missions and balloon campaigns. Provides program leadership for effective management for the Balloon Technology development efforts, including the Super Pressure Balloon (SPB), the Wallops Arc-Second Pointing System (WASP), and Internal Research and Development (IRAD) efforts. Provides strategic direction for the Balloon Program, and advocates for scientific balloons within NASA and the Earth and space science community. Assures compliance with all NASA safety requirements and reviews. Initiates investigations of anomalies and/or mishaps to determine cause(s) and corrective action(s). Implements lessons learned and necessary actions to correct deficiencies. Assures coordination with NASA Office of International and Interagency Relations (OIIR) and National Science Foundation (NSF) when balloon operations involve or could impact foreign countries. Performs a full range of supervisory duties which includes assigning and evaluating work; recommending personnel actions; taking disciplinary actions; and identifying training needs and developing employees. Fosters a culture of engagement, diversity, inclusiveness, excellence and innovation. Champions NASA's commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility to create an environment that promotes a commitment to safety, integrity and teamwork.

Requirements

• This position is open to U.S. citizens, nationals or those who owe allegiance to the U.S.
• Position subject to pre-employment background security investigation.
• You must meet qualifications requirements by the closing date of this announcement.
• If selected, you will be required to complete a financial disclosure statement.
• A one-year supervisory probationary period may be required.

Qualifications

In addition to the Basic Education Requirement (in the Education section below), to qualify for this position you must meet the requirements below. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped you with the particular ability, skill, and knowledge to successfully perform the duties of this position and is typically in or related to this line of work. NASA utilizes OPM-approved qualification and rating requirements specific for Aerospace Technology (AST) positions which recognizes NASA's unique aerospace work. The specific qualifications and minimum education requirements are further described below and within the education section of the job announcement. To qualify for GS-15, you must have one year of directly related specialized experience equivalent to the GS-14 level: Providing oversight of balloon program, staff, facilities, customer agreements, and programmatic processes to ensure alignment to and to achieve project goals; Designing and reviewing engineering and safety plans to support balloon science customer requirements; and Developing, launching and operating balloon missions while coordinating complex flight activities world-wide to achieve project goals. Your resume must include a clear and detailed narrative description, in your own words, of how you meet the required specialized experience. Experience statements copied from a position description, vacancy announcement or other reference material constitutes plagiarism and may result in disqualification and losing consideration for the job. NASA prohibits the use of artificial intelligence (AI) or AI-assisted tool in drafting application and assessment responses. Please visit https://www.nasa.gov/careers/how-to-apply/#Artificial-Intelligence to review NASA's guidance on the use of AI tools during the application process.

Education

Basic Education Requirement: You must have successfully completed a bachelor's degree with a major in one of the following:
a) Engineering from a college or university that has ABET accredited engineering programs
b) Physical Science, Mathematics, Life Science or other field of Science
c) Computer Science that included 30 semester hours or 45 quarter hours of course work in any combination of mathematics, statistics and computer science with at least half of those hours in mathematics and statistics courses that included differential and integral calculus; and that provided an in-depth knowledge of theoretical and practical applications of computer science, including digital computer system architecture and system software organization, the representation and transformation of information structures, and the theoretical models for such representations and transformations.

If you did not complete a qualifying bachelor's degree, you may be eligible if you have obtained a graduate degree in an AST qualifying field, as listed above.

Degrees in engineering technology are not considered qualifying for this position.

Engineering degrees earned within the United States: Engineering degrees earned within the United States must be from a college or university that has at least one ABET accredited engineering program. To find out if a school has at least one ABET accredited program, please visit http://www.abet.org.

Engineering degrees earned outside the United States: Engineering degrees earned outside the United States must be recognized by a Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA), often known as accords. These are non-governmental agreements among organizations that accredit academic degree programs. MRAs recognize the substantial equivalence of mature accreditation systems and programs accredited by signatory organizations within their jurisdictions. For a listing of Signatories, please visit, https://www.abet.org/global-presence/mutual-recognition-agreements/is-your-program-recognized/.

Science and other related degrees earned within the United States: Science and other related degrees must have been awarded from colleges or universities that are accredited by recognized accrediting organizations. For a list of schools that meet this criteria, go to http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/.

Science and other related degrees earned outside the United States: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show that the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs. These education credentials must be deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

All degrees must have been received in the year of, or any year subsequent to the original date of accreditation.

Contacts

• Address Goddard Space Flight Center 8800 Greenbelt Rd Greenbelt, MD 20771 US
• Name: NASA Shared Services Contact Center
• Phone: 1-877-677-2123
• Email: [email protected]