The incumbent serves as the Director for the Office of Communication and is responsible for directing internal and external strategic communications and outreach activities supporting the Forest Service mission, projects and programs. Duties include developing long and short-range plans to achieve these goals and objectives. For additional information about the duties of this position, please contact Jaelith Hall-Rivera at 202-205-1290 or [email protected].

Duties

The Communication Program Director plans, organizes and directs the overall strategic communication program in support of Forest Service mission, projects and programs. Develops and coordinates budget and recommends allocation of funds for program activities. Develops and maintains extensive and effective working relationships with senior leaders of USDA and Forest Service; communication program representatives at the field level, news media, business professionals, civil leaders and the general public. Provides overall direction and authoritative guidance for all internal, external, media, web, mobile and social media activities of the Forest Service. Promotes and maintains relationships at a national level with elected officials, special interest groups and media representatives; and coordinates responses to sensitive national issues which may draw adverse public attention.

Requirements

• Must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
• Males born after 12/31/1959 must be Selective Service registered or exempt.
• Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check.
• Successful completion of one year probationary period, unless previously served.
• Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to their financial institution.
• Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit e-verify.gov
• Selectee is subject to financial disclosure requirements and must submit form OGE-450, Confidential Financial Disclosure Report, within 30 days of appointment and annually thereafter.
• Subject to one-year supervisory/managerial probationary period (unless prior service is creditable).
• New USDA supervisors must successfully complete all components of the required new supervisory training program before the end of their probationary period.

Qualifications

In order to qualify, you must meet the eligibility and qualifications requirements as defined below by the closing date of the announcement. For more information on the qualifications for this position, visit the Office of Personnel Management's General Schedule Qualification Standards. Your application and resume must clearly show that you possess the experience requirements. Specialized Experience Requirement: For the GS-15: You must have one-year specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-14 in the Federal Service. Specialized experience is defined as meeting four or more of the following: providing advice and guidance to resolve, implement, or manage program or policy issues involving significant uncertainty in approach or methodology; and/or overseeing, coordinating, and evaluating program activities as well as implementing basic national guidelines for the program area; and/or performing long-range planning and analysis of new substantive interagency programs where precedents are scarce or nonexistent; and/or developing and maintaining effective working relationships with senior officials, communication program and media representatives; and/or analyzing public opinion and response to current events and make recommendations for changes to improve understanding of national direction and the relationship between national policies and public interests. 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. TIME IN GRADE REQUIREMENT: If you are a current federal employee in the General Schedule (GS) pay plan and applying for a promotion opportunity, you must meet time-in-grade (TIG) requirements of 52 weeks of service at the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the position being filled. This requirement must be met by the closing date of this announcement.

Education

There are no educational requirements for this position.

Contacts

• Address USDA Forest Service HRM Contact Center DO NOT MAIL IN APPLICATIONS, SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN THE ANNOUNCEMENT. Albuquerque, NM 87109 US
• Name: HRM Contact Center
• Phone: 1-877-372-7248 X2
• Email: [email protected]