Foreign Affairs Officer – Direct Hire Authority

Position description

This position is located in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (NEA), Office of Iranian Affairs (IR)

This serves as public notice for the use of OPM’s Direct Hire Authority. Applicants who meet the qualification requirements will be forwarded to the selecting official for consideration. We may select from this announcement or any other source to fill one or more vacancies.

Duties

• Serves as the action officer for all incoming actions from Departmental offices, U.S. embassies/consulates, other U.S. government agencies, international organizations, foreign governments, or the private sector on all Iran related issues.
• Advises other Departmental and agency working-level contacts, the Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office Director, and Deputy Directors on program issues and problems.
• Drafts policy memoranda and positions papers for senior Departmental officials meetings, which include all levels of the U.S. government, the private sector, and representatives of other countries.
• Develops background information, tactics, and approaches for presenting policy positions both in-house and in the interagency.
• Provides expert policy analyses and assessments of policy and technical information in Departmental internal meetings and with agencies of other governments and multilateral organizations.
• At the GS-12 level, the incumbent performs essentially the same duties as outlined above; however, the scope and complexity of assignments are of less responsibility and independence and receives closer supervision than the GS-13 level.

Qualifications

Conditions of Employment

• U.S. Citizenship is required.
• Incumbent will be subject to random drug testing.
• Must be able to obtain and maintain a Top Secret security clearance.
• Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit: www.dhs.gov/E-Verify/

Qualifications

Applicants must meet all the qualification requirements described below by the closing date of this announcement.

If you are qualifying based on education OR if there are mandatory education requirements listed below, you MUST submit a copy of your college transcript with your application. 

Applicants must have the required experience or education as described below and meet any selective factors, when specified.

BASIC REQUIREMENTS:

Have a bachelor’s or graduate degree from an accredited college or university in international law, international relations, political science, economics, history, sociology, geography, social or cultural anthropology, law, statistics, or in the humanities;

OR

Have a bachelor’s or graduate degree from an accredited college or university that included a combination of courses, with at least 24 semester hours in international law and international relations, political science, economics, history, sociology, geography, social or cultural anthropology, law, statistics, or in the humanities;

OR

Have 12 semester hours in one of the above disciplines and 12 semester hours in statistics / quantitative methods.

OR

Have a combination of education and experience where your coursework was equivalent to a major, or a combination of related courses totaling at least 24 semester hours, (as shown above), PLUS appropriate relevant experience OR additional education.

OR

Have completed at least 4 years of appropriate experience in one OR more of the fields listed above in work associated with international organizations, problems, or other aspects of foreign affairs. (NOTE: qualifying work experience may have been gained through residence, study, teaching, business or commercial activities, military service, newspaper work, military or civil government activities, missionary or international relief work, or other experience in foreign countries.)

Note: If you are qualifying based on education, you MUST submit transcripts as verification of educational requirement by the closing date of this announcement. If you fail to provide requested information, or the information you submit is insufficient to verify your eligibility, you WILL lose consideration for this position.

IN ADDITION to the basic requirements, this position requires one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-11 level in the Federal service which provided the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the duties of the position.

Applicants applying at the GS-12 level:

Qualifying specialized experience must demonstrate the following:

• Experience monitoring developing political or economic issues (political affairs; arms control and international security, civilian security, democracy, and human rights; economic growth, energy, and environment; and public diplomacy and public affairs) for policy development.
• Experience clearing analytical products and modifying drafts for policy development.

Note: If you are qualifying based on education, you MUST submit transcripts as verification of educational requirement by the closing date of this announcement. If you fail to provide requested information, or the information you submit is insufficient to verify your eligibility, you WILL lose consideration for this position.

IN ADDITION to the basic requirements, this position requires one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-12 level in the Federal service which provided the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the duties of the position.

Applicants applying at the GS-13 level:

Qualifying specialized experience must demonstrate the following:

• Experience assessing political, social, economic conditions in an assigned region through analysis of reporting as well as on-site interviews and observation and determine the appropriate course of action to advise to leadership to achieve policy objectives.
• Experience interpreting the significance of events or developments to make recommendations on U.S. foreign policy.
• Experience drafting, clearing, and issuing policy and procedures implementation guidance for use by posts in assigned countries.

Note: If you are qualifying based on education, you MUST submit transcripts as verification of educational requirement by the closing date of this announcement. If you fail to provide requested information, or the information you submit is insufficient to verify your eligibility, you WILL lose consideration for this position.

Education

See the qualifications section of this vacancy announcement for education requirements.

Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet the education requirements if you can show that the foreign education is comparable to that received in an accredited educational institution in the United States. It is your responsibility to provide such evidence when applying. For a list of accredited organizations recognized as specializing in interpretation of foreign education credentials, visit: www.naces.org/members.php.

Application instructions

Please be sure to indicate you saw this position on jobs-near-me.org