Personnel Security Specialist at U.S. Department of the Treasury in Washington, DC

Summary

This position is located at Bureau of Engraving and Printing, within the Background Investigations Branch. As a Personnel Security Specialist, you will help conduct background investigations for federal public trust and national security positions; conduct special investigations pertaining to employee and contractor misconduct; periodic reinvestigations and continuous vetting of federal employees and contractors.

Duties

The following are the duties of this position at the GS-12. If you are selected at a lower grade level, you will have the opportunity to learn to perform all these duties, and will receive training to help you grow in this position.

Conduct complex and sensitive public trust and national security background investigations.
Locate and interview witnesses, including those who evade or refuse to cooperate, collect and examine pertinent records from a wide variety of standard and unusual sources, and conduct further data collection when inconsistencies in statements or documentation are identified.
Conduct extensive research and analysis of applicable laws and regulations as well as other materials such as operating manuals, union contracts, etc.
Make decisions and recommendations in situations complicated by uncertainty in approach, methodology, and or interpretation due to extreme sensitivity; the existence of few or no precedents to follow; and significant unresolved legal or regulatory issues.
Ensure information maintained in the Personnel Security database and other information management systems are accurately entered and updated.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

A one-year probationary period may be required.
Must successfully complete a background investigation.
Complete a to determine your suitability for Federal employment, at the time requested by the agency.
Have your salary sent to a financial institution of your choice by Direct Deposit/Electronic Funds Transfer.
If you are a male applicant born after December 31, 1959, certify that you have registered with the or are exempt from having to do so.
Go through a Personal Identity Verification (PIV) process that requires two forms of identification from the . Federal law requires verification of the identity and employment eligibility of all new hires in the U.S.
Obtain and use a government-issued charge card for business-related travel.
Submit to a drug test prior to your appointment and random drug testing while you occupy the position.
Weekend work and overtime, if applicable, will be scheduled when needed based on production requirements as determined by Management.

Key Requirements:

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Must be U.S. Citizen or U.S. National

Qualifications

This opportunity is also open to under Announcement 25-BEp-12639144. Please refer to that announcement for details on open period, eligibility, and how to apply.

You must meet the following requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

For the GS-11, you must have one year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-09 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience for this position includes:

applying personnel security rules, regulations, policies, and practices in order to gather facts, draw conclusions or recommend solutions to problems. AND
establishing and maintaining effective partnerships and communication regarding personnel security investigations. AND
review reports and investigations for indications of improper activities and identifying potential problems.

OR You may qualify with a Ph. D. or equivalent doctoral degree
OR 3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree. OR LL.M., if related.
OR You may qualify by a combination of experience and education. To combine education and experience, the total percentage of experience at the required grade level compared to the requirement, as well as the percentage of completed education compared to the requirement must equal at least 100 percent. Only graduate level education in excess of the first 36 semester hours (54 quarter hours) may be combined to be considered for qualifying education.

For the GS-09, you must have one year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-07 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience for this position includes:

applying personnel security rules, regulations, policies, and practices in order to gather facts, draw conclusions or recommend solutions to problems. AND
establishing and maintaining effective partnerships and communication regarding personnel security investigations.

OR You may qualify with a master's or equivalent graduate degree
OR 2 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree. OR LL.B. or J.D., if related.
OR You may qualify by a combination of experience and education. To combine education and experience, the total percentage of experience at the required grade level compared to the requirement, as well as the percentage of completed education compared to the requirement must equal at least 100 percent. Only graduate level education in excess of the first 18 semester hours (27 quarter hours) may be combined to be considered for qualifying education.

For the GS-07, you must have one year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-05 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience for this position includes:

Applying security, law enforcement or personnel security rules, regulations, policies, and standard procedures in order to gather facts, draw conclusions or recommend solutions to problems.

OR 1 full year of graduate level education
OR a Bachelor's degree with one of the following requirements for superior academic achievement: A GPA of 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale for all completed undergraduate courses or those completed in the last 2 years of study, or a GPA of 3.5 or higher on a 4.0 scale for all courses in the major field of study or those courses in the major completed in the last 2 years of study, or rank in the upper one third of the class in the college, university or major subdivision, or membership in a national honor society recognized by the Association of College Honor Societies.
OR You may qualify by a combination of experience and education. To combine education and experience, your total qualifying experience is calculated as a percentage of the experience required for the grade level. Then, your education is calculated as a percentage of the education required for the grade level. The two percentages are added together. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify for that grade level.

How You Will Be Evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Your application includes your résumé, responses to the online questions, and required supporting documents. Please be sure that your résumé includes detailed information to support your qualifications for this position; failure to provide sufficient evidence in your résumé may result in a "not qualified" determination.

Rating: Your application will be evaluated in the following areas: Attention to Detail, Technical, Communication

Category rating will be used to rank and select eligible candidates. If qualified, you will be assigned to one of three quality level categories; Gold (highest quality category), Silver (middle quality category), or Bronze (minimally qualified category), depending on your responses to the online questions, regarding your experience, education, and training related to this position.

A subject matter expert may be used in the evaluation. Your rating may be lowered if your responses to the online questions are not supported by the education and/or experience described in your application.

Veterans' preference is applied after applicants are assessed. Qualified preference-eligibles with a compensable service-connected disability of 10% or more will be listed at the top of the highest category.

Referral: If you are among the top qualified candidates, your application may be referred to a selecting official for consideration. You may be required to participate in a selection interview. We will not reimburse costs related to the interview such as travel to and from the interview site.

If you are a displaced or surplus Federal employee (eligible for the ) you must be assigned the middle category or better to be rated as "well qualified" to receive special selection priority.

Required Documents

It is anticipated that there will be significant interest in the announcement. As a result, the announcement will close at 11:59 p.m. ET on the date of receipt of the 150th application or at 11:59 p.m. ET on DATE OF CLOSURE; whichever occurs first. Any required documents should be submitted at the time that you apply as documents will not be accepted after the vacancy closes.

To apply for this position, you must submit a complete Application Package which includes:

All applicants must submit a résumé showing work schedule, hours worked per week, dates of employment and duties performed. The experience may have been gained in either the public, private sector or . One year of experience refers to full-time work; part-time work is considered on a prorated basis. All applicants are required to submit arésumé either by creating one in USAJOBS or uploading one of their own choosing. (Cover letters are optional.) We suggest that you preview the online questions, as you may need to customize your résumé to ensure that it supports your responses to these questions. Please view .

All applicants must submit vacancy assessment question responses: All applicants are required to complete vacancy question responses by clicking the apply online button of this vacancy announcement.

VETERANS' PREFERENCE DOCUMENTATION: If you are claiming veteran's preference, please see . In order to be considered for veteran's preference, you must submit all required documentation as outlined in the applicant guide.

CAREER TRANSITION ASSISTANCE PLAN (CTAP) OR INTERAGENCY CAREER TRANSITION ASSISTANCE PLAN (ICTAP) DOCUMENTATION: If you are a displaced or surplus Federal employee, click for eligibility and a detailed list of required documents you must submit in order to be eligible.

EDUCATION DOCUMENTATION:For positions with an education requirement, or if you are qualifying for this position by substituting education or training for experience, submit a copy of your transcripts or a list of courses showing title, number of credits, grade, and date of completion.