Foreign Affairs Officer

Position description

This position is in the Immediate Office of the Assistant Secretary and Deputy Assistant Secretaries in the Bureau of Political Military Affairs (PM) and oversees the Office of Congressional and Public Affairs (CPA) staff.

PM provides policy direction in the areas of international security, security assistance, military operations, defense strategy and plans, and defense trade. CPA is responsible for managing the PM’s congressional affairs, public affairs, and public diplomacy functions.

Duties

• Develops and advises on U.S. policies and programs to leverage U.S. funding and assistance in foreign military finance, arms transfers, and other security assistance and security cooperation programs to support U.S. national security objectives.
• Represents the Bureau (PM) at Department meetings, the Department at interagency meetings, and the United States government at international meetings pertaining to security assistance and security programs.
• Leads PM’s efforts in preparing reports for Congress, coordinating Congressional correspondence, and preparing participants for formal Congressional hearings.
• Oversees the formulation and implementation of relevant policies, and chairs working-level interagency meetings to formulate new policies and initiatives as needed.
• Executes supervisory personnel responsibilities for the staff members in the Office of Congressional and Public Affairs.

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 required qualification requirements, including education and any selective placement factors 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-14 level in the Federal service which provided the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the duties of the position. Qualifying specialized experience must demonstrate the following:

• Experience evaluating international security assistance and security cooperation policies and programs.
• Experience advising on strategic planning processes to achieve U.S. foreign policy objectives.
• Experience liaising with Congressional stakeholders to advance U.S. security assistance and security cooperation programs.

In addition, applicant’s experience must also demonstrate that the candidate possesses the following qualities:

• Ability to assign, review, and supervise the work of others;
• Objectivity and fairness in judging people on their ability, and situations on the facts and circumstances;
• Ability to adjust to change, work pressures, or difficult situations without undue stress;
• Willingness to consider new ideas or divergent points of view; and
• Capacity to “see the job through.”

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 tendersglobal.net