Deputy Associate Administrator- EXCEPTED SERVICE

Summary

Serves as the Deputy Associate Administrator for the Office of Regional Services, providing support to the Associate Administrator for Regional Services, who provides leadership and direction over day-to-day operations of FTA Regional Offices.

Duties

As a Deputy Associate Administrator, you will: Assist the Associate Administrator in promoting ongoing quality improvement, organizational effectiveness, enhanced Regional-Headquarter relationships, strategic plans, and performance measurement in Regional Offices. Promote the development and implementation of Regional activities and plans and processes that support the DOT and FTA strategic plans. Foster a customer service orientation within the Regional services organization, with delivery of timely, high quality work products that favorably reflect on the Department and are responsive to Regional office needs. Advocate and recommend to the Associate Administrator process changes or improvements regarding the structure, operation, and well-being of Regional Offices and field operations as it relates to the implementation of all FTA programs. Supervise employees in the Office of Regional Services to include the full spectrum of personnel management, such as leave approval, fitness/performance evaluations, discipline and incentives, as well as providing direction to contracted personnel. The ideal candidate is a senior-level professional with leadership experience, excellent communication skills, and has experience working collaboratively with geographically distributed teams.

Requirements

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT: SELECTIVE SERVICE: Males born after 12/31/1959 must be registered for the Selective Service. SCHEDULE POLICY/CAREER: As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be serving in a position in Schedule Policy/Career of the excepted service. You will obtain competitive status after two years of service in this position [if applicable]. Your employment in this position will be at-will. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) appeals of adverse actions concerning performance, discipline, and other matters arising under chapters 23, 43, and 75 of title 5, United States Code will not be available to an individual serving in this position. Prohibitions on prohibited personnel practices will be enforced by the DOT Office of General Counsel and not the Office of Special Counsel. GOVERNMENT TRAVEL CARD: This position involves travel. A government contractor-issued travel card will be issued and must be retained for official business only. FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE: The Ethics in Government Act of 1978 requires the applicant selected for this position to submit a Confidential Financial Disclosure Report (OGE Form 450) within 30 days of appointment and annually thereafter. SUPERVISORY PROBATIONARY PERIOD: You must complete a one-year supervisory probationary period (unless already completed).

Qualifications

To meet the minimum qualifications for this position, you must meet the specialized experience qualifications for the grade at which you are requesting consideration. To qualify for the Grade 15, you must have at least one year of specialized experience equal or equivalent to the GS-14, it must include: Experience advising executives in changing environments, predicting operational requirements, and resolving organizational conflicts. Experience collaborating with multi-disciplinary teams representing senior executives and their interests. Experience creating and launching new programs or teams through strategic planning. KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES (KSAs): Your qualifications will be evaluated on the basis of your level of knowledge, skills, abilities and/or competencies in the following areas: Planning and Evaluating - Organizes work, sets priorities, and determines resource requirements; determines short- or long-term goals and strategies to achieve them; coordinates with other organizations or parts of the organization to accomplish goals; monitors progress and evaluates outcomes. Administration and Management - Knowledge of planning, coordination, and execution of business functions, resource allocation, and production. Organizational Awareness - Knows the organization's mission and functions, and how its social, political, and technological systems work and operates effectively within them; this includes the programs, policies, procedures, rules, and regulations of the organization. Oral Communication - Expresses information (for example, ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (for example, technical, sensitive, controversial); makes clear and convincing oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately. For all types of consideration, 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. For additional information about applying to Federal positions, please click on the following link: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-policies/#url=e4 All applicants must meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

How you will be evaluated

DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE: Please be clear and specific when describing your experience, as HR evaluates applications strictly on the facts provided and will not make assumptions. To receive full credit, your narrative responses must be written in paragraph format and explicitly match your resume. Begin each response by listing the exact position title, organization, employment dates (MM/YYYY–MM/YYYY), full- or part-time status, average weekly hours, and federal series/grade (if applicable). Within the body of the paragraph, clearly describe your specific duties, actions taken, tools used, and measurable outcomes. HR will cross-check these details against your resume; if your resume does not fully support every claim and timeframe, the experience will not be considered for credit, which may result in an ineligible determination. For this announcement, all applicants will be reviewed to determine if they meet the basic qualifications for this position, specifically the educational and specialized experience requirements. Applicants will not be rated or ranked. All applications that are verified to meet the basic qualifications will be referred to the selecting official. You may preview questions for this vacancy.

Required documents

RESUME: In accordance with the OPM memorandum titled Merit Hiring Plan, dated May 29, 2025, resumes with a maximum of two (2) pages in length will be accepted as part of your application. These should be legible and in a readable font size. A determination of your eligibility and/or qualifications will be based only on those two (2) pages. Your resume MUST contain specific information that can be used to make a qualification determination, including employment beginning and ending dates for each position, whether employment is Full-time or Part-time (e.g., Program Analyst, GS-343-11 | January 2009–Present | 40 Hours/Week) and position titles. If the position is/was in the Federal government, you will need to provide the position series and grade level. The resume should show relevant experience and education, as well as support the required specialized experience. PERFORMANCE APPRAISALS / INCENTIVE AWARDS: If applicable, you may submit recent performance appraisals and incentive award documentation dated within the last 18 months. To receive due consideration during the evaluation process, your performance appraisal must show the official rating of record and be signed by a supervisor. If an appraisal is unavailable, you must submit a statement explaining why (do not submit a performance plan). Qualifying incentive documentation includes superior performance, special act or achievement awards, and quality step increases. All submitted documentation will be forwarded to the selecting official to support your application. VETERANS: If you are eligible for veterans' preference in hiring, you are encouraged to include that information in your application along with supporting documentation, e.g., SF15, DD214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty, or other supporting documentation. IMPORTANT: Submit all required resume details and documents by the closing date. Verify that all files have successfully transferred before submitting. Late or incomplete applications will be disqualified.

How to apply

To be considered, you must submit all required resume details and applicable documents no later than 11:59 (EST) by the closing date of the announcement. Note: Uploading documents to USAJobs does not automatically attach them to this application. You must review and verify that all files are successfully transferred to our system before final submission. Late or incomplete applications will be disqualified. To begin, click the "Apply Online" button on the job announcement posting. Follow the directions to register, submit all required documents and complete the assessment questionnaire. You may review your saved application(s) at https://help.usajobs.gov/ If you are having difficulty applying online, please contact the DOT Automated Staffing Office via email at: [email protected]

Other information

The Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act prohibits the Department of Transportation and its Operating Administrations from requesting an applicant's criminal history record before that individual receives a conditional offer of employment. In accordance with 5 U.S. Code § 9202(c) and 5 C.F.R § 920.201 certain positions are exempt from the provisions of the Fair Chance to Compete Act. Applicants who believe they have been subjected to a violation of the Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act, may submit a written complaint to the Department of Transportation by email at, [email protected]. To learn more, please visit our page at: The Fair Chance to Compete Act | US Department of Transportation This announcement may be used to fill additional positions if similar vacancies occur within 90 days of the issue date of the referral certificate.

What to expect next

Within two weeks of the closing date, a Human Resources Specialist will evaluate your application. You may check your application status by logging into USAJobs.com. (Select "My USAJOBS" and click "Applications"). Ratings will be determined based on the documents and information received by the closing date. If you are selected for an interview, the hiring agency will contact you directly. Once the position is filled, we will notify all applicants of their final status.