Chief of Staff - Senior Level

WE ARE THE NRO

For sixty years, the NRO has developed, acquired, launched and operated the satellites that are the foundation for America’s advantage and strength in space. Using a diversified architecture of spacecraft, NRO collects and delivers the best space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance content on the planet.

Learn more at nro.gov.

Basic Eligibility For A Position With The NRO

• You must be a U.S. Citizen
• You must be 18 years of age or older
• You must be able to obtain and maintain a TS/SCI security clearance
• You will be subject to pre-employment and periodic drug testing
• You will be subject to pre-employment and periodic polygraph examinations

Where You Will Work

The NRO Office of Policy & Strategy (OP&S) is seeking an energetic, highly motivated, and experienced officer to join our dynamic, fast-paced team as the Chief of Staff (CoS).  OP&S reports directly to the Director, NRO (DNRO) and is accountable for successfully shaping and driving internal NRO, national, Department of Defense (DoD), Intelligence Community (IC), civil space, commercial, and international policies and strategies related to overhead reconnaissance, all in support of the over-arching goal of forging an NRO policy and strategy foundation that enables NRO leadership and personnel to accomplish their mission and objectives.  OP&S is also responsible for managing NRO mission compliance consistent with relevant DOD and Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) policies and directives, while ensuring that effective enterprise-level governance is developed and implemented across the NRO.  In performing these functions, OP&S works with a broad range of NRO and interagency partners on overhead-related policy and strategy issues, foreign relations and international cooperation activities, and civil and commercial space-related issues in order to build and maintain strategic relationships and efforts that allow the DNRO to affect agendas, guide thinking, and influence outcomes.

The CoS will support the daily actions and decision-making of the OP&S front office, and will be a key partner to the OP&S Director, Principal Deputy Director, and Deputy Director (hereafter “OP&S SLT”).  The CoS will lead and supervise a Deputy CoS and work closely with the OP&S Executive Administrator and OP&S Group Chiefs to ensure seamless operations.  The CoS will assist in formulating and reviewing responses to tasks from the NRO Tracking Information and Enterprise Response (TIER) system, OP&S SLT, NRO senior leadership, and various oversight bodies.  Successful candidates are expected to have strong critical thinking, resource management, problem-solving, conflict resolution, project planning, and time management skills.

The NRO Cadre is collecting resumes for consideration against current and future opportunities for Senior Level (GG-14/15), Program Managers, occupational series 0340. For more information on the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) occupational series, click here.

Your resume may be considered for other positions which your skills and experience may be a good match.

This is a full-time position that is open from March 13, 2024 to March 27, 2024.  Resumes must be submitted by 11:59 PM EST on March 27, 2024.

Who May Apply

• This position is open to the public.
• Federal government employees MUST currently be at the grade level or higher as indicated in this announcement. This is NOT a promotion opportunity for current Federal government employees. If selected for the position, Federal government employees will transition laterally at their current grade level and step.
• Federal applicants who exceed the advertised grade may voluntarily request acceptance at the lower grade per IAW DoD 1400.25 Volume 2006.
• The NRO is only accepting external applicants for this job announcement. Current NRO Cadre employees should apply internally.
• This position does not qualify for the appointment of a reemployed federal annuitant IAW DoDI 1400.25 Volume 300.

What You Will Be Doing  

Major Duties:

The COS will perform the following major duties and activities:

• Leads the overall management of OP&S Human Resources activities, to include new billet requests, current billet management, vacancy notices, candidate interviews, new employee onboarding, and the OP&S awards program.  Responsible for drafting OP&S vacancy notices in coordination with applicable Group Chief; builds and manages an accessible library of vacancy notices for every OP&S position. Responsible for ensuring that the OP&S organization chart is kept updated.
• Leads the overall management of OP&S Budget activities, to include the development, coordination, and monitoring of the annual Office budget.
• Leads the overall management of improvements and expansion of the OP&S Facility space, to include office furnishings, safes, and information technology needs.
• Performs the role of Deputy Government Program Manager for the OP&S SETA contract, working hand-in-hand with the OP&S COTR. Deputy Government Program Manager duties include:
  • Maintain cognizance of new scope and Engineering Change Proposals
  • Tracks overall performance
  • Provides layer of escalation if programmatic issues arise
  • Remains cognizant of all major contract issues and escalates as needed to OP&S SLT
  • Tracks any major contract execution risk
  • Meets with contractor senior leadership for any formal issues/concerns or program reviews
• Develops, coordinates, reviews, and orchestrates OP&S and NRO-wide executive level briefings, as requested.
• Develops, coordinates, reviews, and orchestrates OP&S and NRO-wide written reports and products, as requested.
• Leads the overall orchestration of the OP&S process for reviewing and responding to Tracking Information and Enterprise Response (TIER) actions.  Oversees the OP&S DAG contractor team that performs part of this function.
• Performs quality control reviews for content, readability, and grammar on a wide range of high-visibility policy and strategy documents, briefings, reports, and written products.
• Identifies OP&S business processes that need to be improved and develop and execute improvement plans in coordination with the OP&S SLT and the OP&S Group Chiefs, as appropriate.
• Collates, edits, and prepares the OP&S Weekly Activity Report for submission.
• Works with the OP&S front office staff to ensure the OP&S SLT is fully prepared for meetings, events, and travel.
• Builds and maintains strong, collaborative relationships across the NRO, IC, and DoD.
• Represents OP&S at NRO Corporate meetings as requested.
• Coordinates and orchestrates VIP-level meetings, as requested.

What You Need

• Experience orchestrating and leading initiatives and projects involving multiple stakeholders. 
• Excellent writing and editing skills, with ability to apply those skills on a wide range of high-visibility policy and strategy documents, briefings, reports, and written products.
• Excellent interpersonal, organizational, and management skills to conceptualize and effectively lead complex projects with limited supervision.
• Excellent ability to communicate effectively with people at all levels of leadership and with people engaged in different functions, missions, and kinds of work. Highly effective in influencing and motivating through communication.
• Expert ability to develop detailed plans, tasks, milestone dates, and schedules to ensure proper sequencing of events and tracking of processes and costs throughout the project life cycle.
• Knowledge to develop new or modified work methods, organizational structures, management processes, guidelines and procedures, and work processes for the conduct of support functions or program operations.
• Demonstrated ability to work collegially to find a consensus solution when views differ among parties, and ability to effectively work both independently and within a team or collaborative environment.
• Superior analytical and critical thinking skills, including the ability to think strategically, identify needs and requirements, develop recommendations, and evaluate outcomes against goals and objectives.
• Superior ability to exercise independent judgement on time-sensitive issues.

Desired Qualifications

• 2+ years NRO experience and knowledge of NRO policies and organization.
• Fundamental understanding of NRO capabilities, priorities, requirements processes, and substantive issues, especially as they pertain to space-based ISR operations, policies, and strategies.
• Experience in one of the NRO’s technical, financial, or acquisition organizations.
• Experience working with the interagency, international, and/or oversight communities.
• Experience with NRO’s Tracking Information and Enterprise Response (TIER) system.
• Experience with strategic planning, human resources, facility management, contract management, and business management.

Qualifying experience may have been acquired in any public or private sector job, but will clearly demonstrate past experience in the application of the particular competencies/knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to successfully perform and is typically in or directly related to the duties of the position as described above. Experience must be reflected in your resume. 

Other Information

• Overtime Statement:  MAY be required to work other than normal duty hours, which may include evenings, weekends, and/or holidays.
• Travel Statement:  MAY be required to travel in military or commercial aircraft to perform temporary duty assignments.
• Financial Disclosure:  MAY be required to file an OGE Form 450, Confidential Financial Disclosure Report, upon appointment and will be required to file annually.
• Emergency Essential: Certain positions MAY be deemed emergency essential and incumbents must be willing to meet all position requirements.

Location

Chantilly, VA

Salary

2021 salary range for the Washington, DC area:

GG-14 $139,395 – $181,216. 

GG-15 $163,964 – $191,900. 

Hiring Incentives

The NRO may offer hiring incentives and other entitlements at management’s discretion.

Trial Period

All new DCIPS employees will be required to serve a 2-year trial period.

Veterans’ Preference

DoD Components with DCIPS positions apply Veterans’ Preference to preference eligible candidates as defined by Section 2108 of Title 5 USC, in accordance with the procedures provided in DoD Instruction 1400.25, Vol 2005, DCIPS Employment and Placement.  If you are a veteran claiming veterans’ preference, as defined by section 2108 of Title 5 USC, you must submit documents verifying your eligibility upon request.

Equal Employment Opportunity Policy

The United States Government does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, retaliation, parental status, military service, or other non-merit factor.

• Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) for federal employees & job applicants  

Reasonable Accommodation Policy

Federal agencies must provide reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities where appropriate. Applicants requiring reasonable accommodation for any part of the application process should follow the instructions in the job opportunity announcement. For any part of the remaining hiring process, applicants should contact the hiring agency directly. Determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis.

A reasonable accommodation is any change to a job, the work environment, or the way things are usually done that enables an individual with a disability to apply for a job, perform job duties or receive equal access to job benefits.

Under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, federal agencies must provide reasonable accommodations when:

• An applicant with a disability needs an accommodation to have an equal opportunity to apply for a job.
• An employee with a disability needs an accommodation to perform the essential job duties or to gain access to the workplace.
• An employee with a disability needs an accommodation to receive equal access to benefits, such as details, training, and office-sponsored events.

You can request a reasonable accommodation at any time during the application or hiring process or while on the job. Requests are considered on a case-by-case basis. Please send your request to Hiring@nro.mil.

Privacy Act Notice

Privacy Act Notice (PL 93-579): We use this information to determine qualifications for employment. This is authorized under Title 5 U.S.C. 3302 and 3361.

Read more about the Privacy Act of 1974 

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