Chief Actuary

Summary

This position is located in the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), Employee Benefits Security Administration. All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply. The Required Documents section of this announcement identifies all documents that must be uploaded in order to be considered a complete application package. Applicants that do not submit a complete application will not receive further consideration.

Duties

• Serves as the Department's principal actuarial advisor, providing expert counsel to the Assistant Secretary, Deputy Assistant Secretaries, other Departmental officials, and Congressional committees on the actuarial implications of legislative, regulatory, and policy proposals affecting the nation's pension, retirement, health, and welfare benefit systems. Directs EBSA's actuarial research, analysis, and technical consultation functions, ensuring the technical soundness and defensibility of all actuarial products, resolving the most complex and precedent-setting actuarial issues, and reviewing the actuarial soundness of exemption applications and regulatory impact analyses. Communicates complex actuarial and policy issues to technical and non-technical audiences at the highest levels of government and industry, preparing or directing the preparation of authoritative reports, testimony, and regulatory analyses for the Assistant Secretary, the Secretary, OMB, and Congress. Represents the Department as the senior actuarial expert with federal agencies, professional actuarial organizations, industry and labor representatives, and academic experts, leading interagency and government-industry initiatives on national actuarial policy. Leads development of professional actuarial standards, including accreditation, discipline, continuing education, and examination requirements for actuaries serving ERISA-covered plans. Directs a professional staff of actuaries and support personnel, managing resource allocation, staffing, budget planning, and organizational structure to achieve program objectives.

Qualifications

Applicants must meet all eligibility and qualification requirements upon the closing date of this announcement. Candidates must have at least one year of specialized experience related to this position. This experience must be at or above the GS-15 grade level or equivalent. To meet the minimum qualification requirements for this position, you must show that you possess the Technical Qualifications (TQ) related to this position within your resume - NOT TO EXCEED 2 PAGES. Resumes must use a font size no smaller than 10-point, and margins no smaller than one inch. Resumes over the 2-page limit, will not be reviewed beyond page 2 or may be disqualified. Your resume should include examples of experience, education, and accomplishments applicable to the qualification(s). If your resume does not reflect demonstrated evidence of these qualifications, you may not receive consideration for the position. There is NO requirement to prepare a narrative statement specifically addressing the Technical Qualifications (TQs). TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS (TQs): Your resume should demonstrate accomplishments that would satisfy the technical qualifications. Technical Qualification 1: Demonstrated expert-level proficiency in actuarial science, mathematics, statistics, economics, and risk analysis, enabling service as a national authority on actuarial matters impacting pension, retirement, health, welfare, annuity, and insurance-related employee benefit plans. This includes comprehensive mastery of actuarial assumptions, methodologies, cost factors, funding principles, mortality, turnover, disability, plan experience studies, and adherence to actuarial standards of practice as they pertain to plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended. Technical Qualification 2: Demonstrated ability to convey highly complex actuarial, economic, legislative, regulatory, and policy issues with clarity and persuasiveness to both technical and non-technical audiences. This includes preparing authoritative technical reports, policy memoranda, briefing papers, testimony, regulatory analyses, recommendations, presentations, and decision documents for senior officials and external stakeholders regarding matters affecting employee benefit plans, plan participants and beneficiaries, and the employee benefits industry. 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.

Education

In order to qualify for this position you must meet the basic education requirements listed below. Basic Requirements: A. Bachelor's degree that included courses in actuarial science, mathematics, relevant statistics, business, finance, economics, insurance, or computer science totaling at least 24 semester hours. This course work must have included a minimum of 12 semester hours mathematics that included differential and integral calculus and one or more courses in mathematics for which these calculus courses were prerequisites. OR B. Combination of education and experience that includes both of the following requirements: Technical work experience in actuarial support work or in mathematics; AND Completion of a minimum of 24 semester hours of courses in actuarial science, mathematics, relevant statistics, business, finance, economics, insurance, or computer science at a four year college or university. This course work must have included a minimum of 12 semester hours of mathematics that included differential and integral calculus and one or more courses in mathematics for which these calculus courses were prerequisites. You must provide a copy of your transcripts from an accredited institution. Any applicant falsely claiming an academic degree from an accredited school will be subject to actions ranging from disqualification from federal employment to removal from federal service. If your education was completed at a foreign college or university, you must show comparability to education received in accredited educational institutions in the United States and comparability to applicable minimum coursework requirements for this position. Click Evaluation of Foreign Education for more information.

How to apply

To apply for this position, you must complete the initial online application, including submission of the required documentation specified in the Required Documents section. Your application and ALL required supplemental documents MUST be received by 11:59 pm Eastern Time on the vacancy closing date to receive consideration. Paper applications and supplemental documents submitted in any other manner without prior approval from the vacancy contact will not be considered. Click here for information on Reasonable Accommodations. Important - Save your information before the 30-minute system timeout! For help, go to USAJOBS Help Center. STEP 1 - Create USAJOBS Account on www.usajobs.gov, including Resume and Saved Documents. Your resume must provide sufficient information to substantiate your responses to the self-assessment vacancy questions. If not, HR may amend your responses to more accurately reflect the competency indicated by resume content. For each employment period, include start/end month & year and note full-time or part-time (if part-time, include # of hours worked per week) otherwise, your application may be considered incomplete. NOTE: In alignment with the Presidential Memorandum titled Merit Hiring Plan, dated May 29, 2025, applicants may only submit a resume limited to two (2) pages. Only the résumé uploaded under the 'Resume" document type in USAJOBS will be reviewed. If the resume submitted exceeds two (2) pages, the application will be deemed ineligible for further consideration. STEP 2 - Complete the 1st part of the application process (USAJOBS). Once you have identified a job on USAJOBS that you wish to apply for, click on the job title and then click the Apply button. For questions about the vacancy, contact the Agency Contact at the bottom of the announcement. Proceed through the steps noted at the top of the USAJOBS page. You will be able to select a resume and documents from your USAJOBS Account that you can submit as a package as part of your DOL application. In the final step, once you have certified your application, click the Continue to agency site button. STEP 3 - Complete the 2nd part of the application process (DOL). On the Department of Labor (DOL) page, create a DOL Account if you have not already and click Apply to this vacancy. Continue through the progress steps at the top of the DOL page. The 2nd progress step is where you answer the vacancy-specific questions. The 3rd progress step Documents is where you submit the required documents (only if applicable to you) specified in the Required Documents section of this vacancy. STEP 4 - On the Review and Submit step, verify each section of your application is complete and correct. In order to submit your application, you must have a check mark next to each section listed. If there is an X, return to the appropriate section and follow the prompts. When it is ready for submission, certify your application and click the Submit Application button. STEP 5 - Edit Application as needed by 11:59 pm Eastern Time of Closing Date by returning to USAJOBS, clicking the vacancy, then Update Application. NOTE: It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation is submitted prior to the closing date. For more detailed information on applying for positions with DOL click here to view the U.S. Department of Labor, How to Apply website.