Telecommunications Specialist

Summary

This position is located within the Forest Service's Chief Information Office, CIO oversees the IT infrastructure, applications, and information management, guiding agency-wide decisions through its governance process. This role serves as the agency's telecommunications expert and promotes a strong customer service culture. For additional information about the duties of this position, please contact Raymond Adams at 406-241-4982, [email protected]

Duties

• Plans, develops, and oversees national telecommunications systems, represents USDA to NTIA and IRAC, processes frequency authorizations, and resolves radio interference issues.
• Creates or revises policy and technical standards, leads project planning and execution, ensures compliance with agency and federal requirements, and manages contracts that support LMR systems.
• Works with federal, state, and local partners to identify boundaries, nominate frequencies, and develop solutions for areas with limited spectrum availability.
• Plans and provides installation, configuration, troubleshooting, training, and performance management; identifies trends in customer issues; and ensures adherence to information security requirements.
• Analyzes unusual or complex problems, develops alternatives and innovative solutions, anticipates future needs, and supports agency-wide strategic telecommunications planning.

Qualifications

In order to qualify, you must meet the eligibility and qualifications requirements as defined below by the closing date of the announcement. For more information on the qualifications for this position, visit the Office of Personnel Management's General Schedule Qualification Standards. Your application and resume must clearly show that you possess the experience requirements. Transcripts must be provided for qualifications based on education. Provide course descriptions as necessary. Specialized Experience Requirement: You must have one year specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 in the Federal service. Specialized experience is defined as of the following: Specialized experience is defined as three or more of the following: assisting with reviewing and validating radio frequency authorizations by compiling spectrum data, checking requests for completeness, and conducting preliminary propagation reviews; and/or providing support in coordinating frequency use with partner agencies by gathering boundary information, identifying potential operational frequencies, and relaying coordination needs to senior staff; and/or contributing to the development of LMR-related policies and procedures by researching technical standards, drafting guidance documents, and supporting senior specialists in evaluating new telecommunications capabilities; and/or assisting with customer support activities by troubleshooting basic radio or telecommunications issues, maintaining incident tracking logs, and providing initial user training on radio frequency requirements; and/or participating in interagency meetings or working groups by preparing background materials, documenting action items, and supporting Forest Service representatives on frequency management topics. 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.

Requirements

Must be a U.S. Citizen or National. Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service or exempt. Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check. Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to their financial institution. Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit E-Verify. As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider: your performance and conduct; the needs and interests of the agency; whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service. Upon completion of your probationary period your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest. This is a drug testing designated position. You will be subject to preemployment and random drug testing. Appointment is based on a negative result. This announcement constitutes 30 days advance notice. Must possess or be able to obtain a Confidential, Secret, or Top-Secret security clearance.

How to apply

Please view Tips for Applicants - a guide to the Forest Service application process. Please read the entire announcement and all instructions before you begin. You must complete this application process and submit all required documents electronically by 11:59p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on the closing date of this announcement. Applying online is highly encouraged. We are available to assist you during business hours (7:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m., Mountain Time Zone, Monday - Friday). If applying online poses a hardship, contact the Agency Contact listed below well before the closing date for an alternate method. All hardship application packages must be complete and submitted no later than noon ET on the closing date of the announcement to be entered into the system prior to its closing. Resumes must not exceed two pages. This agency provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities on a case-by-case basis. Contact the Agency Contact to request this. To begin, click "Apply" and follow the instructions to complete the Assessment Questionnaire and attach your resume and all required documents. Please verify that documents you are uploading from USAJOBs transfer into the Agency's staffing system as there is a limitation to the number of documents that can be transferred. However, once in the Agency's staffing system, you will have the opportunity to upload additional documents. Uploaded documents must be less than 5MB and in one of the following document formats: GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, PDF, TXT or Word (DOC or DOCX). Do not upload Adobe Portfolio documents because they are not viewable. Encrypted documents will not be accepted. Failure to submit required, legible documents may result in loss of consideration. Please ensure your resume does not exceed two pages. Applicants who submit a resume that exceeds two pages will be removed from consideration. Our office cannot be responsible for incompatible software, your system failure, etc.