Foreign Affairs Officer - Direct Hire Authority

Summary We are hiring many experienced Civil Service Foreign Affairs Officers (FAOs) across the Department in various regional and functional Bureaus. This serves as public notice for the use of an Agency-specific Direct Hire Authority. Applicants will be forwarded to the selecting official for consideration. We may select from this announcement or any other source to fill one or more vacancies. See "Additional Information" section for September 15, 2024 HBCU career fair information. Responsibilities We are seeking diverse candidates from across America with educational and/or work experience in international affairs, national and international security, STEM policy, cybersecurity, energy security, humanities, democracy promotion, human rights, conflict resolution, counterterrorism, political-military affairs, arms control, nonproliferation, strategic communications, Congressional relations, and more. Regional expertise in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa, Europe and Eurasia, South and Central Asia, the Indo-Pacific, and Sub-Saharan Africa is highly desired as well. Typical duties will include: Assisting with managing issue areas pertinent to such geographic areas (e.g., political affairs; arms control and international security, human rights, rule of law and anti-corruption and environment; and public diplomacy and public affairs) maintaining currency on legislative and policy developments affecting the USG’s stance and reactions. Assisting posts in area of assignment with issues needing resolution from a country’s mission to the U.S. Drafts, clears, and issues policy and procedures implementation guidance for use by posts and/or bureaus. Interpreting the significance of events or developments to U.S. foreign policy related to security and political issues, political-military affairs, human rights economic, trade, innovation policy, assessing them against in-depth knowledge of the assigned geographic area that includes its language, history, and culture. Participating in meetings with agencies of foreign governments and multilateral organizations to contribute detailed technical analyses and assessments of complex issues and alternatives to decision makers. Assisting drafting and clearing messaging points and background material and analysis for use by State Department officials. Requirements Conditions of Employment Qualifications Applicants must meet all the qualification requirements 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-11 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 the impact of regional or global developments related to U.S. foreign policy objectives and programs to determine significance of social, economic, political and/or military developments to foreign programs and/or policies. Experience analyzing and evaluating program and/or policy information derived from a variety of sources in order to communicate analysis and evaluation. Experience planning, coordinating and/or implementing assigned programs or policies within an organization. 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. Education See the qualifications section of this vacancy announcement for education requirements. When an applicant has less than one year of specialized experience as described in the announcement, he or she may combine successfully completed graduate-level education with experience to meet the total qualification requirements. Generally, 18 graduate semester hours is equivalent to 1 full-time year of graduate study (your school and department determine what constitutes 1 full time year of graduate study). The percentage of specialized work experience (for example, 6 months equals 50%) and the percentage of graduate study (for example, 9 graduate hours for a GS-07 equals 50% where 18 graduate hours constitute a full time year) must total at least 100%. 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. Additional Information HBCU Career Fair information- September 15, 2024, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania The Department of State will be onsite at the Downtown Philadelphia Marriot at the HBCU Career Fair recruiting for this position. Please complete this interest form if you will be attending the event and are interested in an in-person interview. The cut off for interest via emails will be Thursday, September 12, 2024, at 11:59 pm EST. Interview times are limited and may fill up quickly. Interviews will not be granted if qualifications for the position are not met. We will continue to collect resumes in person at the event and schedule interviews based on availability. · For reasonable accommodation at the U.S. Department of State, please contact the Office of Accessibility and Accommodations at (202) 663-3474 or [email protected]. · If eligible, telework and/or remote work agreements may be permitted with supervisory approval. Please note that any approved remote work arrangement is subject to the locality pay area of the alternative telework worksite. · Multiple positions may be filled from this announcement. If eligible, applicants to this announcement may be referred to similar positions in any Bureau/Office listed on this announcement for approximately 240 days. Telework eligibility and security clearance requirements may vary for such similar positions.