Agriculture, Office of the Chief Financial Officer
Management and Program Analyst
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Summary
Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement including specialized experience and/or education, as defined below: GS-14 Specialized Experience: Applicants must have at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-13 grade level in the federal service or equivalent experience in the private sector. Specialized experience is defined as: 1) leading enterprise testing and quality assurance efforts by managing user acceptance testing, business validation, operational readiness, release readiness, and defect tracking to ensure systems meet organizational standards; 2) developing integrated test strategies by defining quality metrics, managing defects, preparing go/no-go recommendations, and validating that solutions meet business and operational requirements; 3) coordinating testing activities across functional users, technical teams, data teams, cybersecurity, operations, contractors, and partner agencies to ensure effective end-to-end system validation; and 4) identifying quality and implementation risks, document findings, and provide recommendations to support informed decisions prior to deployment or release. Quality Ranking Factor (QRF) This position has a Quality Ranking Factor (QRF). Quality Ranking Factors are knowledge, skills and abilities/competencies that could be expected to significantly enhance performance in this position. Certifications in one or more of the following: International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB), Software Quality Analyst, Manager of Software Quality, Agile Testing, Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), Information Technology Infrastructure Library 4 (ISIL 4), Lean Six Sigma, Project Management Professional (PMP) or equivalent are strongly desired to support work accomplished in this position. 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 and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.
Major Duties
Develop and administer Department-wide Quality Assurance and Testing Strategy supporting enterprise modernization initiatives.
Lead enterprise activities involving integrated testing across business processes, enterprise applications, infrastructure, customer services, shared services, cloud environments, data conversion, cybersecurity, and operational readiness.
Develop enterprise quality standards, testing policies, governance procedures, quality management frameworks, acceptance criteria, release readiness standards, and testing methodologies.
Direct activities such as Business Process Validation, Testing, End-to-End Testing, User Acceptance Testing, Operational Readiness Testing, Regression Testing, Performance Testing, Data Validation Testing, and Parallel Payroll Testing.
Evaluate modernization initiatives throughout the system development lifecycle to ensure business, technical, security, and operational requirements are satisfied before implementation.
Conduct quality assessments, root cause analyses, lessons learned reviews, independent quality reviews, and post-implementation evaluations.
Lead testing governance boards, release management reviews, executive quality briefings, and customer readiness assessments.
Develop innovative quality management techniques to improve modernization delivery and organizational performance.
Advise senior executives regarding enterprise quality performance, modernization readiness, and organizational risks.
Represent the chief technology officer during executive governance meetings, customer agency discussions, vendor reviews, and Federal modernization initiatives.
Requirements
You must be a US Citizen or US National. Males born after 12/31/1959 must be Selective Service registered or exempt. Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check. Direct Deposit - 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 https://www.e-verify.gov/. As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period unless previous federal service is creditable. During this time your employment will be evaluated, and 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.
Required Documents
The following documents are required for your applicant package to be complete. Encrypted documents will not be accepted. Failure to submit required, legible documents may result in loss of consideration. Resume that includes: Personal Information: name, address, contact information; Education; Work Experience related to this position as described in the major duties including work schedule, hours worked per week, dates of employment; title, series, grade (if applicable); other qualifications. Resume cannot exceed 2 pages. If education is required or you are using education to qualify, you must submit a copy of your college transcripts. An unofficial copy is sufficient with the application if it includes your name and the necessary course information; however, if you are selected, you will be required to submit official transcripts prior to entering on duty. Education must have been successfully obtained from an accredited school, college or university. If any education was completed at a foreign institute, you must submit with your application evidence that the institute was appropriately accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as equivalent to U.S. education standards. There are private organizations that specialize in this evaluation and a fee is normally associated with this service. For a list of private organizations that evaluate education, visit the NACES website. All transcripts must be in English or include an English translation. If claiming Quality Ranking Factor, please provide a copy of the following certifications: International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB), Software Quality Analyst, Manager of Software Quality, Agile Testing, Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), Information Technology Infrastructure Library 4 (ISIL 4), Lean Six Sigma, Project Management Professional (PMP) or equivalent with your application package. If claiming veteran's preference, you must submit a DD214, Certificate of Release from Active Duty, which shows dates of service and discharge under honorable conditions. If currently on active duty you must submit a certification of expected discharge or release from active duty service under honorable conditions not later than 120 days after the date the certification is submitted. Veteran's preference must be verified prior to appointment. Without this documentation, you will not receive veteran's preference and your application will be evaluated based on the material(s) submitted. If claiming 10-point veteran's preference you must provide the DD214 or certification requirements (see above bullet), plus the proof of entitlement of this preference as listed on the SF-15 Application for 10-point Veterans' Preference. The SF-15 should be included but is not required. Failure to submit these documents could result in the determination that there is insufficient documentation to support your claim for 10-point preference. For more information on veterans' preference visit FedsHireVets. Surplus or displaced employees eligible for CTAP, RPL, or ICTAP priority must provide: proof of eligibility (RIF separation notice, notice of proposed removal for declining a transfer of function or directed reassignment to another commuting area, notice of disability annuity termination), SF-50 documenting separation (as applicable), current performance appraisal with rating of at least "Fully Successful" or equivalent, and your most recent SF-50 noting position, grade level, and duty location with your application per 5 CFR 330.
How to Apply
Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application. To apply and be considered for this position, you must complete all required questionnaires, assessments and submit all required documentation as specified in the How to Apply and Required Documents section. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on the closing date of the announcement to receive consideration. Resumes cannot exceed two pages. The application process is as follows: Click the Apply Online button. Answer the questions presented in the application and attach all necessary supporting documentation. Click the Submit Application button prior to 11:59 PM (ET) on the announcement closing date. If you are required to complete any USA Hire Assessments, you will be notified after submitting your application. The notification will be provided in your application submission screen and via email. The notification will include your unique assessment access link to the USA Hire system and the completion deadline. Additionally, in USAJOBS you can click "Track this application" to return to your assessment completion notice. Access USA Hire using your unique assessment link. Access is granted through your USAJOBS login credentials. Review all instructions prior to beginning your assessments. You will have the opportunity to request a testing accommodation before beginning the assessments should you have a disability covered under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended. Set aside about 1-2 hours to take the USA Hire Assessments; however, most applicants complete the assessments in less time. If you need to stop the assessments and continue later, you can re-use your unique assessment link. Your responses to the USA Hire Assessments will be reused for one year (in most cases) from the date you complete an assessment. If future applications you submit require completion of the same assessments, your responses will be automatically reused. Visit the USA Hire Applicant Resource Center for practice assessments and assessment preparation resources at https://support-usahire.opm.gov/hc/en-us. To update your application, including supporting documentation: During the announcement open period, return to your USAJOBS account, find your application record, and click Edit my application. This option will no longer be available once the announcement has closed. To view the announcement status or your application status: Visit https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/howto/application/status/. Your application status page is where you can view your application status, USA Hire assessment completion status, and review your notifications sent by the hiring agency regarding your application. 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.