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Drug Enforcement Administration

Registration Program Specialist

McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania $63815 - $100380 PA GS Closes Oct 26, 2026
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Summary

For more information on eligibility requirements see: DEA Employment Eligibility Applicants must meet the required qualification requirements described below by the closing date of the 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 transcripts with your application. Applicants applying for the GS-09 must meet one of the following requirements: A. Have at least one full year of specialized experience that is at least equivalent to work performed at the GS-07 grade level. Specialized 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. Qualifying experience must demonstrate the following: Must have one (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-07 level or pay band in the Federal service that includes performing at least 3 of the following duties: 1) Researching, interpreting, and applying federal and/or state laws, regulations, policies, and procedures to determine compliance with requirements and provide guidance on regulated programs or activities. 2) Reviewing and analyzing applications, licenses, registrations, referrals, or other program records to verify accuracy and completeness, determine eligibility or compliance, identify discrepancies, and recommend or take appropriate action. 3) Analyzing program policies, procedures, operations, or processes to identify problems or unusual issues and recommend solutions or improvements to increase accuracy, efficiency, effectiveness or regulatory compliance. 4) Providing technical guidance and maintain liaison relationships with internal and external stakeholders regarding requirements, policies, procedures, laws, or regulations including responding to inquiries, preparing written correspondence, and/or providing presentations or training. OR B. Education: Master's or equivalent graduate degree or two (2) full academic years of graduate level education leading to such a degree or a LL.B or J.D. degree, if related OR C. Combination of Education and Experience: Equivalent combinations of successfully completed education and experience may be used to meet the experience requirements. To compute the percentage, divide your total months of qualifying experience by 12. Then divide your semester hours of graduate education beyond one year by 18. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. Applicants applying for the GS-11 must meet one of the following requirements: A. Have at least one full year of specialized experience that is at least equivalent to work performed at the GS-09 grade level. Specialized 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. Qualifying experience must demonstrate the following: Must have one (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-09 level or pay band in the Federal service that includes performing at least 3 of the following duties: 1) Researching, interpreting, and applying laws, regulations, or policies to evaluate, process, and make determinations on applications for professional licenses, registrations, permits, or program benefits. 2) Conducting background screenings, reviewing credentials or history records, and analyzing background data or administrative referrals to verify information accuracy, identify discrepancies, and recommend appropriate agency actions. 3) Utilizing automated information systems or electronic databases to input, query, track, and verify compliance or program data, identifying transaction errors or irregular patterns for further review. 4) Serving as a point of contact to provide program or policy guidance to stakeholders, and assists in developing or delivering presentations, briefings, or training sessions to internal staff or external groups. OR B. Education: Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree; or 3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree; or LL.M., if related. OR C. Combination of Education and Experience: Equivalent combinations of successfully completed education and experience may be used to meet the experience requirements. To compute the percentage, divide your total months of qualifying experience by 12. Then divide your semester hours of graduate education beyond one year by 18. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. Additional information on the position qualification requirements are located in the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) Qualifications Standards Handbook. Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants must meet time-in-grade and time after competitive appointment requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

Major Duties

As a Registration Program Specialist, your typical work assignments may include: Reviewing and processing new and renewal program applications to ensure all submitted paperwork complies with established rules and guidelines. Researching specific regulations or policy manuals to answer questions about applicant eligibility or fee-exempt status. Making initial determinations to approve qualified applicants or flag non-compliant submissions for rejection or further review. Drafting official correspondence, approval letters, or deficiency notices to inform applicants of their status or missing requirements.

Required Documents

All required documents listed below, that are applicable to you, must be submitted to our automated system by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on the closing date of this announcement. Resume: must be no more than two pages in length; resumes exceeding two pages will be removed from consideration. Resume should include applicants' name, email address, phone number, relevant work/volunteer experience, education and training. Include the start and end dates (from month/year to month/year), work schedule (e.g. part or full-time), the number of hours per week worked/volunteered, job title and description of duties performed. Education/Certification/Licensure when relevant or required for position. See Guidance for Applicants on 2-Page Resume and visit the USAJOBS Help Center for more information Transcripts, if applicable and you are qualifying based on education. See the Qualification and Education sections of this announcement for more information. If selected, an official/sealed college transcript(s) will be required to verify education prior to employment. SF-50 (Notification of Personnel Action): SF-50(s) must show the effective date, position title, series, grade, salary, tenure, competitive status, position occupied, full promotion potential, and name of agency. Multiple SF-50s may be needed to show all required information. Award SF-50s often do not show the required information. To verify the time in grade requirement, applicants must submit a SF-50 verifying the highest grade held for at least 52 weeks. Examples include, promotions with an effective date greater than one year, within grade increases demonstrating the highest grade held for at least 52 weeks or appointments/conversion of appointments with an effective date greater than one year. Career Transition Assistance Program documentation, if applicable. This includes copies of your agency notice (e.g. Certification of Expected Separation, Reduction-In-Force Separation Notice, or Notice of Proposed Removal), most recent performance rating and more recent Notification of Personnel Action (SF-50) noting current position, grade level and duty location. Other Qualification documents (e.g. certificates, certifications, etc.), if applicable. See the Qualification section of this announcement for more information.

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. 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 at least 3 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. You may update your application documents and some questions related to your personal information at any time during the announcement open period. However, you will not be able to make changes to questions related to assessing the minimum qualifications and competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics) mentioned in the "How You Will Be Evaluated" section above. To make an allowed update to your application, return to your USAJOBS account (https://usajobs.gov). There you will find a record of your application, the application status, and an option to 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.