The position is located in the Department of Education, Federal Student Aid. As a Service Designer, you will assist in transforming how millions of students and families access financial aid and play a vital role in implementing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA).
Minimum Qualification Requirements You may meet the minimum qualifications for the GS-15, if you possess the specialize experience. Specialized Experience for the GS-15 One year of experience in either federal or non-federal service that is equivalent to at least a GS-14 performing two (2) out of three (3) of the following duties or work assignments: 1. Experience leading or serving in a senior role of a multi-disciplinary project involving the design, development, and implementation of a new system or a major enhancement to an existing IT system. 2. Experience serving as a design lead, overseeing adoption of new functionalities or technologies for users. 3. Experience communicating technical concepts to non-technical audiences and translating business requirements into technical user stories. Basic Experience Requirements: You must possess IT related experience (paid or unpaid experience and/or completion of specific, intensive training (e.g., IT certification), as appropriate) demonstrating each of the four competencies listed below. 1. Attention to Detail - Is thorough when performing work and conscientious about attending to detail. 2. Customer Service - Works with clients and customers (i.e., any individuals who use or receive the services or products that your work unit produces, including the general public, individuals who work in the agency, other agencies, or organizations outside the Government) to assess their needs, provide information or assistance, resolve their problems, or satisfy their expectations; knows about available products and services; is committed to providing quality products and services. 3. Oral Communication - Expresses information (e.g., ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (e.g., technical, sensitive, controversial); makes clear and convincing oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately. 4. Problem Solving - Identifies problems; determines accuracy and relevance of information; uses sound judgment to generate and evaluate alternatives, and to make recommendations. Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs) The quality of your experience will be measured by the extent to which you possess the following knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs). You do not need to provide separate narrative responses to these KSAs, as they will be measured by your responses to the occupational questionnaire (you may preview the occupational questionnaire by clicking the link at the end of the Evaluations section of this vacancy announcement). 1. Skills in applying product design practices such as user-centered design, user research, interaction design, information architecture, visual design, and accessibility to deliver high-quality software products. 2. Knowledge of agile software development methodologies that ensure iterative and value-driven delivery of software products. 3. Ability to clearly articulate where new design activities should be injected into existing product development. 4. Knowledge of leading, organizing and facilitating user research initiatives that create understanding and empathy around user needs, stated and unstated. 5. Ability to utilize strong analytical and design capabilities in synthesizing user research to share findings and address user needs.
APPLICATION LIMIT: This vacancy announcement is limited to the first 200 applications received and will close at 11:59PM Eastern Time on the day that we receive the 200th application, or at 11:59PM Eastern Time on the listed closing date, whichever occurs first. We encourage you to read this entire vacancy announcement prior to submitting your application. As an IT Program Manager, GS-2210-15, you will be responsible for: • Working with cross-functional agile development teams and directly with users to transform the way FSA uses technology to improve service delivery including Artificial Intelligent (AI) and AI-enabling technologies. • Identifying, prioritizing and implementating customer experience strategies and processes with a focus on continuous improvement to maximize entire end-to-end experiences. • Leading the user experience design and research discipline and serves as the voice for users by advocating for and teaching about best practices for user-centered design and user research across FSA. • Working with communications and engagement offices across FSA and Ed to support and coordinate field research and usability testing by facilitating access to users. • Establishing, guiding and prioritizing an agency-wide research program to make data-driven recommendations for design change based on research findings and to ensure that resources are being directed towards solutions that maximize impact for FSA.