Closing Date: 15th July, 2026
Description:
Summary:The Vehicle Safety Standards and Harmonization Division of the Office of Chief Counsel is at the cutting- edge intersections of law, the environment, vehicle safety, and technology. Our work requires curiosity, persistence, exceptional legal abilities and top-notch communication and collaboration skills. Primary tasks include drafting rules and explanations of agency law and policy with interdisciplinary teams of technical experts and applying statutory authorities to modern technology.
Duties:
As an Rulemaking Attorney, you will:
- Works with an interdisciplinary team of lawyers, engineers, program analysts, economists, and other technical experts and policy makers to draft the regulations that govern vehicle safety standards and fuel economy standards. Attorneys are engaged in helping to develop the justifications for the agency's rulemaking actions. As the lead drafter of agency justifications, the attorney must understand and synthesize data and analyses about complex technological, environmental, and economic issues, to describe how the magnitude of the problem warrants regulation and explain the agency's work to address the problem - and do so in an understandable and persuasive manner.
- Analyzes planned research, rulemakings, regulatory analyses, and policy position papers, critiquing and helping to bolster the agency's policy, scientific, and economic justifications for regulatory and nonregulatory actions to ensure soundness and legal sufficiency. In the course of that work, the attorney will track regulatory, legislative and private sector developments – not just legal, but also technological, environmental, and economic.
- Works to minimize litigation risks by ensuring that all procedural and substantive requirements are met and that the administrative record supports the agency's actions. If litigation nevertheless ensues, the attorney will work with NHTSA's litigators and the Department of Justice to defend those actions.
- Analyzes pending legislation affecting the rulemaking process and/or NHTSA rulemaking authority and actions, and drafts interpretations of the agency's standards and authorizing statutes concerning present, emerging and evolving technologies.
- Analyzes statutes, regulations, case law, technical, and economic issues, and applies legal principles and precedents to solve a variety of legal issues in a dynamic regulatory agency and presents those solutions in a clear oral or written manner.
- Provides legal and policy advice regarding rulemaking issues to the agency and the public. This may include drafting legal interpretations, and understanding and synthesizing complex technical and economic issues, and being able to explain them in plain language so that the agency's rationale is clear to the public.
- Working to advance regulatory work on technologies that can help avoid crashes and improve the safety of all road users, including pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers.
- Focusing on emerging and rapidly developing automated driving system technologies.
- Developing and establishing fuel economy standards for cars and trucks.
- Evaluating potential cyber security and information privacy issues associated with advanced motor vehicle technologies.
- Working on international regulatory issues toward the development of harmonized vehicle regulations with other countries.
Requirements:
Conditions of Employment:
- You must be a U.S.Citizen and eligible for consideration.
- Submit application and resume online by 11:59 PM EST on the closing date.
- This is an Excepted Service position.
- Required documents must be submitted by the closing date.
Conditions of Employment:
- Selective Service: Males born after 12/31/59 must be registered for Selective Service.
- Trial Period: This is an Excepted Service position. This job will be filled by an alternative hiring process and is not in the competitive service. Applicants selected for an excepted service position may be subject to a two-year trial period.
- Ethics/Conflict of Interest Statement: All employees are subject to the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch, set out in Title 5 of the Code of Federal Regulations, section 2635, including restrictions on owning financial interests that may conflict with performance of their duties. Some employees, like those involved in contracting or regulating non-Federal entities, are subject to Executive Branch Financial Disclosure requirements set out in Title 5 of the Code of Federal Regulations, section 263.
- Government Travel Card: This position involves travel. A government contractor-issued travel card will be issued and must be retained for official business only.
- Background Investigation: You will be required to complete a background/security investigation and meet preliminary requirements prior to onboarding.
Qualifications:
To qualify, your experience should include experience and education equal or equivalent to the following:
Grade 11 - Possess a professional law degree (LL.B. or J.D.) and be in good standing of a bar.
Grade 12 - Possess a professional law degree (LL.B. or J.D.) and be in good standing of a bar. Applicants must have 1 year of relevant professional legal experience.
- Experience in performing legal services involving compliance and regulatory issues;
- Experience preparing legal memoranda and opinions related to administrative law or motor vehicle safety; or
- Experience as a judicial law clerk
- Experience in performing legal services involving compliance and regulatory issues;
- Experience preparing legal memoranda and opinions related to administrative law or motor vehicle safety; or
- Experience as a judicial law clerk
Grade 14 - Possess a professional law degree (LL.B. or J.D.) and be in good standing of a bar. Applicants must have 3 years of relevant professional legal experience.
- Experience in performing legal services involving compliance and regulatory issues;
- Experience preparing legal memoranda and opinions related to administrative law or motor vehicle safety; or
- Experience as a judicial law clerk
- Oral Communication - Expresses information (for example, ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, considering the audience and nature of the information (for example, technical, sensitive, controversial); makes clear and convincing oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately.
- Written Communication - Writes in a clear, concise, organized, and convincing manner for the intended audience.
- Legal, Government, and Jurisprudence - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, legal practices and documents, Government regulations, Executive orders, agency rules, Government organization and functions, and the democratic political process.
- Problem Solving - Identifies and analyzes problems; weighs relevance and accuracy of information; generates and evaluates alternative solutions; makes recommendations
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.
For additional information about applying to Federal positions, please click on the following link: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-policies/#url=e4
All applicants must meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.
Education:
Mandatory Education Requirements:
In order to qualify for this position, candidates must have successfully completed a full course of study in a school of law accredited by the Amer
