Closing Date: 7th August, 2026
Description:
Summary:In this position, you will serve as a supervisor of attorneys and providing legal services related to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the Privacy Act, the Paperwork Reduction Act, the E-Government Act, the Clinger-Cohen Act, the Federal Information Security Management Act, and authorities governing FEMA information technology systems. Apply for this exciting opportunity to become a member of the Office of Chief Counsel team within FEMA.
Duties:
What will I do in this position if hired?
In this position, you will supervise a dedicated and talented team of attorneys. Independently analyze and interpret FEMA's statutory authorities.
Typical assignments include:
- Reviewing withholdings, denials, appeals, and the invocation of exemptions under the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy A
- Making recommendations to release or withhold agency records and information under other applicable authorities.
- Supporting the Department of Justice in representing FEMA in the federal courts, participates in settlement negotiations, and makes settlement recommendations in accordance with applicable directives or policies.
Excepted Service: This is a Schedule Policy/Career position in the excepted service.
At FEMA, our mission is to help people before, during and after disasters, and every employee at FEMA has a role in emergency management. Every FEMA employee has regular and recurring emergency management responsibilities, though not every position requires routine deployment to disaster sites. All positions are subject to recall around the clock for emergency management operations, which may require irregular work hours, work at locations other than the official duty station, and may include duties other than those specified in the employee's official position description. Travel requirements in support of emergency operations may be extensive in nature (weeks to months), with little advance notice, and may require employees to relocate to emergency sites with physically austere and operationally challenging conditions.
Requirements:
Conditions of Employment:
To ensure the accomplishment of our mission, DHS requires every employee to be reliable and trustworthy. To meet those standards, all selected applicants must undergo, successfully pass, and maintain a background investigation for High Risk / Public Trust as a condition of placement into this position. This may include a credit check after initial job qualifications are determined, a review of financial issues, such as delinquency in the payment of debts, child support and/or tax obligations, as well as certain criminal offenses and illegal use or possession of drugs (please visit: Mythbuster on Federal Hiring Policies (https://chcoc.gov/sites/default/files/Mythbuster_on_Federal_Hiring_Policies_0.pdf) for additional information). For more information on background investigations for Federal jobs please visit OPM Investigations. (https://www.opm.gov/faqs/topic/investigate/?cid=56d6e92e-6e27-4b6a-8969-4a7a1bfba76d)
As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be serving in a position in Schedule Policy/Career of the Excepted service. You will obtain competitive status after two years of service in this position [if applicable]. Your employment in this position will be at-will. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) appeals of adverse actions concerning performance, discipline, and other matters arising under chapters 23, 43, and 75 of title 5, United States Code will not be available to an individual serving in this position. The DHS Office of General Counsel will enforce prohibitions on prohibited personnel practices and not the Office of Special Counsel.
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) must authorize employment offers made to current or former political appointees. If you are currently, or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES or Presidential Appointee employee in the Executive Branch, you must disclose this information to the Human Resources Office.
Please ensure you meet the qualification requirements described below.
Key Requirements:
- You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this position.
- You must successfully pass a background investigation.
- Selective Service registration required.
- Current federal employees must meet time-in-grade requirements.
- You must be able to obtain and maintain a Government credit card.
- You must be able to deploy with little or no advance notice to anywhere in the United States and its territories for an extended period of time.
- Please review the Additional Information section for additional key requirements.
Qualifications:
The qualification requirements listed below must be met by the closing date of this announcement.
All applicants must possess the following:
- A J.D. or LL.B. degree from an ABA accredited law school; and
- An active membership, in good standing, of the bar of a state, territory of the United States, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
You qualify for this position if you possess the following:
To qualify for this position at the GS-15 level, you must possess one full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-14 level in the Federal government, which has equipped you with the skills needed to successfully perform the duties of the position. Experience may be obtained in the Federal or Private Sector and must demonstrate all of the following:
To qualify for this position at the GS-15 level, you must demonstrate: At least five years of full-time professional legal experience gained after being admitted to the bar, including at least four years of specialized experience that is directly related to the position being filled. At least two years of the specialized experience must be at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to that of an attorney at the GS-14 level. The ideal candidate must also possess excellent oral and written communication and interpersonal skills adequate to communicate effectively to Senior Executives. Supervisory experience is preferred
Please read the following important information to ensure we have everything we need to consider your application:
Are you qualifying based on your work experience?
Please read the following important information to ensure we have everything we need to consider your application:
- Do not copy and paste the duties, specialized experience, or occupational assessment questionnaire from this announcement into your resume as that will not be considered a demonstration of your qualifications for this position.
- Please limit your resume to two pages. The USAJOBS database will not allow an applicant to submit an application that includes a resume over two pages.
- Your resume serves as the basis for experience related qualification determinations, and you must highlight your most relevant and significant work experience and education (if applicable), as it relates to this job opportunity. Please use your own words, be clear, and specific when describing your work history. We cannot make assumptions regarding your experience.
Are you qualifying based on your work experience?
- Qualifications are based on your ability to demonstrate in your resume that you possess one year of the specialized experience for this announcement at a comparable scope and responsibility. To ensure all of the essential information is in your resume, we encourage you to use the USAJOBS online Resume Builder (https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/how-to/account/documents/resume/build/). If you choose to use your own resume, it must contain the following information organized by experience/position: (1) job title, (2) name of employer, (3) start and end dates of each period of employment (from MM/DD/YY to MM/DD/YY), (4) detailed description of duties performed, accomplishments, and related skills, and (5) hours worked per week (part-time employment will be prorated in crediting experience). Federal experience/positions must also include the grade level, occupational series and dates in which you held each grade level.
- Are you a current or former FEMA Reservist/DAE employee? To accurately credit your experience from intermittent positions and Reservist Deployments, you must list the dates (from MM/DD/YY to MM/DD/YY) of deployments that are relevant to your qualifying experience, along with the job title and specific duties you were responsible for during each deployment.
- Determining length of General or Specialized Experience is dependent on the above information. Failure to provide the above information in your resume may result in your application being found "not qualified."
- 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 provides valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.
- For additional information on crediting experience and/or education, please refere
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