Fire Program Specialist

What will I do in this position if hired

In this position you will be responsible for executing planning directing coordinating and evaluating regional implementation of the Assistance to Firefighters Grants. You will serve as an advisor to the Division Director and other divisions in the performance and execution of functions related to fires as well as fire related hazards and assignments include:

• Interpreting and implementing the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) Program policy within the region and provides advisory services regarding fire program policy procedures and training to federal state and local government as well as the private sector business and industry and the public.
• Serving as a regional point-of-contact to support the AFG mission through coordination with other organizational elements within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as well as with other federal agencies.
• Serving as a regional spokesperson on all fire programs and related matters and as a resource to the Regional Public Affairs Office and Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs Offices to facilitate inquiries about the grant program from the media government officials and congressional offices.
• Facilitating workshops to provide grant writing technical assistance assisting with the review of applications participating in the grant notification process and monitoring grant recipients to ensure the work meets quality and completion time frames.
• Conducting site visits to grant recipients preparing reports detailing program findings and providing recommendations and feedback to AFG program office designed to improve the grant program.

What else do I need to know

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 employees 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.

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 moderate risk 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 for additional information). For more information on background investigations for Federal jobs please visit OPM Investigations.

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.

1. You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this position.
2. You must successfully pass a background investigation.
3. Selective Service registration required.
4. Current federal employees must meet time-in-grade requirements.
5. You must be able to obtain and maintain a Government credit card.
6. 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.
7. Please review the Additional Information section for additional key requirements.

The qualification requirements listed below must be met by the closing date of this announcement.

To qualify for this position at the GS-13 level you must possess one full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-12 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 government a state or local government or private sector and must demonstrate the following:

1. Advising on fire-related programs hazards policies or training; and
2. Administering and/or managing grants or grant-funded projects.

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.
• 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. 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/Disaster Assistance Employee (DAE) 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 reference the OPM General Schedule Qualification Standards.