Program Specialist

This position is located within the Agricultural Research Service at the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, in Manhattan, KS. In this position, you will have two primary responsibilities: To serve as the Certifying Official for the NBAF suitability assessment and monitoring program, and to serve as the primary source for organizing and sharing key information within the organization about the NBAF's high-reliability program to foster leadership capabilities and psychological safety.

Major duties

• Works with NBAF Select Agent Team and NBAF Responsible Official to develop and maintain a suitability assessment and monitoring program.
• Works closely with the Communications Director to implement strategic short and long-range activities to build and monitor NBAF’s high-reliability organization program.
• Participates in developing and coordinating training programs to manage risks and create facility foundations to support safe, sustainable operations and processes.
• Helps create and deliver measurable surveys to monitor the level of psychological safety and enhance employee wellbeing, performance, and operational effectiveness.
• Negotiates on key issues with management regarding requirements and methods to fulfill program objectives, which requires engaging stakeholders, anticipating and handling questions, and presenting reports.
• Assists in developing internal policies, drafting and updating standard operating procedures, creating assessment tools, establishing performance metrics, and preparing technical summaries for review.
• Participates in, facilitates, and documents complex interviews, ensuring adherence to legal, ethical, and privacy standards governing the handling of sensitive personal information.

Qualifications

Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement including specialized experience and/or education, as defined below. GS-11 Specialized Experience: Specialized experience is experience directly related to the position to be filled. Specialized experience must be described for each grade level advertised. The specialized experience requirements for this position are: Qualifying experience for GS-11 includes one year of specialized experience comparable to GS-09 which is directly related to the work of this position, and which has equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position. For this position, specialized experience is experience creating and validating interview and survey methodologies; creating training programs; monitoring staff engagement; developing and executing industrial organizational psychology program activities; and providing guidance to leadership to ensure staff follow facility-wide policies and standard operating procedures. OR 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 A combination of specialized experience and Ph.D level education as described above. GS-12 Specialized Experience: Specialized experience is experience directly related to the position to be filled. Specialized experience must be described for each grade level advertised. The specialized experience requirements for this position are: Qualifying experience for GS-12 includes one year of specialized experience comparable to GS-11 which is directly related to the work of this position, and which has equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position. For this position, specialized experience is experience developing and executing organizational programs and policies; creating and evaluating assessment tools and performance metrics; writing and validating interview and survey methodologies; and building and implementing industrial organizational psychology training programs. 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 and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Education

Please see above for education qualification requirement information.