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Director of Flight Projects Directorate

National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Goddard Space Flight Center
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Summary

The Director of Flight Projects is responsible for the overall direction, development, and management of Goddard's flight projects in support of NASA's Earth and Space Science projects, including both science and applications focused missions. The Director of Flight Projects is responsible for the health and safety of operating orbiting satellites, Hubble Space Telescope servicing and operations, Explorer missions, instrument development, and international partnerships on missions and projects.

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
10/24/2023 to 11/16/2023
Salary
$202,086 to - $207,708 per year
Pay scale & grade
ES 00
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Greenbelt, MD
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel for this position.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Senior Executive
Promotion potential
None
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
Yes
Security clearance
Sensitive Compartmented Information
Drug test
Yes
Position sensitivity and risk
Special-Sensitive (SS)/High Risk
Trust determination process
Announcement number
GSFC-24-ES-12173673
Control number
756456500

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

The area of consideration for this position is all groups of qualified individuals within the civil service, Senior Executive Service (SES) reinstatement eligible, and SES Candidate Development Program certified graduates with noncompetitive eligibility. A person is considered to be in the civil service only if occupying a civil service position at the time of application.

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Duties

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The Director of Flight Projects Directorate:

  • Manages an annual budget in excess of $3 billion and interfaces with diverse communities both domestic and international, including scientists, resource officials, project directors and managers and high-level contractor management.
  • Developing and executing Directorate policies, plans, and procedures for the formulation and implementation of the Center's flight projects.
  • Directing the requirements definition, design, development, test, calibration, launch and operations of instruments and spacecraft, ground operational systems, and science processing and distribution systems. Directing the GSFC assigned responsibilities in space communications and operations.
  • Directing approximately 10 divisions and 30 flight projects and activities, including large observatory-class spacecraft.
  • Directing GSFC participation in interagency, national and international flight programs and projects.
  • Developing, implementing, and maintaining Directorate responsibilities to assure timeliness of performance, cost efficiency, and continued attention toward improvements in efficiency and productivity. This includes coordinating efforts among organizational components, establishing policy as it affects and controls lower level activities, and correlating requirements with resources to assure proper balance of technical competence for both current and projected workloads.
  • Establishing and maintaining effective working relationships with other NASA centers, NASA Headquarters, the scientific community and other partner organizations through detailed project coordination and cooperation to identify areas of common interest and to monitor progress in the achievement of programmatic goals and objectives.
  • Formulates, prepares, and defends budget and manpower request to ensure that future objectives of the organization can be obtained within allocated resources.
  • Responsible for compliance with occupational safety, health, environmental, and energy standards, orders, rules, and regulations applicable to the area of responsibility.
  • Fosters and continually drives a culture of engagement, diversity, inclusiveness, excellence, and innovation within and outside of the organization and NASA. Champions the Agency's commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) and creates an environment and culture that promotes and enables the Agency's commitment to safety, inclusion, integrity, teamwork, and excellence.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • The individual selected will be required to file an 'Executive Branch Personnel Financial Disclosure Report' (OGE-278) in accordance with the Ethics in Government Act of 1978.
  • Initial Senior Executive Service (SES) Career appointee is subject to a one-year probationary period.
  • Successful completion of a background investigation commensurate with the risk and sensitivity level of the position.
  • Successful completion of pre-employment and random drug testing may be required.
  • Must meet qualifications requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

Qualifications

You must have the skill and ability to perform the duties described above as demonstrated by progressively responsible supervisory/leadership experience, normally obtained over several years by serving in positions at the GS-15 level or equivalent.

To meet the minimum qualification requirements for this position, you MUST address each Executive Core Qualification (ECQ) and Mandatory Technical Qualification (MTQ) separately. If you fail to do so, your application will be rated ineligible. We recommend you provide two (2) examples of relevant experience for each ECQ. Responses to ALL ECQs must not exceed ten (10) pages; MTQ responses must not exceed one (1) page per MTQ. Please include your full name on all documents submitted.

If you are currently serving under a career SES appointment, are eligible for reinstatement into the SES, or have successfully completed a SES Candidate Development Program and been certified by Office of Personnel Management (OPM) you MUST submit a resume and in a separate document address the MTQs. Any ECQs submitted will not be considered. Your resume must clearly state that you are a current career SES, eligible for reinstatement, or SES CDP certified and year of certification.

When preparing your responses to the ECQs and MTQs, you are encouraged to follow the Challenge, Context, Action, and Result model outlined in the OPM's Guide to Senior Executive Service Qualification. For a sample template on how to format your ECQ narrative visit NASA's Executive Leadership Opportunities.

EXECUTIVE CORE QUALIFICATIONS:

ECQ 1 - Leading Change: The ability to bring about strategic change, both within and outside the organization, to meet organizational goals. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to establish an organizational vision and to implement it in a continuously changing environment.

ECQ 2 - Leading People: The ability to lead people toward meeting the organization's vision, mission, and goals. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to provide an inclusive workplace that fosters the development of others, facilitates cooperation and teamwork, and supports constructive resolution of conflicts.

ECQ 3 - Results Driven: The ability to meet organizational goals and customer expectations. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to make decisions that produce high-quality results by applying technical knowledge, analyzing problems, and calculating risks.

ECQ 4 - Business Acumen: The ability to manage human, financial, and information resources strategically.

ECQ 5 - Building Coalitions: The ability to build coalitions internally and with other Federal agencies, State and local governments, nonprofit and private sector organizations, foreign governments, or international organizations to achieve common goals.


MANDATORY TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS:

MTQ 1- Demonstrated experience in leading diverse teams and utilizing traditional and non-traditional partnerships to develop engineering or flight project capabilities.

MTQ 2- Demonstrated experience leading a large multi-disciplined, highly technical space flight organization to perform the full range of science and engineering activities including the health and safety of orbiting satellites, large space telescopes, and complex hardware designs for earth and space science observatories and the management of support and contract personnel.

Education

This position has a positive education requirement. To be eligible, you must clearly state in your resume the following: degree, major and/or minor, and college/university.

A bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university with major study in engineering, physical science, mathematics, life sciences, computer science, or other field of science.

SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR FOREIGN EDUCATION: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show that the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs. These education credentials must be deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. For further information, click here.

Additional information

Must be able to obtain and maintain a Top Secret/ Sensitive Compartmented Information security clearance.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

All qualifications requirements must be met by the closing date of the announcement. You will be evaluated based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

We will review your resume and required documents to ensure you meet the basic qualification requirements. If you meet the basic qualification requirements, your application will be evaluated based on your narrative statements addressing the ECQs and MTQs. Your application may then be referred to and evaluated by an Executive Resources Panel (ERP) and will be placed in one of the following categories: Not Qualified, Qualified, or Highly-qualified. Candidates may receive an interview and/or be asked to provide a list of references. The ERP will make a recommendation to the appropriate approving authority.

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