Federal Student Aid an Office of the U.S. Department of Education
Management and Program Analyst, (UX/UI) GS-343-13, FPL 13 (TERM NTE 13 Months) (
Federal Student Aid an Office of the U.S. Department of Education, Washington, District of Columbia, us, 20022
Overview
The position is located in the Department of Education, Federal Student Aid. Join us to transform how millions of students and partners access financial aid, innovate how borrowers repay their student loans, and play a leading role in implementing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). As
Service Designers , you’ll orchestrate human-centered end-to-end experiences that bridge policy, people, and process across the student aid lifecycle.
Responsibilities
Leading human centered design practices such as user experience (UX) research and interaction design (IxD) to help improve products on FSA’s customer-facing site, StudentAid.ed.gov. The site provides customers with a personalized and self-service experience across multiple channels that covers the federal student aid journey which includes learning about financial aid, applying for financial aid, and managing aid including loans.
Applying qualitative and quantitative methods when assessing the program’s efficiency and effectiveness, program guidelines, practices, procedures and program-level administrative operations, processes, and mechanisms. Utilizing qualitative and quantitative methods assessing progress toward program goals and objectives. Prepares reports and briefs for program management. Implementing and promoting best practices in organizational change management.
Leading and working independently to conduct and oversee UX research to understand the needs of students, parents and borrowers and develop reports and recommendations to FSA stakeholders. Overseeing user research activities, including the development of detailed customer journeys. Analyzing FSA and servicer legacy websites to understand their functionality and gather requirements. Elicits requirements from customers, subject matter experts, and product owners. Assists vendor and FSA staff with documenting UX research epics, user stories, and personas.
Leading the development of interactive prototypes as part of the design process and stakeholder reviews. Leading and communicating requirements to vendors and providing feedback to vendors on deliverables. Collaborating with vendor and FSA staff to design the digital experience for students, parents, borrowers, schools, and partners. Working with the development team to understand technical constraints and communicating the desired functionality for the digital platform. Answering user interface design questions for the development team. Participates in user acceptance testing.
Requirements
Relocation will not be paid.
You may be subject to serve a one-year probationary period.
Males 18 and over must be registered with the Selective Service.
Must be a US Citizen
Must complete a Background Investigation and Fingerprint check.
You must meet all qualification requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this vacancy announcement.
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. We will consider all qualifying experience, including any volunteer experience.
Qualifications Minimum Qualification Requirements
You may meet the minimum qualifications for the GS-13, if you possess the specialized experience below.
Specialized Experience for the GS-13
One year of experience in either federal or non-federal service that is equivalent to at least a GS-12 performing two (2) out of three (3) of the following duties or work assignments:
Experience supporting a multi-disciplinary project involving the design, development, and implementation of a new system or a major enhancement to an existing IT system.
Experience serving as a design contributor overseeing adoption of new functionalities or technologies for users.
Experience communicating technical Information Technology concepts or business practices to non-technical audiences.
Knowledge, Skills, And Abilities (KSAs) The quality of your experience will be measured by the extent to which you possess the following knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs). You do not need to provide separate narrative responses to these KSAs, as they will be measured by your responses to the occupational questionnaire.
Knowledge of user experience (UX) research and interaction design principles and methods.
Knowledge of qualitative and quantitative analytical and evaluative methods and techniques for measuring effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity of assigned programs and projects.
Ability to work directly with developers and documenting design work for them.
Ability to communicate verbally and in writing recommendations and policy guidance to a variety of audiences.
Education Education cannot be substituted for experience for this position and grade level.
Additional Information Veterans’ Career Counseling: If you are a veteran interested in receiving tips on preparing a Federal resume and/or how to prepare for an interview, you may email sro_recruiting@ed.gov to schedule a session with a career counselor (”Veterans Counseling Session” should be placed in the subject line of the email).
Student Loan Default: If selected for this position, we will verify that you have not defaulted on any loan funded or guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Education. If you are found to be in default, we will contact you to make arrangements for repayment prior to making an official offer of employment.
Suitability and Investigation: If selected for this position, you will be required to complete the Declaration for Federal Employment (OF-306) to determine your suitability for federal employment and successfully complete a pre-appointment investigation/background check.
Essential/Non-Essential: This position is considered essential for purposes of reporting to work during federal government closures.
Financial Disclosure: This position does not require a financial disclosure.
Bargaining Unit: This position is included in the bargaining unit (American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 252).
Selections: Agencies have broad authority under law to hire from any appropriate source of eligibles and may fill a vacancy in the competitive service by any method authorized. We may make additional selections from this vacancy announcement within 90 days from the date the selection certificates are issued, should vacancies occur. We may also share selection certificates amongst program offices across the agency.
Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.
A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding.
As an ED employee, you will also benefit from our family-friendly work environment. As part of our commitment to maintain a work life balance, we offer excused leave for Parent/Teacher Conferences (3 hours); excused leave for annual health screenings (4 hours); and matching leave for community volunteer service. Other flexibilities that may be available to you include alternative work schedules. You may be eligible to receive a recruitment incentive for this position. To receive this incentive payment, you will be required to sign a service agreement obligating you to remain with the U.S. Department of Education for a specified period as agreed upon. You may be eligible to receive a relocation incentive for this position. To receive this incentive payment, you will be required to sign a service agreement obligating you to remain with the U.S. Department of Education for a specified period as agreed upon. You may be eligible to participate in the Student Loan Repayment Program as a recruitment incentive for this position. To receive student loan repayments, you will be required to sign a service agreement obligating you to remain with the U.S. Department of Education for a specified period as agreed upon.
Review our benefits
Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.
Evaluation and Selection How You Will Be Evaluated
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
We use a multi-step process to review and evaluate applicants:
Eligibility and Minimum Qualifications
Once the vacancy announcement closes, we will review your submitted resume and documents to determine if you meet the eligibility and minimum qualification requirements, including any required education, experience, and/or selective placement factors. You will be rated as ineligible if you are outside of the area of consideration or your application is missing any required documents. You will be rated as not qualified if you do not possess the minimum qualification requirements.
Rating and Ranking
If you are found to meet both the eligibility and minimum qualification requirements, we will assess the quality of your experience and the extent to which you possess the required KSAs by comparing your submitted resume and documents against your responses to the occupational questionnaire. Your application may be referred to a subject matter expert or panel of subject matter experts for further evaluation. Based on the outcome of this evaluation, you will be placed into one of three categories: Best Qualified, Well Qualified, or Qualified. Veterans’ Preference: Qualified veterans’ preference eligibles will be ranked ahead of qualified non-preference eligibles within each category for which they are qualified. Qualified veterans’ preference eligibles with a compensable service-connected disability of 10 percent or more will be placed at the top of the Best Qualified category, except in the case of scientific or professional positions at the GS-9 grade level or higher.
Based on the outcome of this evaluation candidates will be assigned a numerical score out of a possible 100 and be placed into one of three categories: Best Qualified, Well Qualified, or Qualified. The three categories are defined below:
Best-Qualified Category – Applicants who have a score between 95 and 100. Demonstrates better overall or key knowledge, skills, or abilities for a specific position.
Well-Qualified Category – Applicants who have a score between 85 and 94.99. Possesses the knowledge, skills, and abilities which clearly exceed the minimum qualification requirements for the position but does not necessarily meet the definition of best qualified.
Qualified Category – Applicants who have a score between 70 and 84.99. Meets the minimum qualification standards for a specific position.
Referral and Selection
If you are found to be amongst the most highly qualified applicants, you will be referred to the selecting official. As part of the assessment and selection process, the selecting official may invite you to participate in a structured interview, check your references, and/or request that you submit a writing sample or complete a written assessment or exercise to further evaluate your qualifications for this position. If you require reasonable accommodation for any part of the interview process or written assessment or exercise, please inform the selecting official at the time of scheduling.
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Service Designers , you’ll orchestrate human-centered end-to-end experiences that bridge policy, people, and process across the student aid lifecycle.
Responsibilities
Leading human centered design practices such as user experience (UX) research and interaction design (IxD) to help improve products on FSA’s customer-facing site, StudentAid.ed.gov. The site provides customers with a personalized and self-service experience across multiple channels that covers the federal student aid journey which includes learning about financial aid, applying for financial aid, and managing aid including loans.
Applying qualitative and quantitative methods when assessing the program’s efficiency and effectiveness, program guidelines, practices, procedures and program-level administrative operations, processes, and mechanisms. Utilizing qualitative and quantitative methods assessing progress toward program goals and objectives. Prepares reports and briefs for program management. Implementing and promoting best practices in organizational change management.
Leading and working independently to conduct and oversee UX research to understand the needs of students, parents and borrowers and develop reports and recommendations to FSA stakeholders. Overseeing user research activities, including the development of detailed customer journeys. Analyzing FSA and servicer legacy websites to understand their functionality and gather requirements. Elicits requirements from customers, subject matter experts, and product owners. Assists vendor and FSA staff with documenting UX research epics, user stories, and personas.
Leading the development of interactive prototypes as part of the design process and stakeholder reviews. Leading and communicating requirements to vendors and providing feedback to vendors on deliverables. Collaborating with vendor and FSA staff to design the digital experience for students, parents, borrowers, schools, and partners. Working with the development team to understand technical constraints and communicating the desired functionality for the digital platform. Answering user interface design questions for the development team. Participates in user acceptance testing.
Requirements
Relocation will not be paid.
You may be subject to serve a one-year probationary period.
Males 18 and over must be registered with the Selective Service.
Must be a US Citizen
Must complete a Background Investigation and Fingerprint check.
You must meet all qualification requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this vacancy announcement.
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. We will consider all qualifying experience, including any volunteer experience.
Qualifications Minimum Qualification Requirements
You may meet the minimum qualifications for the GS-13, if you possess the specialized experience below.
Specialized Experience for the GS-13
One year of experience in either federal or non-federal service that is equivalent to at least a GS-12 performing two (2) out of three (3) of the following duties or work assignments:
Experience supporting a multi-disciplinary project involving the design, development, and implementation of a new system or a major enhancement to an existing IT system.
Experience serving as a design contributor overseeing adoption of new functionalities or technologies for users.
Experience communicating technical Information Technology concepts or business practices to non-technical audiences.
Knowledge, Skills, And Abilities (KSAs) The quality of your experience will be measured by the extent to which you possess the following knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs). You do not need to provide separate narrative responses to these KSAs, as they will be measured by your responses to the occupational questionnaire.
Knowledge of user experience (UX) research and interaction design principles and methods.
Knowledge of qualitative and quantitative analytical and evaluative methods and techniques for measuring effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity of assigned programs and projects.
Ability to work directly with developers and documenting design work for them.
Ability to communicate verbally and in writing recommendations and policy guidance to a variety of audiences.
Education Education cannot be substituted for experience for this position and grade level.
Additional Information Veterans’ Career Counseling: If you are a veteran interested in receiving tips on preparing a Federal resume and/or how to prepare for an interview, you may email sro_recruiting@ed.gov to schedule a session with a career counselor (”Veterans Counseling Session” should be placed in the subject line of the email).
Student Loan Default: If selected for this position, we will verify that you have not defaulted on any loan funded or guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Education. If you are found to be in default, we will contact you to make arrangements for repayment prior to making an official offer of employment.
Suitability and Investigation: If selected for this position, you will be required to complete the Declaration for Federal Employment (OF-306) to determine your suitability for federal employment and successfully complete a pre-appointment investigation/background check.
Essential/Non-Essential: This position is considered essential for purposes of reporting to work during federal government closures.
Financial Disclosure: This position does not require a financial disclosure.
Bargaining Unit: This position is included in the bargaining unit (American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 252).
Selections: Agencies have broad authority under law to hire from any appropriate source of eligibles and may fill a vacancy in the competitive service by any method authorized. We may make additional selections from this vacancy announcement within 90 days from the date the selection certificates are issued, should vacancies occur. We may also share selection certificates amongst program offices across the agency.
Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.
A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding.
As an ED employee, you will also benefit from our family-friendly work environment. As part of our commitment to maintain a work life balance, we offer excused leave for Parent/Teacher Conferences (3 hours); excused leave for annual health screenings (4 hours); and matching leave for community volunteer service. Other flexibilities that may be available to you include alternative work schedules. You may be eligible to receive a recruitment incentive for this position. To receive this incentive payment, you will be required to sign a service agreement obligating you to remain with the U.S. Department of Education for a specified period as agreed upon. You may be eligible to receive a relocation incentive for this position. To receive this incentive payment, you will be required to sign a service agreement obligating you to remain with the U.S. Department of Education for a specified period as agreed upon. You may be eligible to participate in the Student Loan Repayment Program as a recruitment incentive for this position. To receive student loan repayments, you will be required to sign a service agreement obligating you to remain with the U.S. Department of Education for a specified period as agreed upon.
Review our benefits
Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.
Evaluation and Selection How You Will Be Evaluated
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
We use a multi-step process to review and evaluate applicants:
Eligibility and Minimum Qualifications
Once the vacancy announcement closes, we will review your submitted resume and documents to determine if you meet the eligibility and minimum qualification requirements, including any required education, experience, and/or selective placement factors. You will be rated as ineligible if you are outside of the area of consideration or your application is missing any required documents. You will be rated as not qualified if you do not possess the minimum qualification requirements.
Rating and Ranking
If you are found to meet both the eligibility and minimum qualification requirements, we will assess the quality of your experience and the extent to which you possess the required KSAs by comparing your submitted resume and documents against your responses to the occupational questionnaire. Your application may be referred to a subject matter expert or panel of subject matter experts for further evaluation. Based on the outcome of this evaluation, you will be placed into one of three categories: Best Qualified, Well Qualified, or Qualified. Veterans’ Preference: Qualified veterans’ preference eligibles will be ranked ahead of qualified non-preference eligibles within each category for which they are qualified. Qualified veterans’ preference eligibles with a compensable service-connected disability of 10 percent or more will be placed at the top of the Best Qualified category, except in the case of scientific or professional positions at the GS-9 grade level or higher.
Based on the outcome of this evaluation candidates will be assigned a numerical score out of a possible 100 and be placed into one of three categories: Best Qualified, Well Qualified, or Qualified. The three categories are defined below:
Best-Qualified Category – Applicants who have a score between 95 and 100. Demonstrates better overall or key knowledge, skills, or abilities for a specific position.
Well-Qualified Category – Applicants who have a score between 85 and 94.99. Possesses the knowledge, skills, and abilities which clearly exceed the minimum qualification requirements for the position but does not necessarily meet the definition of best qualified.
Qualified Category – Applicants who have a score between 70 and 84.99. Meets the minimum qualification standards for a specific position.
Referral and Selection
If you are found to be amongst the most highly qualified applicants, you will be referred to the selecting official. As part of the assessment and selection process, the selecting official may invite you to participate in a structured interview, check your references, and/or request that you submit a writing sample or complete a written assessment or exercise to further evaluate your qualifications for this position. If you require reasonable accommodation for any part of the interview process or written assessment or exercise, please inform the selecting official at the time of scheduling.
You may preview questions for this vacancy.
#J-18808-Ljbffr