Information Technology Specialist (Applications Software)

Federal experience is not required. The experience may have been gained in the public sector, private sector or Volunteer Service. One year of experience refers to full-time work; part-timework is considered on a prorated basis. To ensure full credit for your work experience, please indicate dates of employment by month/year, and indicate number of hours worked per week, on your resume. You must meet the following requirements by the closing date of this announcement: BASIC REQUIREMENT Applicants must have Information Technology related experience demonstrating each of the following four competencies: 1) Attention to Detail, 2) Customer Service, 3) Oral Communication, and 4) Problem Solving. In addition to meeting the basic requirement above, to qualify for this position you must also meet the qualification requirements listed below: Specialized Experience GS-14 Level: You must have one year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-13 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience for this position includes: Leading or coordinating IT projects, application-related efforts, operational initiatives, or system-related activities that affect multiple users, teams, programs, or business processes. Applying advanced IT principles, concepts, methods, and practices to evaluate requirements; resolve technical issues; guide system, application, or code testing and configuration decisions; and ensure technical documentation and federal cybersecurity, privacy, or regulatory requirements are addressed. Engaging customers, stakeholders, users, product or business owners, and technical teams to define business or technical requirements, communicate technical impacts, and guide delivery of secure, reliable, scalable IT solutions. Evaluating system, service, or application performance, availability, reliability, security controls, usability, and operational effectiveness; identifying risks, issues, defects, or gaps; and leading corrective actions or improvement efforts. Analyzing competing technical approaches and providing authoritative recommendations to management, stakeholders, or IT specialists on the selection, design, configuration, implementation, or improvement of IT solutions with organizational impact.Experience leading teams that design and develop agency-wide applications which included review and approval of technical requirements for projects; developing project plans; providing guidance to team members and serving as primary liaison between customers and vendors and IT management throughout the development process. Leading, coordinating, or providing technical direction for the modernization, design, development, integration, testing, deployment, maintenance, or enhancement of enterprise applications and related technology platforms. Guiding technical decisions involving APIs, web services, microservices, application integrations, databases, automated testing strategies, CI/CD and DevSecOps practices, containerized or cloud-based architectures, observability, performance monitoring, code quality, vulnerability remediation, and secure software development practices. Evaluating, guiding, or supporting the appropriate use of modern software engineering tools, including approved AI-assisted development tools where appropriate, to improve software delivery, documentation, testing, code quality, analysis, or maintainability while ensuring alignment with federal cybersecurity, privacy, accessibility, records management, and organizational policy requirements. Advising management and stakeholders on technical strategy, modernization opportunities, risk mitigation, architecture tradeoffs, operational resilience, scalability, and long-term maintainability of agency-wide applications. AND MEET TIME IN GRADE (TIG) REQUIREMENT: You must meet applicable TIG requirements to be considered eligible. To meet TIG for positions above the GS-5 grade level, you must have served at least one year (52 weeks) at the next lower grade (or equivalent) in the normal line of progression for the position you are applying to. Advancement to positions up to GS-05 is permitted if the position to be filled is no more than two grades above the lowest grade held within the preceding 52 weeks. AND TIME AFTER COMPETITIVE APPOINTMENT: By the closing date (or if this is an open continuous announcement, by the cut-off date) specified in this job announcement, current civilian employees must have completed at least 90 days of federal civilian service since their latest non-temporary appointment from a competitive referral certificate, known as time after competitive appointment. For this requirement, a competitive appointment is one where you applied to and were appointed from an announcement open to "All US Citizens". For more information on qualifications please refer to OPM's Qualifications Standards.

The following are the duties of this position at the full working level. If this vacancy includes more than one grade and you are selected at a lower grade level, you will have the opportunity to learn to perform these duties and receive training to help you grow in this position. The work of this position requires ensuring the integration of IT programs and services; developing solutions to integration/interoperability issues; designing, developing, and managing IT security systems that meet current and future business requirements, and apply or extend, enhance, or optimize the existing architecture; managing assigned projects; communicating complex technical requirements to non-technical personnel; and preparing and presenting briefings to senior management officials on complex/controversial issues. Such work assignments include leading IT development projects in software analysis, design, development, and implementation for a new system or major enhancement to an existing system. Specific assignment areas include work such as the following assignments: Identifying resource requirements and assigning tasks to project members, reporting progress, and ensuring customer and management involvement throughout the software development process. Resolving critical issues affecting the configuration of the IT infrastructure and coordinating the demonstration of new and enhanced applications to customers and management. Drafting project plans for a multifunctional development project in software analysis, design, development, and implementation. Identifying and correcting weaknesses in critical performance parameters, and variances in achieving cost, schedule, and performance goals. Investigating, evaluating, and selecting tools and methods for improving productivity and software quality throughout the life cycle. STANDARD POSITION DESCRIPTIONS (SPD): PD94355 Visit the IRS SPD Library to access the position descriptions.