Other Agencies and Independent Organizations

Human Resources Specialist (Employee Relations)

Woodlawn, Maryland Full time

Human Resources Specialist (Employee Relations)

Department: Other Agencies and Independent Organizations

Location(s): Woodlawn, Maryland

Salary Range: $143913 - $187093 Per Year

Job Summary: Serves as an Human Resources (HR) Specialist in the Human Resources Division (HRD), Office of Resource Management (ORM), Office of the Inspector General (OIG). The incumbent provides high-level coordinative, analytical, consultative and advisory services to OIG employees, supervisors, managers, and senior leadership in multiple employee relations functions and programs. This position is located in the SSA Office of the Inspector General, Office of Resource Management located in Woodlawn, MD

Major Duties:

  • Exercise significant discretion and judgment in managing and addressing confidential and sensitive workplace matters. Incumbent develops HR policies independently. Refers to and adapts higher level HR policies that were established by SSA, OPM, etc.
  • Adhering to higher governing policies from OPM and SSA, develops OIG HR Employee Relations policy and provides authoritative advice and recommendations to SSA OIG management in the HR area of employee relations.
  • Provides guidance and recommendations while conducting analysis, research, and fact-finding of employee relations matters and inquires in order to discover facts and develop action plans to assist and guide managers and supervisors.
  • Prepares reports of findings and presents formal recommendations in adherence with the law.
  • Provides authoritative advisory service to SSA OIG management, employees, and other HR specialists and develops solutions to especially complex and controversial problems.
  • Plans, organizes, and conducts research of complex legal problems to identify appropriate courses of action.
  • Serves as a technical expert providing strategic employee relations advisory services on agency strategic plans and complex organizational issues. Develops the future vision of the employee relations program for the OIG.
  • Understands, analyzes and interprets Federal legislation and regulations related to Federal ER matters.

Qualifications: Resumes exceeding two pages in length will not be considered, please visit the new resume guidance for more information. READ ALL SECTIONS OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IN ITS ENTIRETY. THIS INFORMATION IS CRUCIAL TO SUBMITTING A SUCCESSFUL APPLICATION. WHO MAY APPLY: Applications will only be accepted from applicants eligible for one of the following categories. Federal employees currently serving under career or career conditional appointments; Federal employees currently serving under the following types of appointments: Schedule A, Reg. 213.3102 (U) appointments for individuals with disabilities. Former Federal employees eligible for reinstatement (i.e., those who have career status or separated from a career-conditional appointment less than 3 years ago). Current or former Federal employees eligible under the Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) or Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP). Veterans Employment Opportunity Act (VEOA) Eligibles (i.e., Preference-eligible veterans OR veterans who have been separated from the armed forces under honorable conditions after 3 years or more of continuous service). Federal employees serving under excepted service appointments with competitive service compatibility (e.g., Postal Service, Foreign Service, an agency with an interchange agreement, etc.) may be eligible to apply. Please visit Excepted Service Appointments with Competitive Service Compatibility for more information. Spouse of a member of the armed forces serving on active duty, a spouse of a 100 percent disabled service member injured while on active duty, or the un-remarried widow or widower of a service member who was killed while performing active duty. Note: Excepted service employees serving under Schedule A appointments for Attorney positions or Pathways Programs appointments (Presidential Management Fellows, Recent Graduates, and Interns) are not eligible for consideration. NONCOMPETITIVE CONSIDERATION Applications for noncompetitive consideration will be accepted from SSA employees in the area of consideration who are currently serving under the following types of appointments: Schedule A, Reg. 213.3102 (U) appointments for individuals with disabilities; Veterans Recruitment Appointments and time limited appointments for veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more. Applicants serving under these provisions do not need to submit copies of your disability or Veteran's documentation. However, you must submit a current SF-50 that provides information on the appointment authority under which you were hired. Otherwise, you will not receive non-competitive consideration. HOW TO QUALIFY: Eligible applicants must meet the following qualification requirements Applicants must have 52 weeks of specialized experience at the GS-13 level, or equivalent, which is in or related to the work of the position to be filled and has equipped applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position. Such experience must include all of the following: 1. Independently develops HR employee relations policies and procedures. 2. Independently conducts research and fact-finding of employee relations matters and inquiries. Accurately applies applicable federal charges and penalties AND 3. Provides high-level coordinative, analytical, consultative, and advisory, services to management regarding employee relations issues. Qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement. Applicants for promotion must have 52 weeks at GS-13. Time in grade requirement must be met by the closing date of this announcement. NOTE: If you are a current Federal employee eligible under VEOA, you are subject to the time-in-grade requirement and must submit an SF-50 as required above.

How to Apply: Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application. To apply for this position, you must complete the initial online application, to include submission of the required documentation specified in the Required Documents section below. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on the 03/20/2026 of the announcement to receive consideration. The application process is as follows: To begin the application process, click the Apply Online button. Answer the questions presented in the application and attach all necessary supporting documentation. Click the Submit Application button prior to 11:59PM (ET) on the announcement closing date. After submitting an online application, you will be notified whether or not you are required to take additional online assessments through the USA Hire Competency Based Assessment system. This message will be delivered to you both on screen and via email notification. The email may be routed to your "Spam" or "Junk" folder. If you are asked to take the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be presented with a unique URL to access the USA Hire system. Access to USA Hire is granted through your USAJOBS login credentials. Be sure to review all instructions prior to beginning your USA Hire Assessments. You may check Computer System Requirements here: https://help.usastaffing.gov/Apply/index.php?title=USA_Hire_System_Requirements. Note: Set aside at least 3 hours to take these assessments; however, most applicants complete the assessments in less time. If you need to stop the assessments and continue at a later time, you can re-use the URL sent to you via email and also found in your USAJOBS account under the "Track my application" link for the corresponding application. You may update your application, including supporting documentation, at any time during the announcement open period by returning to your USAJOBS account. There you will find a record of your application, the application status, and an option to Edit my application. This option will no longer be available once the announcement has closed.To verify the status of your application both during and after the announcement open period, log into your USAJOBS account. On the Home page, scroll down and locate your job application. Once the job has been located, click the "Track this application" link on the right under the application date. The page will refresh to display the Agency's Application Information page where you can scroll down and review any notifications the agency has sent you. The Application Status will appear along with the date your application was last updated. For information on what each Application Status means, visit: https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/how-to/application/status/. If you use assistive software or an adaptive device, or you are experiencing some other type of technical difficulty and/or otherwise require assistance with the application process, please contact Careers at SSA at Careers@ssa.gov Individuals with hearing or speech disabilities may use the listed email or 7-1-1 for TTY-based Telecommunications Relay Services to call the listed phone number. Additional Telecommunications Relay Services options are available in each state: https://www.fcc.gov/general/trs-state-and-territories Due to our security procedures, our office will not accept any applications submitted via email or standard mail. The email address is listed only for inquiries about the position or the How to Apply process. The complete Application Package must be submitted before 11:59 p.m. (EST) on 03/20/2026. Failure to upload any required documents will disqualify your application from consideration. If you are requesting a reasonable accommodation to the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, submit documentation to support your request, including the Reasonable Accommodation Request Form found here: https://help.usastaffing.gov/Apply/index.php?title=Reasonable_Accommodations_for_USA_Hire To check the status of your application or return to a previous or incomplete application, log in to your USAJOBS account.

Application Deadline: 2026-03-20