Department: Other Agencies and Independent Organizations
Location(s): Denver, Colorado, Urbana, Maryland, Woodlawn, Maryland, Durham, North Carolina, Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania
Salary Range: $126384 - $164301 Per Year
Job Summary: IT Specialist (APPSW) Network Architect positions are being filled through the Office of Personnel Management's delegated Direct Hire Authority, open to all U.S. citizens. Selections made under this bulletin will be processed as new appointments to the civil service. Current civil service employees would, therefore, be given new appointments to the civil service. Under the provisions of the Direct Hire Authority, Veterans Preference and the "Rule of Many" do not apply.
Major Duties:
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. Applicants must qualify for the series and grade of the posted position. Experience must be IT related; the experience may be demonstrated by paid or unpaid experience and/or completion of specific, intensive training (for example, IT certification), as appropriate. Your resume must provide sufficient experience and/or education, knowledge, skills, abilities, and proficiency of any required competencies to perform the specific position for which you are applying. To qualify for the 2210 IT Specialist series, the applicant must demonstrate the following competencies: Attention to Detail - Is thorough when performing work and conscientious about attending to detail. Customer Service - Works with clients and customers (that is, any individuals who use or receive the services or products that your work unit produces, including the general public, individuals who work in the agency, other agencies, or organizations outside the Government) to assess their needs, provide information or assistance, resolve their problems, or satisfy their expectations; know about available products and services; and is committed to providing quality products and services. Oral Communication - Expresses information (for example, ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (for example, technical, sensitive, controversial); makes clear and convincing oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately. Problem Solving - Identifies problems; determines accuracy and relevance of information; uses sound judgment to generate and evaluate alternatives, and to make recommendations. Duties: Establishes and maintains executive level coordination and executive level liaison interfaces within SSA and with outside organizations (IT industry) involved in SSA's operational and telecommunications systems. Develops and maintains an extensive network of information technology professionals/specialists throughout the public and private sectors. Plans, directs, and/or conducts complex, sensitive and/or confidential studies which involve resolving critical problems in existing or future systems, and which require innovative solutions in many aspects of the studies. Assesses needs and develops policies and regulations to ensure timely delivery of services. Leads ongoing research activities for determining the most effective techniques and practices for the resolution of critical systems problems. Prepares and presents written reports and memoranda, oral presentations, seminars, workshops and recommendations concerning short- and long-range objectives that provide authoritative information and analyses, which examine, compare, and develop options to devise new approaches to understanding issues involved, and recommends solutions. Minimum Qualifications: Grade 15 To qualify at the GS-15 level, you must have at least 52 weeks of specialized experience at the GS-14 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 IT related experience must include Skill in network planning, design, implementation and troubleshooting in a data center environment utilizing redundant hardware and failover capabilities. Includes planning and designing Data Center network infrastructures that supports several thousand users, troubleshooting complex network outages that affect users in a large campus, cloud, or Data Center environment. PLEASE NOTE: This specialized experience is REQUIRED and must be explicitly documented/described in your resume, or you will be disqualified from further consideration. Qualification standards and additional information for this position can be found here: http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/2200/information-technology-it-management-series-2210-alternative-a/
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 closing date 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. Announcement cutoff dates: March 12, 2026 March 19, 2026 March 26, 2026 April 2, 2026 April 9, 2026 April 16, 2026 April 23, 2026 April 30, 2026 May 7, 2026 May 14, 2026 May 21, 2026 May 28, 2026 June 4, 2026 June 11, 2026 June 18, 2026 June 25, 2026 July 2, 2026 July 9, 2026 July 16, 2026 July 23, 2026 July 30, 2026 August 6, 2026 August 13, 2026 August 20, 2026 September 2, 2026 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 Update 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. All of your applications will appear on the Welcome page. The application record in your USAJOBS account provides an Additional Application Information page that provides information regarding the documentation you submitted and any correspondence we have sent related to this application. 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 disabilities may also call us via Federal Relay using the (voice) contact telephone provided. 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.
Application Deadline: 2026-09-02