Staff Assistant

Staff Assistant

Department: Department of Justice

Location(s): Bogota, Colombia

Salary Range: $52727 - $82938 Per Year

Job Summary: This position is located in the DEA, Bogota, Colombia Country Office. This position(s) primary purpose is to provide administrative support to the RD and immediate staff. The incumbent uses discretion and tact while communicating frequently within DEA and interagency contacts, typically at the highest levels of senior management.

Major Duties:

• As a Staff Assistant your typical work assignments may include: Schedules meetings, prepares and distributes meeting materials, including preparing meeting materials such as notices agendas, and supporting documentation for internal and external meetings called by the Regional Director. Manages the RD's calendar and arranges appointments. Opens and screens incoming mail. Receives and reviews incoming correspondence. Performs budget execution and administration work involving the monitoring of obligations incurred and the actual expenditures of funds. Directs day-to-day building management operations including initiation of work orders and service orders. Researches and resolves problems on travel, pay, leave, etc. Prepares Requests for Personnel Actions. Holds the Government Purchase Card (GPC) for supplies, services, printing and training. ASSIGNMENT INFORMATION: A. Length of Tour: The initial tour of duty for this assignment is 3 years. Employees are limited to a maximum of 5 years of service in an overseas assignment. After the initial tour of duty has been completed, extensions may be granted in one-year increments up to the six-year maximum. Employees who wish to remain on an overseas assignment in excess of the six-year maximum must request a tour extension or renewal before the end of their current assignment. Employees who are approved to extend their overseas assignment beyond the six-year maximum will forfeit the right to return to an office of preference. They will be placed in an appropriate position at an DEA domestic office where a vacancy exists. B. Rest & Recuperation: 2 C. Post (Cost of Living) Allowance*: 5% D. Post (Hardship) Differential*: 15% E. Danger Pay Allowance*: 20% F. Relocation Incentive: None G. Educational Allowances**: Yes, see below H. Housing: Housing paid for by U.S. Government. Bogota is a furnished post. I. Language Requirement: None J. Home Leave: Allowed after the initial 24 months incident to tour renewal. *Post (Cost of Living), Post (Hardship) Differential, and Danger Pay rates (if applicable to the advertised post) are subject to change. Detailed post (cost of living) information can be found here. Detailed post (hardship) differential information can be found here. Detailed danger pay information can be found here and here. Overseas Transition Preparation: Please contact DEA Family Liaison Officers Kieran Mandato (kieran.g.mandato@dea.gov) or N'Dorah Z. Walker (ndorah.z.walker@dea.gov) for Post Reports that detail living conditions for employees and their families at post. Click here for a Prospective Post Priorities Worksheet that can help you consider what is important to you and your family in the foreign PCS decision-making process. For more information regarding the foreign PCS process, please see the PCS Foreign Assignment Relocation Handbook and the Foreign Orientation Handbook. At the conclusion of an overseas tour, DEA will attempt to return employees to their home location. If such a placement is not possible, employees' office of preference lists will be considered. However, employees are reminded that assignments are determined based on the needs of DEA. Individual and dependents are required to pass a physical examination given by the State Department (details available here). Training Requirements: Selectees for this position must successfully complete five mandatory foreign assignment courses on DEALS: Serving Abroad for Families and Employees (SAFE); Personnel Recovery 1 (PR1); Foreign Orientation Program (FOP); Counter Threat Awareness Training (CTAT), and Promoting International Religious Freedom (PIRF). Selectees must also successfully complete Personnel Recovery Emergency Preparedness (PREP), a two week in-person course conducted by the DEA Office of Training in Stafford, Virginia and West Virginia.

Qualifications: For more information on eligibility requirements see: DEA Employment Eligibility Applicants must meet the required qualification requirements described below by the closing date of the announcement. If you are qualifying based on education or if there are mandatory education requirements listed below, you MUST submit a copy of your college transcripts with your application. Applicants applying for the GS-09 must meet one of the following requirements: A. Have at least one full year of specialized experience that is at least equivalent to work performed at the GS-07 grade level. Specialized 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. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Qualifying experience must demonstrate the following: 1) Tracking requests and communication to ensure timely and accurate responses; 2) Developing, maintaining, and keeping current a variety of files and records that are involved in the operations of the office, which may also include the maintenance and access to a computerized database of key documents; and 3) Gathering internal operating guidance's/procedures for review to ensure efficiency and consistency with administrative and office procedures. B. A master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B or JD., if related. OR C. A combination of education and experience may be used to qualify for this position as long as the computed percentage of the requirements is at least 100%. To compute the percentage of the requirements, divide your total months of experience by 12. Then divide the total number of completed graduate semester hours (or equivalent) beyond the first year (total graduate semester hours minus 18) by 18. Add the two percentages. Applicants applying for the GS-11 must meet one of the following requirements: A. Have at least one full year of specialized experience that is at least equivalent to work performed at the GS-09 grade level. Specialized 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. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Qualifying experience must demonstrate the following: 1) Tracking pending action items and confirms staff responsibilities and timelines for completion; 2) planning and coordinating travel, accommodations and transport for senior officials and special guests; 3) Working closely with senior officials in management and meeting planning, coordinating policy activities, analyzing logistical issues and recommending alternatives; and 4) Developing internal operating procedures to ensure efficiency and consistency with administrative and office procedures. B. A Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M., if related. OR C. A Combination of Education and Experience: A combination of education and experience may be used to qualify for this position as long as the computed percentage of the requirements is at least 100%. To compute the percentage of the requirements, divide your total months of experience by 12. Then divide the total number of completed graduate semester hours (or equivalent) beyond the second year (total graduate semester hours minus 36) by 18. Add the two percentages. Additional information on the position qualification requirements are located in the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) Qualifications Standards Handbook. Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants must meet time-in-grade and time after competitive appointment requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

How to Apply: Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application. To apply and be considered for this position, you must complete all required questionnaires, assessments and submit all required documentation as specified in the How to Apply and Required Documents section. 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: 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 11:59 PM (ET) on the announcement closing date. If you are required to complete any USA Hire Assessments, you will be notified after submitting your application. The notification will be provided in your application submission screen and via email. The notification will include your unique assessment access link to the USA Hire system and the completion deadline. Additionally, in USAJOBS you can click "Track this application" to return to your assessment completion notice. Access USA Hire using your unique assessment link. Access is granted through your USAJOBS login credentials. Review all instructions prior to beginning your assessments. You will have the opportunity to request a testing accommodation before beginning the assessments should you have a disability covered under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended. Set aside at least 3 hours to take the USA Hire Assessments; however, most applicants complete the assessments in less time. If you need to stop the assessments and continue later, you can re-use your unique assessment link. Your responses to the USA Hire Assessments will be reused for one year (in most cases) from the date you complete an assessment. If future applications you submit require completion of the same assessments, your responses will be automatically reused. Visit the USA Hire Applicant Resource Center for practice assessments and assessment preparation resources at https://support-usahire.opm.gov/hc/en-us. You may update your application documents and some questions related to your personal information at any time during the announcement open period. However, you will not be able to make changes to questions related to assessing the minimum qualifications and competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics) mentioned in the "How You Will Be Evaluated" section above. To make an allowed update to your application, return to your USAJOBS account (https://usajobs.gov). 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 view the announcement status or your application status: Visit https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/howto/application/status/. Your application status page is where you can view your application status, USA Hire assessment completion status, and review your notifications sent by the hiring agency regarding your application.

Application Deadline: 2026-05-18