NIH Administrative Fellows Program (AFP)

Welcome to the National Institutes of Health, Administrative Fellows Program, where you don’t have to be a scientist to discover NIH.

Utilize and enhance your skills in analysis, leadership, and management by supporting the nation’s premiere biomedical research agency. Employment at NIH offers exceptional benefits, stability and a unique potential for professional growth and development. This is a place to grow, be challenged, and create change that impacts our mission, 27 institutes, and over 18,000 employees. The Life at NIH page will let you see additional reasons employees love to work at NIH.

The AFP provides the opportunity for the NIH to bring new and excited employees into its administrative community. Our program includes mentorship, an individual training plan, possible rotations, a camaraderie of current Fellows, an annual AFP Leadership Symposium, and lots of opportunities to make a difference at the NIH in one of our seven target positions.

The NIH AFP started in Spring 2007 with its first class of 36 Fellows, added over 15 more Fellows in the Fall 2007 class, and 47 more Fellows in Spring 2008 in the positions described below.

What's Next for 2009

NIH will be recruiting again in Spring 2009 but we will be making recruitment visits to several colleges and universities this Fall. We will post the schedule of events and a timeline for Spring 2009 hiring shortly.

Positions in the AFP

Administrative Officers provide vital managerial support to the nation’s foremost scientists by ensuring the seamless functioning of scientific laboratories, offices, branches, and divisions. You’ll work closely with senior leaders and scientists alike, providing guidance on matters of administrative management, infrastructure, human capital, policy interpretation, financial management, strategic management and planning.

Budget Analysts provide leadership, direction and supervision for all phases of the Federal Budget process. You’ll have hands on responsibility managing NIH’s financial resources. Throughout the process, you’ll participate in the formulation, presentation and execution of the budget and provide analyses of program, fiscal, and scientific data.

Contract Specialists negotiate and administer contracts with a wide variety of stakeholders, from pharmaceutical companies to research universities and foreign governments to small businesses. As a Contract Specialist you'll receive classroom and on the job training towards professional certification on your way to progressively greater experience and responsibility.

Ethics Specialists apply analysis and communication to ensure the Agency research is free of conflicts of interest. You’ll work closely with employees to provide crucial advice on laws and regulations; perform financial analysis; and track Agency performance. Ensure that important research is conflict-free, and that results are publically available.

Grants Management Specialists participate in the grant-making and inter-agency agreement process through highly technical and specialized projects. By understanding the needs of your customers and stakeholders, prioritize organizational objectives and deadlines, ensure best practices and policies are advanced by awardees, and perform complex financial and administrative analyses.

Human Resources (HR) Specialists advise and execute human capital functions, such as recruitment and retention, organizational design, employee and labor relations, policy creation, training and development, and benefits administration. As an HR specialist you’ll shape policies and practices that allow NIH to capitalize on its greatest resources–its people.

Management Analysts employ their analytical and research abilities to improve organizational operations. Senior leaders will rely on your recommendations to make high-impact organizational decisions. You’ll be exposed to a broad array of fields: risk management, policy development, in-depth reviews of business units, management of organizational changes and emergency management.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS:

• You must be a U.S. Citizen.
• You must be able to qualify at the GS-9 level.
• You must have attended a recruitment event or spoken to an NIH recruiter prior to the closing date.

Note: You will qualify as a GS-9 if you have a graduate or higher level degree, one (1) year of specialized work experience, or a combination of education and experience.

For additional information on qualifying requirements, education and experience please visit: http://www.opm.gov/qualifications/SEC-II/S2-toc.htm.

If you are already an NIH employee

This program is in the Excepted Service and lasts for two years.  If you are on a competitive appointment and you are offered this fellowship, you would give up your Career/Career-Conditional status. For the 2 years you are in the Program, you would be on an Excepted Service appointment. This should not impact your Benefits or time-in-service for Retirement but it would mean that you are on a trial appointment for two years. If you meet all the requirements for successful completion of the program, you would be converted back to a Career appointment at the end of the program. If for some reason you could not or did not finish the program then NIH/your agency does have the obligation to find you another position at your current grade level, but there is no promise as to what that position may be. We target this program to the surrounding universities and colleges so we can bring much needed new talent due to the incoming wave of retirements and job-hopping that occurs here. However, if an NIH-employee wants to apply, we welcome him/her too.

If you have any questions about eligibility or the program, please e-mail us at adminfellows@mail.nih.gov.