KEY REQUIREMENTS



• You must be a U.S. citizen
• Submit application and resume online by 11:59 PM EST on the closing date
• Provide all required documents by closing date

As the Associate Administrator for Vehicle Safety Research you will:

 

Direct the vehicle safety research programs for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to support vehicle safety research, rulemaking, standards compliance, defects, and other programs and initiatives that seek to reduce traffic crashes and their resulting deaths, injuries and property damage/economic costs.

 

The Associate Administrator for Vehicle Safety Research, either directly or through staff resources:

• Strategizes, plans, and directs the vehicle safety research and test programs involving crash avoidance, crashworthiness, applied research and testing, and other technical areas necessary to support the wide variety of the Agency’s safety programs and to achieve the agency’s safety goals.
• Plans, directs, manages and provides policy guidance to the Office of Vehicle Safety Research, including the Vehicle Research and Test Center.
• Plans and directs the development, execution, and delivery of applied research and test programs related to vehicle safety, in support of Agency vehicle safety programs and motor vehicle safety standards.
• Strategizes, formulates and conducts research, test, and evaluation programs necessary to establish a scientific, engineering, and technical information base supporting current and proposed safety standards involving, requiring, or affecting the operating systems of all vehicles, as well as special innovative projects spanning gaps in fundamental knowledge regarding vehicle safety performance criteria and metrics to evaluate such performance.
• Critically analyzes and determines the organizational, human capital, budgetary, and research capabilities of the Office of Vehicle Safety Research in order to provide the research needed to meet the Agency’s continually changing needs.
• Represents the Agency and the Department of Transportation as a leading authority on matters related to vehicle research.
• Serves as the principal advisor and safety consultant to the Senior Associate Administrator for Vehicle Safety and other senior government officials for all matters pertaining to vehicle safety research programs.
• Formulates and conducts research, test, and evaluation programs necessary to establish the technical basis needed to support the development of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS).
• Formulates and conducts research, test and evaluation programs needed to develop a sound technical and engineering basis to support the Agency’s standards compliance and defects programs.
• Formulates and conducts research, test, and evaluation programs to advance the state of knowledge related to human injury tolerance and the development of surrogate test devices to measure injury risk.
• Formulates experiments, demonstrations, field tests, and other research and development programs in order to develop data for analysis to establish crash and injury causation factors.
• Plans and carries out research, test, and evaluation programs for assessing human performance and driver-vehicle performance using such tools as the National Advanced Driving Simulator.
• Advances the state of knowledge in highway and motor vehicle safety with particular emphasis on those structures, systems, and factors that affect a vehicle’s crash worthiness and crash avoidance capability.
• Collaborates closely with the Senior Associate Administrator for Vehicle Safety, in coordination with the Office of the Administrator, the Deputy Administrator, and other senior Agency officials, in establishing Agency goals, objectives, programs, and policies.
• Collaborates closely with the Associate Administrators for Rulemaking and Enforcement on the planning, development, and coordination of relevant vehicle safety programs.
• Manages a staff of professional, technical, administrative and clerical support personnel, both at Headquarters and in the field, to include regularly evaluating and/or reviewing the evaluations of subordinate staff.

As a basic requirement for entry into the Senior Executive Service (SES), you must provide evidence of progressively responsible leadership experience that is indicative of senior executive level management capability; and that is directly related to the skills and abilities outlined under the Technical Qualifications (TQs) and Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) listed below.

TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS(TQs): Below are descriptions of the technical qualifications that you will be presented with once you have applied to this announcement. You must clearly demonstrate in your responses how your experience supports each of the TQs.

1. Demonstrated experience and success in effectively managing a research or regulatory program that often must contend with changing priorities, organizational differences, and external constituencies that seek to influence Agency priorities and/or research approaches.
2. Ability to plan, implement, and direct research activities necessary to support complex regulatory initiatives and to initiate other research and development activities to address safety problems that emanate from analysis of crash data.
3. Knowledge of policies and  procedures needed to effectively manage Federal or other research or regulatory programs, with  demonstrated knowledge related to vehicle safety standards affecting the world-wide automotive industry and demonstrated ability to communicate a program's objectives and priorities to high  level  public and private sector officials.

EXECUTIVE CORE QUALIFICATIONS (ECQs): Below are descriptions of the ECQs that you will be presented with once you have applied to this announcement.

Please Note: Current career SES members, former career SES members with reinstatement eligibility, and SES Candidate Development graduates who have been certified by OPM do NOT need to address the ECQs.

ECQ 1 - LEADING CHANGE: This core qualification involves the ability to bring about strategic change, both within and outside the organization, to meet organizational goals, as well as the ability to establish an organizational vision and to implement it in a continuously changing environment. ECQ 2 - LEADING PEOPLE: This core qualification involves the ability to lead people toward meeting the organization's vision, mission, and goals, as well as the ability to provide an inclusive workplace that fosters the development of others, facilitates cooperation and teamwork, and supports constructive resolution of conflicts. ECQ 3 - RESULTS DRIVEN: This core qualification involves the ability to meet organizational goals and customer expectations, as well as the ability to make decisions that produce high-quality results by applying technical knowledge, analyzing problems, and calculating risks. ECQ 4 - BUSINESS ACUMEN: This core qualification involves the ability to manage human, financial, and information resources strategically. ECQ 5 - BUILDING COALITIONS: This core qualification involves the ability to build coalitions internally and with other Federal agencies, State and local governments, nonprofit and private sector organizations, foreign governments, or international organizations to achieve common goals. You are strongly encouraged to review OPMs Guide to SES Qualifications for specific examples and guidance on writing effective ECQ narrative statements.

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT: If selected for this position, you will be required to:

• Complete a one-year SES probationary period (unless already completed).
• Complete a Confidential Financial Disclosure report, OGE-450. You will need to provide the information annually.
• Position requires a background investigation.

HOW YOU WILL BE EVALUATED:

Your resume and responses to the ECQs and TQs are an integral part of the process for determining your basic and specialized qualifications for the position. Responses to the qualification statements that are not supported by your resume and/or supporting documentation may eliminate you from highly or well-qualified status and/or result in non-referral. An SES rating and ranking panel will evaluate your application based on the quality and extent of your total accomplishments, experience, and education. Applicants determined to be highly qualified may undergo an interview and a reference check. If selected, your ECQs must be certified by an Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Qualifications Review Board (QRB), unless you are a current SES executive or have successfully participated in an OPM approved SES Candidate Development Program. You must receive certification before you can be appointed to the position. We recommend you preview the questions for this announcement before you start the applicantion process.
To preview questions please click here.

Benefits include health and life insurance, annual and sick leave, and retirement benefits. Explore the major benefits offered to most Federal Employees here.

OTHER INFORMATION:

Veterans preference does not apply to the Senior Executive Service.

You must submit a complete online application package (including resume, vacancy questions and supporting documents) no later than midnight Eastern Time on the closing date of the announcement.

• To begin, click the Apply Online button on the job announcement posting.
• Follow the directions to register, submit all required documents and complete the assessment questionnaire.
• You may review your saved application(s) at https://my.usajobs.gov.

If you are having difficulty applying online, please contact the DOT Automated Staffing Office during regular business hours (8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET) at (202) 366-1298. You may also email us at Transjobs@dot.gov.

REQUIRED DOCUMENTS:

The following documents must be provided by the close date:

• RESUME - showing relevant experience and education. Please do not include pictures in your application package.
• COMPLETED QUESTIONNAIRE - Responses to the Technical and Executive Core Qualifications are limited to 4,500 characters per question. Do NOT include your answers in the body of your USAJOBS resume, since they will be asked separately.
• SF-50 - Current & former federal employees should submit an SF-50 which shows your current (or most recent grade.)
  • Current Career Senior Executives and individuals with SES reinstatement eligibility must submit a copy of an SF-50 which shows career SES status
• CANDIDATE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM CERTIFICATE - individuals who have successfully completed an Office of Personnel Management (OPM) approved SES Candidate Development Program, submit a copy of your OPM certificate.

Failure to submit any of the required documents by the closing date of the announcement will result in your removal from consideration for this position.

AGENCY CONTACT INFO:

WHAT TO EXPECT NEXT:

You will receive online confirmation that your application package has been received. Please Note: We will perform interim reviews of all applications received by midnight on September 21st and October 2nd. All applications must be completed and submitted electronically no later than midnight ET of the closing date. Final reviews will be perfomed after the announcement closing, and timely notice of the status of your application will be emailed to you.