IT Specialist (Systems Analysis)

What will I do in this position if hired? In this position, you will serve as product manager for the FEMA Data Exchange (FEMADex) platform, setting product direction, evaluating existing and potential solutions, and delivering secure, accessible, user-centered capabilities aligned with FEMA and DHS mission priorities.

Typical assignments include: Partnering with FEMA programs, business owners, IT leadership, and engineering teams to understand user and business needs, identify opportunities for improved products or services, and translate requirements into user stories, technical specifications, and prioritized backlog items.

Driving the product lifecycle from discovery through delivery, including problem definition, hypothesis testing, user research, prototyping, agile development, launch planning, adoption, and continuous improvement.

Using customer listening, usability testing, feedback loops, product data, and validation activities to generate actionable insights, shape the roadmap, prioritize features, and ensure products deliver measurable user and mission value.

Leading cross-functional collaboration across design, engineering, data, cybersecurity, compliance, and stakeholder teams; resolving or escalating delivery issues; integrating security and compliance early; and communicating product strategy, progress, risks, and recommendations to leadership. What else do I need to know?

At FEMA, our mission is to help people before, during and after disasters, and every employee at FEMA has a role in emergency management. Every FEMA employee has regular and recurring emergency management responsibilities, though not every position requires routine deployment to disaster sites.

All positions are subject to recall around the clock for emergency management operations, which may require irregular work hours, work at locations other than the official duty station, and may include duties other than those specified in the employee's official position description.

Travel requirements in support of emergency operations may be extensive in nature (weeks to months), with little advance notice, and may require employees to relocate to emergency sites with physically austere and operationally challenging conditions.

You must have IT-related experience demonstrating each of the four competencies listed below: 1. Attention to Detail - Is thorough when performing work and conscientious about attending to detail. 2.

Customer Service - Works with clients and customers to assess their needs, provide information or assistance, resolve their problems, or satisfy their expectations; knows about available products and services; is committed to providing quality products and services. 3.Decision Making - Makes sound, well-informed, and objective decisions; perceives the impact and implications of decisions; commits to action, even in uncertain situations, to accomplish organizational goals; causes change. 4.Information Management - Identifies a need for and knows where or how to gather information; organizes and maintains information or information management systems. 5.

Interpersonal Skills - Shows understanding, friendliness, courtesy, tact, empathy, concern, and politeness to others; develops and maintains effective relationships with others; may include effectively dealing with individuals who are difficult, hostile, or distressed; relates well to people from varied backgrounds and different situations. 6.

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. 7.

Problem Solving - Identifies problems; determines accuracy and relevance of information; uses sound judgment to generate and evaluate alternatives, and to make recommendations. 8.

Reasoning - Identifies rules, principles, or relationships that explain facts, data, or other information; analyzes information and makes correct inferences or draws accurate conclusions. 9. Teamwork - Encourages and facilitates cooperation, pride, trust, and group identity; fosters commitment and team spirit; works with others to achieve goals. 10.

Technical Competence - Uses knowledge that is acquired through formal training or on-the-job experience to perform one's job; works with, understands, and evaluates technical information related to the job; advises others on technical issues.

AND in addition to meeting the above competencies, you must also meet the specialized experience and time in grade for the General Schedule (GS) listed below in order to be found qualified for the position. Current Federal employees must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade or equivalent grade band in the Federal service.

The qualification requirements listed below must be met by the closing date of this announcement.

To qualify for this position at the GS-14 level, you must possess one full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-13 level in the Federal government, which has equipped you with the skills needed to successfully perform the duties of the position.

Experience may be obtained in the federal government, a state or local government, or private sector, and must demonstrate the following: Managing a product roadmap and backlog, including prioritizing features, user stories, or releases for an IT, data, analytics, or digital service product; AND Translating user research, customer feedback, business needs, or operational requirements into product features, user stories, acceptance criteria, or technical requirements; AND Working directly with designers, software developers, data teams, cybersecurity/compliance staff, and business stakeholders to deliver iterative product improvements; AND Assessing whether product improvements met user or mission needs using feedback, usability, performance, operational, or other outcome-based measures.

Please read the following important information to ensure we have everything we need to consider your application: Do not copy and paste the duties, specialized experience, or occupational assessment questionnaire from this announcement into your resume as that will not be considered a demonstration of your qualifications for this position.

Please limit your resume to two pages. The USAJOBS database will not allow an applicant to submit an application that includes a resume over two pages.

Your resume serves as the basis for experience related qualification determinations, and you must highlight your most relevant and significant work experience and education (if applicable), as it relates to this job opportunity. Please use your own words, be clear, and specific when describing your work history.

We cannot make assumptions regarding your experience. Are you qualifying based on your work experience? Qualifications are based on your ability to demonstrate in your resume that you possess one year of the specialized experience for this announcement at a comparable scope and responsibility.

To ensure all of the essential information is in your resume, we encourage you to use the USAJOBS online Resume Builder.

If you choose to use your own resume, it must contain the following information organized by experience/position: (1) job title, (2) name of employer, (3) start and end dates of each period of employment (from MM/DD/YY to MM/DD/YY), (4) detailed description of duties performed, accomplishments, and related skills, and (5) hours worked per week (part-time employment will be prorated in crediting experience).

Federal experience/positions must also include the grade level, occupational series and dates in which you held each grade level. Are you a current or former FEMA Reservist/DAE employee?

To accurately credit your experience from intermittent positions and Reservist Deployments, you must list the dates (from MM/DD/YY to MM/DD/YY) of deployments that are relevant to your qualifying experience, along with the job title and specific duties you were responsible for during each deployment.

Determining length of General or Specialized Experience is dependent on the above information.

Failure to provide the above information in your resume may result in your application being found "not qualified." 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 provides valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

For additional information on crediting experience and/or education, please reference the OPM General Schedule Qualification Standards