Quality Assurance Specialist

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Requirements

Conditions of Employment

To ensure the accomplishment of our mission, DHS requires every employee to be reliable and trustworthy. To meet those standards, all selected applicants must undergo, successfully pass, and maintain a background investigation for Public Trust - Moderate Risk as a condition of placement into this position. This may include a credit check after initial job qualifications are determined, a review of financial issues, such as delinquency in the payment of debts, child support and/or tax obligations, as well as certain criminal offenses and illegal use or possession of drugs (please visit: Mythbuster on Federal Hiring Policies for additional information). For more information on background investigations for Federal jobs, please visit OPM Investigations.

Conditions Of Employment

• You must be a U.S. citizen to be considered for this position.
• You must successfully pass a background investigation.
• You must be able to obtain and maintain a Government travel card.
• Selective service registration is required for males born after 12/31/59.
• Travel may be required.

QualificationsAll qualifications and eligibility requirements must be met by the closing date of the announcement.

Individual Occupational Requirements

EducationUndergraduate and Graduate Education: Major study -- quality assurance, statistics, mathematics, production management, industrial management, computer science, engineering, engineering technology, physical sciences, textiles, or other fields related to the position.

OR

Experience

Experience that demonstrated a practical knowledge in monitoring, controlling, or maintaining the quality of products or services in quality assurance, procurement, inspection, production, or related areas. Examples include:

• Reviewing production activities and capabilities in light of contract quality requirements.
• Reviewing written quality or inspection procedures for adequacy and evaluating the implementation and effectiveness of quality/inspection systems, including sampling plans.
• Analyzing quality data to detect unsatisfactory trends or weaknesses in the quality/inspection system.
• Verifying by test or inspection, using sampling inspection or intensive product inspection techniques, that products comply with requirements prior to acceptance.
• Identifying inadequacies and requesting corrective action.
• Computing data, summarizing results, and preparing reports or charts depicting pertinent relationships using statistical methods.
• Investigating customer complaints and deficiency reports and providing identification of causes to appropriate authorities.
• Reading, interpreting, and applying technical data such as blueprints, engineering drawings, product specifications, or technical manuals.
• Reviewing and evaluating supply systems operations and procedures through periodic audits and surveillance inspections.

In addition to meeting the basic requirements above, candidates must also meet the specialized experience requirements as follows:SkillsTo qualify for this Quality Assurance Specialist position at the IC-12 level, you must possess one full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the IC-11 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:

• Analyzing quality problems to advise management as to how to solve them.
• Writing policies, procedures or job aids for use in a quality inspection setting.
• Reviewing contracts or technical data packages to identify and apply the specification requirements which a product or a contractor's process/product must meet.

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 five pages. If more than five pages are submitted, only the first five pages will be reviewed to determine your eligibility and qualifications.
• 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 occupational series, grade level, and dates in which you held each grade level.
• Are you a current or former FEMA Reservist/Disaster Assistance Employee (DAE)? 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

Education

Positive Education Requirement: This position has a positive education requirement, as outlined in the "requirements" section. You must submit a copy of your transcripts (unofficial are acceptable) with your online application. Once selected and prior to appointment, applicants must provide official college transcripts.

Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet Federal qualification requirements if you can show that your foreign education is comparable to education received in accredited educational institutions in the United States. For example, specific courses accepted for college-level credit by an accredited U.S. college or university, or foreign education evaluated by an organization recognized for accreditation by the Department of Education as education equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. college or university. It is your responsibility to provide such evidence with your application. Visit the Department of Education's Recognition of Foreign Qualifications for more information.

Additional information

• STAFFORD ACT EXCEPTED SERVICE APPOINTMENTS: Cadre of On-Call Response/Recovery Employee (CORE) is an appointment type granted under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, Section 306 (b), which authorizes FEMA to appoint such temporary employees as necessary to accomplish work authorized under the Act. Appointments under this authority within FEMA are made to the excepted service and are nonpermanent in nature.
• If you receive a conditional offer of employment for this position, you will be required to complete an Optional Form 306, Declaration for Federal Employment, and to sign and certify the accuracy of all information in your application, prior to entry on duty. False statements on any part of the application may result in withdrawal of offer of employment, dismissal after beginning work, fine, or imprisonment.
• The Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act prohibits the Department of Homeland Security and its Components from requesting an applicant's criminal history record before that individual receives a conditional offer of employment. In accordance with 5 U.S. Code
• 9202(c) and 5 C.F.R
• 920.201 certain positions are exempt from the provisions of the Fair Chance to Compete Act. Applicants who believe they have been subjected to a violation of the Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act, may submit a written complaint to FEMA-Misconduct@fema.dhs.gov.
• DHS uses E-verify, an internet-based system, to confirm the eligibility of all newly hired employees to work in the United States. Learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities.
• The salary range indicated in this announcement reflects the minimum locality pay up to maximum locality pay for all duty locations listed. The range will be adjusted for selected duty location. General Schedule locality pay tables may be found under Salaries & Wages. Please note: first time hires to the Federal Government are typically hired at the Step 01.
• Deployment travel may be required, based upon agency needs. Deployment expectations can vary and will be discussed with candidates during the selection process.
• During the application process you will have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions.
• In addition to the salary listed in this vacancy announcement, the duty location of this position is considered a non-foreign location. If you are selected for this position, you may be eligible for an additional non-foreign area cost of living adjustment (COLA), in accordance with Office of Personnel Management (OPM) regulations (subject to change without notice). For additional information please visit: OPM Non-Foreign Area COLA rates.

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Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.