<p>Summary</p> <p>IT Specialist (APPSW) Network Architect positions are being filled through the Office of Personnel Management's delegated Direct Hire Authority, open to all U.S. citizens. Selections made under this bulletin will be processed as new appointments to the civil service. Current civil service employees would, therefore, be given new appointments to the civil service. Under the provisions of the Direct Hire Authority, Veterans Preference and the "Rule of Many" do not apply.</p> <p>Learn more about this agency</p> <p>Summary</p> <p>IT Specialist (APPSW) Network Architect positions are being filled through the Office of Personnel Management's delegated Direct Hire Authority, open to all U.S. citizens. Selections made under this bulletin will be processed as new appointments to the civil service. Current civil service employees would, therefore, be given new appointments to the civil service. Under the provisions of the Direct Hire Authority, Veterans Preference and the "Rule of Many" do not apply.</p> <p>Learn more about this agency</p> <p>Overview</p> <p>Help</p> <p>Accepting applications</p> <p>Open & closing dates</p> <p>03/06/2026 to 09/02/2026</p> <p>Salary $126,384 - $164,301 per year</p> <p>Salary shown is GS-15 Base Salary (See Additional Information section for Salary Ranges by location )</p> <p>Pay scale & grade GS 15</p> <p>Locations</p> <p>Many vacancies in the following locations:</p> <p>Denver, CO</p> <p>Urbana, MD</p> <p>Woodlawn, MD</p> <p>Durham, NC</p> <p>Show morefewer locations (1)</p> <p>Wilkes Barre, PA</p> <p>Remote job No Telework eligible Yes-as determined by the agency policy. Employees required to be on-site 75% of duty time. Travel Required Not required Relocation expenses reimbursed No Appointment type Permanent Work schedule Full-time Service Competitive</p> <p>Promotion potential</p> <p>None</p> <p>Job family (Series)</p> <ul> <li>2210 Information Technology Management </li></ul> <p>Supervisory status No Security clearance Top Secret Drug test No Position sensitivity and risk Critical-Sensitive (CS)/High Risk</p> <p>Trust determination process</p> <ul> <li>National security </li></ul> <p>Financial disclosure Yes Bargaining unit status No</p> <p>Announcement number SSA12902633-DHA-26-CIO Control number 860040900</p> <p>This job is open to</p> <p>Help</p> <p>The public</p> <p>U.S. Citizens, Nationals or those who owe allegiance to the U.S.</p> <p>Career transition (CTAP, ICTAP, RPL)</p> <p>Federal employees whose job, agency or department was eliminated and are eligible for priority over other applicants.</p> <p>Clarification from the agency</p> <p>All U.S. Citizens</p> <p>Duties</p> <p>Help</p> <ul> <li>This announcement serves as public notice. Applications submitted be placed into a pool and will remain on file for selection as positions become available. </li><li>Vacancies may be filled for up to 6 months after the closing date of this announcement. Applicants may not receive notifications of referral status until the full 6-month eligibility period has elapsed. </li><li>Positions filled with applications from this pool will be placed into positions where cybersecurity duties occupy the majority of the work performed. </li></ul> <p>Requirements</p> <p>Help</p> <p>Conditions of employment</p> <ul> <li>U.S. Citizenship required </li><li>Selective Service Registration, if applicable (www.sss.gov) </li><li>Fingerprinting and background and/or security investigation may be required </li><li>Job offers are contingent on fingerprinting and background / security investigation results </li><li>Selectees may be required to serve a 1 year probationary period </li><li>Relocation expenses will not be paid </li><li>All qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of the announcement </li><li>Candidates will not be hired based on their race, sex, color, religion, or national origin. </li></ul> <p>Qualifications</p> <p>Resumes exceeding two pages in length will not be considered, please visit the new resume guidance for more information.</p> <p>READ ALL SECTIONS OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IN ITS ENTIRETY. THIS INFORMATION IS CRUCIAL TO SUBMITTING A SUCCESSFUL APPLICATION.</p> <p>Applicants must qualify for the series and grade of the posted position. Experience must be IT related; the experience may be demonstrated by paid or unpaid experience and/or completion of specific, intensive training (for example, IT certification), as appropriate. Your resume must provide sufficient experience and/or education, knowledge, skills, abilities, and proficiency of any required competencies to perform the specific position for which you are applying.</p> <p>To qualify for the 2210 IT Specialist series, the applicant must demonstrate the following competencies:</p> <ul> <li>Attention to Detail - Is thorough when performing work and conscientious about attending to detail. </li><li>Customer Service - Works with clients and customers (that is, any individuals who use or receive the services or products that your work unit produces, including the general public, individuals who work in the agency, other agencies, or organizations outside the Government) to assess their needs, provide information or assistance, resolve their problems, or satisfy their expectations; know about available products and services; and is committed to providing quality products and services. </li><li>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. </li><li>Problem Solving - Identifies problems; determines accuracy and relevance of information; uses sound judgment to generate and evaluate alternatives, and to make recommendations. </li></ul> <p>Duties:</p> <ul> <li>Establishes and maintains executive level coordination and executive level liaison interfaces within SSA and with outside organizations (IT industry) involved in SSA's operational and telecommunications systems. Develops and maintains an extensive network of information technology professionals/specialists throughout the public and private sectors. </li><li>Plans, directs, and/or conducts complex, sensitive and/or confidential studies which involve resolving critical problems in existing or future systems, and which require innovative solutions in many aspects of the studies. </li><li>Assesses needs and develops policies and regulations to ensure timely delivery of services. Leads ongoing research activities for determining the most effective techniques and practices for the resolution of critical systems problems. </li><li>Prepares and presents written reports and memoranda, oral presentations, seminars, workshops and recommendations concerning short- and long-range objectives that provide authoritative information and analyses, which examine, compare, and develop options to devise new approaches to understanding issues involved, and recommends solutions. </li></ul> <p>Minimum Qualifications: Grade 15 To qualify at the GS-15 level, you must have at least 52 weeks of specialized experience at the GS-14 level, or equivalent, which is in or related to the work of the position to be filled and has equipped applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position. Such IT related experience must include Skill in network planning, design, implementation and troubleshooting in a data center environment utilizing redundant hardware and failover capabilities. Includes planning and designing Data Center network infrastructures that supports several thousand users, troubleshooting complex network outages that affect users in a large campus, cloud, or Data Center environment.</p> <p>PLEASE NOTE: This specialized experience is REQUIRED and must be explicitly documented/described in your resume, or you will be disqualified from further consideration.</p> <p>Qualification standards and additional information for this position can be found here: http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/2200/information-technology-it-management-series-2210-alternative-a/</p> <p>Education</p> <p>This job does not have an education qualification requirement.</p> <p>Additional information</p> <p>See announcement cutoff dates below under</p>