SECY (OA)
What you'd do
This position is located in the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), Office of the Director, Associate Director for Operations/Programs. The incumbent serves as Secretary to the Associate Director providing secretarial and administrative support functions that are auxiliary to the Associate Director's work and which relieves the Associate Director from direct involvement in the management of the day-to-day office issues.
Major duties
Oversee and manage all administrative and operational functions supporting the Associate Director for Operations, ensuring efficient workflow and continuity across the office. Establish and maintain organized filing and records systems that preserve institutional knowledge, support decision-making, and provide reliable reference for inquiries, audits, and long-term program history. Coordinate meetings, briefings, and conferences for the Associate Director for Operations, including arranging logistics, and securing conference rooms. Prepare background materials such as summaries, program analyses, or briefing documents for review and approval. Manage intake, logging, prioritization, and routing of all correspondence and communications addressed to the Associate Director, ensuring timely review and action. Fulfill duties as a secondary Controlled Correspondence Officer, coordinating closely with the USDA Office of Executive Secretariat to ensure compliance with departmental standards, tracking requirements, and response timelines.
What you need to qualify
Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement including time-in-grade restrictions, specialized experience and/or education, as defined below. Time in Grade: Current federal employees applying for a promotion opportunity must meet the time in grade requirement of 52 weeks of service at the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the position being filled. Specialized Experience: Specialized experience is experience directly related to the position to be filled. Specialized experience must be described for each grade level advertised. The specialized experience requirements for this position are: GS-9: Qualifying experience for GS-09 includes one year of specialized experience comparable to GS-08 level; or its non-Federal equivalent which is directly related to the work of this position and which has equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position. For this position, specialized experience is: providing technical and analytical support; planning and coordinating business management activities for an organization; preparing travel arrangements; compiling information for reports regarding technical or policy content; developing business solutions with Microsoft Power Apps, Power Automate, SharePoint, and Excel. OR Education: Master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B. or J.D., if related. OR A combination of education and experience. 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 and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.
Before you apply
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