Deputy Director, NASA Engineer and Safety Center
What you'd do
Serves as principal Deputy to the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) Director, sharing executive responsibility for leadership, strategic planning, management, and execution. Directs NASA's independent engineering assessment capability, ensuring objective testing, analysis, and evaluation of programs, projects, and institutional issues. Leads a multidisciplinary workforce and acts for the Director, exercising delegated authority to ensure continuity of operations and decision-making.
Major duties
The Deputy Director, NASA Engineer and Safety Center: Assists the Director in establishing strategic priorities and directing the management and allocation of technical, financial, and organizational resources to ensure the timely execution of high-quality, engineering assessments supporting Agency missions. Serves as a senior authority for engineering, safety, and mission assurance reviews, audits, and enterprise-level evaluations, providing executive recommendations on issues involving significant technical, programmatic, operational, and institutional risk. Directs and evaluates engineering and safety trend analyses to identify emerging risks, systemic vulnerabilities, and cross-program issues, recommending strategies that strengthen Agency-wide mission assurance. Oversees systems engineering reviews of program management practices, technical decision-making processes, and institutional operations, and supports or leads major mishap investigations and reviews as delegated by the Director. Provides executive oversight of engineering assessments, testing, analyses, and evaluations to validate technical conclusions, identify root causes, and recommend corrective and preventive actions that improve the safety, reliability, and performance of NASA programs and facilities. Represents the NESC before senior NASA leadership, Federal agencies, industry partners, academic institutions, and professional organizations, communicating technical findings, and advancing Agency engineering and mission assurance objectives. Promotes an Agency-wide culture of technical excellence, continuous improvement, and informed risk management through the application of sound engineering and safety and mission assurance principles. Exercises the full authority of the Director when delegated or in the Director's absence, ensuring continuity of executive leadership, organizational effectiveness, and mission accomplishment.
What you need to qualify
As a basic requirement for entry into the Senior Executive Service (SES) under a career appointment, you must clearly articulate and describe within your 2-page resume that you possess the Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) and Mandatory Technical Qualifications MTQ(s) related to this position. If your 2-page resume does not reflect demonstrated evidence of the ECQs and MTQ(s), you may be disqualified. Any additional pages over the 2-page limit will not be reviewed. Your resume should include evidence of progressively responsible supervisory, managerial, or professional experience which involved management of a program or organization of significant scope and complexity, normally obtained over several years by serving in positions at the GS-15 level or equivalent. If you are (1) currently serving under a career SES appointment, (2) eligible for reinstatement into the SES (this means you were previously employed as a Career SES employee and you successfully completed a one-year probationary period), OR (3) have successfully completed a SES Candidate Development Program (CDP) and certified by OPM, you do not need to address the ECQs in your resume. However, your resume must clearly state that you are a current career SES, eligible for SES reinstatement, or SES CDP certified and year of certification. Please DO NOT submit separate documents addressing the ECQs or MTQ(s). Only your 2-page resume will be accepted and considered. Any additional documents submitted will not be accepted. EXECUTIVE CORE QUALIFICATIONS (ECQs) For more information on the ECQs, please visit OPM's ECQ webpage. ECQ 1 - Commitment to the Rule of Law and the Principles of the American Founding: This core qualification requires a demonstrated knowledge of the American system of government, commitment to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law, and commitment to serve the American people. Competencies: Knowledge of the American System of Government, Commitment to the Rule of Law, and Civic-Mindedness ECQ 2 - Driving Efficiency: This core qualification involves the demonstrated ability to strategically and efficiently manage resources, budget effectively, cut wasteful spending, and pursue efficiency through process and technological upgrades. Competencies: Fiscal Responsibility, Managing Resources, Leveraging Technology ECQ 3 - Merit and Competence: This core qualification involves the demonstrated knowledge, ability and technical competence to effectively and reliably produce work that is of exceptional quality. Competencies: Technical Skill, Problem Solving, Agility and Resilience ECQ 4 - Leading People: This core qualification involves the demonstrated ability to lead and inspire a group toward meeting the organization's vision, mission, and goals, and to drive a high-performance, high-accountability culture. This includes, when necessary, the ability to lead people through change and to hold individuals accountable. Competencies: Accountability, Developing Others, Executive Judgment ECQ 5 - Achieving Results - This core qualification involves the demonstrated ability to achieve both individual and organizational results, and to align results to stated goals from superiors. Competencies: Operational Mindset, Innovation, Strategic Thinking MANDATORY TECHNICAL QUALIFICATION (MTQ): Your resume must include accomplishments that address the MTQ(s). MTQ: Demonstrated experience providing strategic leadership to highly technical teams conducting engineering activities for aeronautics, exploration, science, space operations, and/or space programs, including strategic management of technical resources, authoritative technical oversight, comprehensive trend analysis, or delivery of rigorous assessments that inform technical risk and decision-making. Competencies: Systems Engineering; Technical Work and Team Management Your application package must be in your own words. Experience statements copied from a position description, vacancy announcement, or other reference material constitutes plagiarism and may result in disqualification and losing consideration for the job. Please visit https://www.nasa.gov/careers/how-to-apply/#Artificial-Intelligence to review NASA's guidance on the use of artificial intelligent (AI) or AI-assisted tools during the application process.
Before you apply
Federal applications are different: your resume should be 3–5 pages and mirror the language of this announcement. Read our federal resume guide first — it's the #1 reason qualified people get screened out.
Don't miss the next one.
Get an email the moment a similar federal job opens — postings can close in as little as 5 days.