Foreign Service Limited Opportunity: Humanitarian Assistance Officer (Protection Team Lead), Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, Office of Technical and Program Quality - FSL-0301-02

Agency: U.S. Agency for International Development 

Organization: Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, Office of Technical and Program Quality (BHA/TPQ).

Location of Position: Washington, DC. 

Open Period: 12/06/2024 – 12/16/2024

Appointment Type: This is an excepted service, time-limited appointment, not-to-exceed five years

Salary: FSL-02.  FOREIGN SERVICE PAY SETTING MODE,  Foreign Service pay table, Washington locality. 

Number of Vacancies: (One Vacancy) Humanitarian Assistance Officer (Protection Team Lead/Protection and Community Capacities Division), FSL-0301-02

Description of Organization:  The Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) provides global leadership and a strategic approach in humanitarian response, promoting human welfare, alleviating suffering, and providing the foundations for transformative change and self-reliance serving both national foreign policy interests and people in need of humanitarian assistance. BHA fulfills USAID’s role as the lead U.S. Government Agency for responding to emergencies and disasters overseas with both food and non-food emergency assistance, as well as providing a holistic approach to USAID’s programming across the spectrum of preparing for, responding to, mitigating, and preventing disasters.

The Protection Team, located in the Office of Technical and Program Quality,  provides technical leadership relevant to protection programming as the Bureau’s in-house experts on child protection; gender based violence (GBV) prevention and response; psychosocial support (PSS); and protection of civilians. 

Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion: All employees are measured on how they foster a climate of respect in interactions with others, value differing perspectives, and treat others in a fair, equitable, and culturally sensitive manner. All employees are expected to adhere to equal employment opportunity (EEO) policies and value diversity and inclusion in performing everyday duties and responsibilities.

Description of Position: The Humanitarian Assistance Officer will lead the Protection team in identifying, distributing, and balancing workload and tasks among employees to ensure timely accomplishment of assigned team tasks; represent the team consensus and convey the team's findings and recommendations. The incumbent will advise BHA, Agency leadership, and host-country governments on new developments and effective approaches to humanitarian assistance; articulates the benefits of interventions to effectively reach specific target audiences; provide technical liaison with other USG Agencies, Congress, donors, multilateral banks, and PVOs to coordinate their efforts with USAID programs, policies, and approaches to humanitarian assistance. The incumbent will be responsible for the development of strategies, plans, program guidance, and dissemination of research results for Agency-wide application and incorporation into humanitarian assistance programs; maintain liaison with sources of information inside and outside BHA to assess and review new or unusual circumstances, variations in approach and incomplete or conflicting information; inform stakeholders of changes in organizational programs and operations, conducting briefings on major program changes in particular those impacting humanitarian assistance programs and operations overseas. The incumbent will sign-up for and serve on Washington-based Response Management Teams (RMTs), which provide services and support to Disaster Assistance Response Teams (DARTs) deployed in response to disasters.

Future of Work Designation: This position is based in Washington DC and is eligible for up to two days of telework a week. Approval of telework is based on the discretion of the supervisor and needs of the team. 

Qualifications:

• Must be a U.S. citizen, this  needs to be stated in the cover letter or resume. If citizenship is not stated, application will not be considered.
• Must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level, FSL-03 or GS-13, of this position. Specialized experience includes:
  • Management experience, including experience managing teams or groups of professionals and leading the development of policies, processes, and strategic initiatives; creating a collaborative environment for a team of diverse staff in a fast-paced environment while meeting ongoing deadlines; representing on program or policy issues for a civilian-based international disaster response organization. 
  • Technical leadership, including experience as protection advisor or implementer in field humanitarian relief settings, developing and implementing programs with NGOs, or UN, or IOs, or USG; and experience analyzing a humanitarian situation in order to inform protection program approaches or strategies, internal or external reporting, or to make recommendations to management or other relevant stakeholders
• Overseas experience working on rapid response, political complex crises assistance programs, is preferred.
• The Team Lead position requires a specific clearance level based on organizational location.

Candidates must be able to obtain and maintain the security clearance level associated with the position for which they have been selected. 

Interested candidates should submit (in .pdf or Microsoft Word Format):

• Resume/CV;
• Cover letter (one page or less) must include potential team preferences and expressing a statement of interest, including one paragraph (250 words or less) that describes where in the resume the applicant meets the specialized experience qualifications; state whether you have veterans’ preference or if you have held or currently hold a political appointment (PA) within the last five years; (NOTE: current/former PA should submit their appropriate SF-50 which demonstrates their appointment);

• Three professional references with at least one current or former supervisor;

• Stated security clearance level, if applicable;
• Stated U.S. citizenship (if citizenship is not stated, application will not be considered).

Please submit your application package to  bha.ams.staffing@usaid.gov. Subject line must be as follows specific to the position and office being applied to; Applicants should submit separate applications for each office for which they would like to be considered. Subject lines must read:“FSL Application: Office of Technical and Program Quality/PCC-HAO-FSL-02-BHA.”  Application submissions are required by 11:59 p.m. EST on 12/16/2024. Packages not submitted by the deadline with the specified subject line—or incomplete packages—will not receive consideration. This notice may be used to fill additional similar vacancies, as the workforce needs of the Bureau may change.

EEO Policy Statement

Reasonable Accommodation Policy 

Any questions concerning this notice may be directed to: bha.ams.staffing@usaid.gov.