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Economist

Department of Commerce
Patent and Trademark Office
Office of Policy and International Affairs (OPIA)
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Summary

This position is located in the Office of the Chief Economist (OCE) in the Office of Policy and International Affairs (OPIA) at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The USPTO fosters innovation, competitiveness, and economic growth, domestically and abroad, by guiding domestic and international intellectual property (IP) policy and by delivering IP information and education worldwide.

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
05/17/2024 to 06/07/2024
Salary
$99,200 to - $153,354 per year

**Salary listed above is for the Washington-Baltimore-Arlington area. Salary dependent on location of selectee. Locality tables are listed on OPM***

Pay scale & grade
GS 12 - 13
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Alexandria, VA
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel for this position.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
13
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Other
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
High Risk (HR)
Trust determination process
Announcement number
TMCO-OPIA-24-12394898-DH
Control number
791485100

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

This Vacancy is using the Direct-Hire Authority to recruit for positions for which there is a critical hiring need. Using the Office of Personnel Management's approved government-wide direct hire authorities, agencies may appoint candidates directly to jobs, without regard to the provision of Title 5 U.S.C 3309 through 3318, for which OPM determines that there is a severe shortage of candidates or a critical hiring need.

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Duties

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The physical worksite for this position is located in Alexandria, Virginia.This position is telework eligible per agency and business unit discretion/policy.

This great opportunity in your next career path is for you if you can show evidence of:

  • Responsibility for the integrity of all aspects of projects completed, which includes the full scope of the research process from the initiation of investigations and planning of methods, through the interpretation of findings and preparation of reports;
  • Analytical acumen for selecting and organizing information to be presented and coordinates work efforts with authors, the agency's personnel, and other agency personnel as necessary;
  • Provision of sound, reliable technical advice and recommendations to management that affect important IP economics decision-making policy;
  • Contributions to organizational efforts and activities to provide input for formulating and refining team goals, planning team activities, establishing priorities, developing measures of progress, providing feedback and resolution of issues, and preparing progress reports, briefing material and other documents.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • Applications will only be accepted from United States Citizens and Nationals.
  • Your resume and question responses must demonstrate the job-related competencies.
  • You must meet the definition of specialized experience.
  • Required to pass a background investigation and fingerprint check.
  • Must be registered for Selective Service, if applicable (www.sss.gov).
  • If selected, you may be required to complete a one year probationary period.
  • You must meet all qualification requirements upon the closing date of this announcement.
  • Suitable for Federal Employment

Qualifications

You must meet the United States Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) qualification requirements (including specialized experience and/or educational requirements) for the advertised position. You must meet all eligibility and qualifications requirements by the closing date of the job announcement. OPM Qualifications Standards are available at Economist Series 0110

Specialized Experienceis experience that has equipped applicants with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the position to be filled. To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the next lower grade level.

Specialized experience for this position includes:

GS-12

  • Experience locating and integrating large amounts of information into a database for analysis using signature statistical packages (e.g. STATA, R, Python, etc.);
  • Experience summarizing and reporting statistical results through text, tables, charts, and graphs;
  • Experience implementing advanced statistical models for causal and/or predictive analyses using regression or machine learning methods applied to a variety of data structures (e.g. cross sectional, time series, and panel data); and
  • Experience identifying and synthesizing professional journal articles from the economics or other professional literatures for narrow
    topic areas.
GS-13
  • Managing projects within a team setting that provides database management on large data sets for analysis using statistical signature packages (e.g., STATA, R, Python, etc.) and sophisticated regression analysis (i.e. time series analysis, panel data analysis, survival analysis, maximum likelihood estimations, etc.);
  • Compiling reports of statistical results through tables, charts, and graphs; and
  • Providing management with recommendation based on economic, statistical, and policy research reports and relevant professional journal articles.
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 can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Education

The following education requirement must be met:

Economist, 0110 Degree: economics, that included at least 21 semester hours in economics and 3 semester hours in statistics, accounting, or calculus.

OR

Combination of education and experience: courses equivalent to a major in economics, as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

You must meet the Basic Requirements listed in the Education Requirements section and the Specialized Experience to qualify.

Additional information

If you are a male applicant born after December 31, 1959, you must certify that you have registered with the Selective Service System. If you are exempt from registration under Selective Service Law, you must provide appropriate proof of exemption. Please visit the Selective Service System website for more information.

This is a Bargaining Unit position and represented by The Patent Office Professional Association (POPA)

This is a Public Trust position and has a risk level designation of "High".

Background Investigation - If selected for this position, you may be required to complete a Declaration for Federal Employment (OF-306), which includes a fingerprint and credit check, to determine your suitability for Federal employment and to authorize a background investigation.

The USPTO participates in E-Verify. For more information on E-Verify, please visit the Department of Homeland Security Website.

All Federal employees are required to have Federal salary payments made by direct deposit to a financial institution of their choice.

Relocation Expenses are not authorized and will not be paid.

CTAP and ICTAP candidates will be eligible for selection priority if it is determined that they have exceeded the minimum qualifications for the position by attaining at least a "well qualified" rating of 85 out of 100. Information about CTAP and ICTAP eligibility is on the Office of Personnel Management's Career Transition Resources website at: OPM CTAP/ICTAP.

CTAP/ICTAP documentation requirements are listed in the 'Required Documents' section of this announcement.

More than one selection may be made from this announcement if additional identical vacancies in the same title, series, grade, and unit occur within 90 days from the date the certificate was issued.

All application materials become the property of the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

USPTO Job Applicants requiring reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process should request accommodation(s) from the USPTO at http://www.uspto.gov/accommodation.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, retaliation, parental status, military service, or other non-merit factors. If you believe that you have been discriminated against and would like to file an EEO complaint, you must do so within 45 days of the date of the alleged discriminatory act. Claims of employment discrimination must be submitted to the attention of the USPTO's Office of Equal Employment Opportunity & Diversity via email (oeeod@uspto.gov) or phone (571-272-8292).

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Your resume, optional cover letter and supporting documentation will be reviewed to determine if you meet the minimum qualification requirements for the position. Under the provisions of the Direct-Hire Authority (DHA), rating, ranking and veterans' preference does not apply; therefore, your responses to the questionnaire will not be used to determine a scored rating. All applicants who meet the minimum qualification requirements, as defined in the job opportunity announcement, will be referred for selection consideration. While veterans' preference does not apply in DHA, preference eligibles are encouraged to submit their supporting documentation (DD-214 stating disposition of discharge or character of service, VA letter, SF-15, etc.).

Your resume will be evaluated based on evidence of your ability to demonstrate possession of any specialized experience and how well your background and experience relates to the self-assessment questions in the job announcement.

The self-assessment questions relate to the following knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies (KSA's).

  • Analysis
  • Oral and Written Communication
  • Policy Evaluation
  • Research


Please click the link below to preview the Assessment Questionnaire:
https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12394898

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