Foreign Affairs Officer

Summary

This position is located in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, Office of Arabian Peninsula Affairs (NEA/ARP). The position leads the Washington Support Unit (WSU) that supports the U.S. Embassy Riyadh element of the Program of Technical Cooperation (PTC), the bilateral organization in Saudi Arabia that facilitates the implementation of the Agreement for Technical Cooperation between the United States of America and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Duties

• •Serves as the WSU Chief, with responsibility for providing authoritative analytical and advisory oversight for the planning, formulation, and execution of cooperative projects that advance U.S. foreign policy and goals.
• •Analyzes and interprets the significance of complex political situations and related assessments made by interested organizations, e.g., think tank and intelligence reports.
• •Collaborates with NEA leadership to define programs and foreign policies; identify best approaches for PTC infrastructure protection and public security projects.
• •Represents the Department and NEA in interagency meetings on all PTC policy, project management, administrative, and financial issues and chairs interagency meetings on these subjects.
• •Provides expertise on and oversight of the preparation and clearance of correspondence, new Project Specific Agreements (PSAs), and memoranda for senior State officials.

Qualifications

Applicants must meet all the required qualification requirements described below by the closing date of this announcement. [If you are qualifying based on education OR if there are mandatory education requirements listed below, you MUST submit a copy of your college transcript with your application. NOTE: Applicants must meet time-in-grade and time after competitive appointment requirements, by the closing date of this announcement. Time-In-Grade Requirements: Federal applicants must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade to satisfy time-in-grade restrictions, per 5CFR 300, Subpart F. Applicants must have the required experience or education as described below and meet any selective factors, when specified. BASIC REQUIREMENTS: Have a bachelor's or graduate degree from an accredited college or university in international law, international relations, political science, economics, history, sociology, geography, social or cultural anthropology, law, statistics, or in the humanities; OR Have a bachelor's or graduate degree from an accredited college or university that included a combination of courses, with at least 24 semester hours in international law and international relations, political science, economics, history, sociology, geography, social or cultural anthropology, law, statistics, or in the humanities; OR Have 12 semester hours in one of the above disciplines and 12 semester hours in statistics / quantitative methods. OR Have a combination of education and experience where your coursework was equivalent to a major, or a combination of related courses totaling at least 24 semester hours, (as shown above), PLUS appropriate relevant experience OR additional education. OR Have completed at least 4 years of appropriate experience in one OR more of the fields listed above in work associated with international organizations, problems, or other aspects of foreign affairs. (NOTE: qualifying work experience may have been gained through residence, study, teaching, business or commercial activities, military service, newspaper work, military or civil government activities, missionary or international relief work, or other experience in foreign countries.) Note: If you are qualifying based on education, you MUST submit transcripts as verification of educational requirement by the closing date of this announcement. If you fail to provide requested information, or the information you submit is insufficient to verify your eligibility, you WILL lose consideration for this position. IN ADDITION to the basic requirements, this position requires one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-14 level in the Federal service which provided the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the duties of the position. Qualifying specialized experience must demonstrate the following: Experience with foreign policy goals, objective, plans, and priorities as it relates to Saudi Arabia. Experience monitoring and evaluating capacity building projects such as those overseen by the Program of Technical Cooperation (PTC). Experience engaging with higher level program, management, and policy officials in the development of goals and objectives.

Education

See the qualifications section of this vacancy announcement for education requirements.