Mission Support Specialist

Summary

Organizational Location: This position is with the Department of Homeland Security, within U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Field Operations San Francisco Field Office, Area Port of Honolulu, located in Honolulu, Hawaii. Additional selections may be made to include other organizational divisions and/or units within the duty location(s) listed above.

Duties

This position will allow you to use your expertise in administration to provide advisory and technical services to CBP management. This position starts at a salary of $52,680.00 (GS-07, Step 1) to $83,774.00 (GS-09, Step 10). Please see the following link for specific COLA Rates: COLA and Locality Pay Rates in Nonforeign Areas In this position, you will strengthen the Department's ability to protect the homeland by becoming a valuable member of a team of administrative professionals. Your job will include: Performing assignments requiring the application of fundamental principles, concepts, techniques, and guidelines in one or more mission support functions in Office of Field Operations (OFO). Performing management advisory services for specific requests related to immediate problems of limited scope and ensuring compliance with applicable regulations and procedures. Analyzing and reconciling discrepancies or inconsistencies and ensuring the efficient and effective productivity of the administrative operations in different areas of the organization. Resolving a moderate range of problems or situations requiring the use of established analytical techniques to isolate and evaluate appropriate precedents, to examine and analyze documentation, to reconcile discrepancies or inconsistencies, and to develop supportable conclusions based on standardized research. GS Salary: Visit this link to view the locality pay tables by geographic area. If you do not see your geographic area listed, select the "Rest of United States" pay table. Some positions fall under a special pay rate depending on the series, grade level and location of the position. Please visit this link to view special pay rate charts.

Qualifications

Experience: You qualify for the GS-7 grade level if you possess 1 year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level, performing duties such as: Assisting with planning to gather and interpret information and data for problems, issues, and unusual circumstances. Assisting with identifying ways to improve or enhance current services. Assisting with reconciling conflicting incomplete information. Helping to identify and extract additional pertinent information required. Experience: You qualify for the GS-9 grade level if you possess 1 year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level, performing duties such as: Providing guidance in a variety of mission support functional areas; ensuring compliance with applicable regulations and procedures. Analyzing and reconciling discrepancies or inconsistencies. Resolving problems or situations require the use of established analytical techniques. Developing supportable conclusions based on standardized research. NOTE: Your resume must explicitly indicate how you meet this requirement, otherwise you will be found ineligible. Please see the "Required Documents" section below for additional resume requirements. GS-07: Successful completion of one year of full-time graduate education from an accredited college or university may substitute for the experience required at this level. This education must demonstrate the skills necessary to do this job. Check with your school to determine how many credit hours comprise a year of graduate education. If that information is not available, use 18 semester or 27 quarter hours. OR Superior Academic Achievement (SAA) may also substitute for the experience required at this level. SAA is defined as a Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university with a grade point average of 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale, having a class standing in the upper third of a graduating class or major subdivision, or membership in a national scholastic honor society. Please see www.cbp.gov for additional information. GS-09: A Master's degree, two full years of graduate education, a J.D. or an LL.B. degree from an accredited college or university may substitute for experience required at this level. Check with your school to determine how many credit hours comprise two years of graduate education. If that information is not available, use 36 semester or 54 quarter hours. Combining Experience and Education: To combine your education and experience, you must convert each to a percentage, and then add the percentages. The combined total of your percentage of education and experience must equal at least 100% in order to qualify. If your education is currently described in quarter hours, convert the quarter hours into semester hours by multiplying the quarter hours by the fraction 2/3. To calculate your percentage of graduate education, divide the number of graduate semester hours by 18. To determine your percentage of qualifying experience, you must divide your total number of months of qualifying experience by the required number of months of experience. Add your percentages of education and experience. The two percentages must total at least 100%. 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. You must: Meet all qualification requirements, including education if applicable to this position, subject to verification at any stage of the application process; and Meet all applicable Time in Grade requirements (current federal employees must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade or equivalent grade band in the federal service) by 09/30/2026. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) must authorize employment offers made to current or former political appointees. If you are currently, or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES or Presidential Appointee employee in the Executive Branch, you must disclose this information to the Human Resources Office. Background Investigation: U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is a federal law enforcement agency that requires all applicants to undergo a thorough background investigation prior to employment in order to promote the agency's core values of vigilance, service to country, and integrity. During the screening and/or background investigation process, you will be asked questions regarding any felony criminal convictions or current felony charges, the use of illegal drugs (e.g., marijuana, cocaine, heroin, LSD, methamphetamines, ecstasy), and the use of non-prescribed controlled substances including any experimentation, possession, sale, receipt, manufacture, cultivation, production, transfer, shipping, trafficking, or distribution of controlled substances. For additional information on the preemployment process, review the following link: Applicant Resources | CBP Careers Residency: There is a residency requirement for all applicants not currently employed by CBP. Individuals are required to have physically resided in the United States or its protectorates (as declared under international law) for at least three of the last five years. If you do not meet the residency requirement and you have been physically located in a foreign location for more than two of the last five years, you may request an exception to determine if you are eligible for a residency waiver by meeting one or more of the following conditions: