Centers of Excellence - Innovation Adoption Lead

CoE is hiring for GS-14 - Innovation Adoption Lead. This page contains information related to the role as well as a link to submit your application. Check out Join TTS Hiring Process to learn more about the application process. This posting is being amended to extend the closing deadline to September 4th, 2020.

Location: Washington DC

Salary Range: The salary range for this position is: GS-14 Step 1 - $121,316 to GS-14 Step 10 $157,709

The salary range does include locality pay for Washington, DC. This position is not remote and is physically based in Washington, DC.

You can find more information about this in the compensation and benefits section on our site.

For specific details on locality pay, please visit OPM’s Salaries & Wages page or for a salary calculator OPM’s 2020 General Schedule (GS) Salary Calculator.

Who May Apply: All United States citizens and nationals (residents of American Samoa and Swains Islands) and applicants must not be GSA employees or contractors

Role Summary:

Innovation Adoption Lead - GS-14

The Centers of Excellence work with partner agencies to accelerate IT modernization by leveraging private sector innovation and government services. We work primarily in six areas: Infrastructure Optimization, Cloud Adoption, Data & Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Contact Centers, and Customer Experience. Our complementary work in strategic communications, change management, and performance management ensures these innovations can be successful and sustainable. We also work with partner agencies to enhance their ability to innovate so they can continuously modernize as opportunities and challenges emerge over time.

The Innovation Adoption Lead is a multi-faceted role, which means your work will involve delivering outputs for several audiences. This includes:

• managing innovation adoption work for partner agency customers, including some acquisition work and managing contract resources;
• creating and managing internal protocols and internal initiatives for the Centers of Excellence organization; and
• developing and promoting Centers of Excellence practices as part of the organization’s body of knowledge and its broader method set for innovation adoption.

The selected candidate will serve on the cross-functional Strategic Management Team, engaging with peers on all four strategic management agendas:

• Change Management, from the tradition to the alternative, to help us ensure that our IT modernization projects are successful and sustainable
• Development, from workforce development to skills development, to help ensure that people modernize their work and capabilities while systems and tools get their own makeover
• Internal Communications, from communications strategy to channels to messaging, to help us ensure that people receive the information and inspiration they need and have the opportunity to contribute their own insights and experiences
• Performance Management & Improvement, from the organization to teams to individuals, to help us ensure that we set clear, shared goals and can demonstrate progress and results through data and evidence

Key Objectives

Objective #1: Provide exceptional customer experience and quality products and services with all partners, providing a unique, tailored experience that delivers meaningful results.

Your primary role will be to lead innovation adoption workstreams on CoE engagements with partner agencies. The purpose is to deliver measurable value to the partner agency through both your own contributions and those of the contract teams you manage.

• Customer Experience
  • Negotiate expectations, including roles, goals, objectives, frequency and formats for sharing progress and results, scope, level of detail, measures, and other elements of managing the engagement
  • Explain products or services to people who have varying levels of technical knowledge, meeting the agency partner where they are
  • Empathetically guide our agency partners through administrative, performance management and improvement, change, and other processes
  • Serve as a liaison between the stakeholders and the project teams, delivering feedback to the team, enabling them to make necessary changes to product performance or presentation
  • Support a safe, inclusive workplace and a positive team culture where all team members value diversity and individual differences
• Products and Services
  • Facilitate acquisition contract services for change management innovation adoption, and performance management and improvement, on behalf of CoE or agency partners; activities may include including drafting contracting documents such as RFIs, and evaluating vendor proposals
  • Manage contract teams in the delivery of products and services
  • Oversee and direct multiple complex, fast-paced projects, balancing priorities, the needs of others, urgency, and other factors
  • Ensure the delivery of useful modernization deliverables and services that best meets the agency partner’s needs, priorities, and readiness for adoption
  • Share and demonstrate in the course of delivery modern practices —such as agile, growth mindset, and effective feedback — throughout all stages of the project lifecycle

Objective #2: Promote the adoption of modern technology practices through learning, coaching, and knowledge sharing.

CoE continuously evolves its approaches based on industry best practice and our own experiences with and knowledge of agencies. You will continuously refine our methods and materials. You will also promote the adoption of best practices in innovation adoption through a variety of channels.

• Deliver services to accelerate learning and adoption of agile principles and practices
• Create compelling stories or case studies on how users are benefiting from the program, providing a special focus on lessons learned and overcoming obstacles
• Craft and share information about models and methods that promote best practices in government and industry
• Participate in information sessions and business development meetings
• Help manage and grow innovation adoption networks, within agencies and across government, including sporting a governmentwide community of practice
• Provide advice or coaching to agency change agents, managers, leaders, and champions on how to manage or lead modernization efforts

Objective #3: Assist the CoE with its own strategy, internal management, and relationships.

At the CoE, we strive to model the behaviors we want to see. That’s why you will help to apply the approaches and methodologies we use with other agencies to continuously improve and modernize our own organization, management, and operations.

• Work as part of a cross-functional team, occasionally leading cross-functional, collaborative projects
• Provide advice and assistance to CoE and TTS leadership, management, and colleagues
• Maintain strong relationships within and outside GSA, particularly in the areas of organizational performance, impact evaluation, behavioral science, organizational development, learning & development, and customer experience
• Monitor CoE performance and assist with continuous improvement

Basic Information

Location: Washington DC

Salary Range: Base salary GS-14 - $121,316 to $157,709

If you are a new federal employee, your starting salary will likely be set at the Step 1 of the grade for which you are selected. Total compensation may include locality pay based on the individual’s duty location. For more salary information including locality pay details, please visit OPM’s Salaries & Wages page.

Who May Apply: All United States citizens and nationals (residents of American Samoa and Swains Islands) and applicants must not be GSA employees or contractors

Job announcement number: 20FASC238SBOTR

Opening and closing period for this job application: 12:00am CDT on Monday, August 17, 2020 EDT to 11:59pm on Friday, September 4, 2020 EDT

Job Title: Innovation Specialist

Series & Grade: 0301 - 14

Promotion Potential: GS-14

Number of vacancies: 1 (Additional vacancies may be filled from this announcement as needed)

Supervisory status: NO

Travel requirement: Occasional travel may be required up to 10%-20% per year

Security clearance: Public trust. Background investigation required.

Work Schedule: Full time

Appointment Type: Excepted Service: Not to exceed 24 months (2 years); may be extended for an additional 2 years for a maximum of 4 years total.

Job Summary

This is a Schedule A position under 5 CFR 213.3102(r) to hire unique technical skills to develop innovative digital tools and services in the Excepted Services, US Digital Service 18F Fellowship Program. The 18F office is charged with developing innovative digital tools and services and uses lean startup and agile development principles to collaborate with other agencies to fix technical problems, build products, and improve how government serves the public through technology.

As an Innovation Specialist, the team member serves the government and makes an impact on a massive scale. The position requires that fellows perform work of an exceptional degree of difficulty across a wide range of topics at the convergence of technology, policy, and delivery. The incumbent leverages their experience deploying high quality, user centric platforms and services to lead major initiatives, consult on systems and policy proposal, and provide technical, policy, and programmatic guidance to government.

This position is located within the General Services Administration (GSA), Federal Acquisition Service (FAS), Technology Transformation Service (TTS), Office of 18F.

GSA has been repeatedly named as one of the ‘Best Places to Work’ in the federal government. You will have access to many benefits including:

• Health insurance (choose from a wide range of plans)
• Life insurance coverage with several options
• Sick leave and vacation time, including 10 paid holidays per year
• Thrift Savings Plan (similar to a 401(k) plan)
• Flexible work schedules and telework
• Transit and child care subsidies
• Training and development
• Flexible spending accounts
• Long-term care insurance
• Training and development

Key Requirements

1. You must be a U.S. Citizen or National (residents of American Samoa and Swains Islands)
2. Suitable for federal employment, determined by a background investigation
3. You may be required to serve a trial period
4. Direct Deposit of salary check to financial organization required
5. Register with Selective Service, if you are required by https://www.sss.gov/Registration-Info/Who-Registration

Employment Requirements

• Serve a one year trial period, if required
• Undergo and pass a background investigation. You must be granted this clearance before you can start the job
• Have your identity and work status eligibility verified if you are not a GSA employee. We will use the Department of Homeland Security’s e-Verify system for this
• Any discrepancies must be resolved as a condition of continued employment
• Complete a financial disclosure report to verify that no conflict, or an appearance of conflict, exists between your financial interest and this position

Duties

Typical duties for the fellow include but are not limited to: Conceiving/recommending projects/studies to advance the state of the art in the specialty area; applying forward­ thinking design and development principles to product or services development, delivery and program management, such as lean startup, user­centered design, and agile development; Analyzing and scoping the technical and policy requirements needed to implement complex digital solutions; Assessing the state of digital services provided by the Federal Government, and working to align strategies and practice; conferring with key government/private officials and top experts in the field, representing the agency at technical symposia and/or conferences; Developing authoritative papers/reports; developing and leading adoption of government­wide standards for digital services, leading to their adoption across citizen and business­facing government services; Demonstrating thought leadership and contributing best practices in a variety of technologies and principles; Contributing to a talent strategy that includes recruiting innovators and entrepreneurs to participate in solving complex and esoteric challenges.

Evaluation

We will use a method called Category Rating to assess your application.

Here’s how it will work:

You will be scored based on a review of your application materials, measuring your possession of each of the following competencies

• Innovation Adoption Expertise: Ability to apply innovative contact center tools and technologies and to help guide agency partners in making strategic & tactical innovative decisions.
• Leadership: Ability to effectively inspire and lead cross-functional teams to meet the project vision and shared objectives of agency partner organizations, while simultaneously providing support and guidance to all members of the partner agency.
• Agile Orientation: Ability to apply agile and open source philosophies to deliver work in a frequent and iterative fashion to address user needs.
• Communication: Ability to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences, particularly in consulting scenarios, to establish a shared vision and understanding of a project’s technical implementation, objectives and goals.
• TTS Core Values Alignment: Ability to work with integrity, transparency and resiliency in civic minded or high impact environment.

If found to be eligible and at least minimally qualified for the position, your score will be used to place you in a category (Best Qualified, Well Qualified, or Qualified).

If your resume does not support your possession of the competencies listed above, we may lower your score, which could place you in a lower category.

Within each category, veterans will receive selection priority over non-veterans if supported by appropriate documentation.

Qualifications

All applications will be reviewed by a panel of subject matter experts against a scoring rubric created for this role. In order to properly be able to evaluate your previous experience, we recommend being as detailed as possible in your resume and following our general guidance on creating federal style resume.

To qualify for this role, you must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-13 in the Federal service. Specialized experience is:

1. Experience leading Innovation Adoption efforts within large or complex environments. This experience must include THREE of the following:
   • Experience applying change management practices and principles to change, improvement, or innovation projects.
   • Experience in workforce development practices (e.g. capability assessment, workforce projections, coaching skills for managers, reskilling, micro-learning, or experiential learning).
   • Experience applying customer experience or behavior-based principles and practices to identify and design solutions (e.g. Human-Centered Design methodology, journey mapping, user-centered design, behavioral economics, nudge, or behavior modification).
   • Experience facilitating team or group coaching or delivering training or workshop experiences.
2. Experience leading Organizational Performance Management & Improvement efforts within large or complex environments. This experience must include TWO of the following:
   • Experience in designing measurement models and metrics for quantifying organizational or program performance improvement, efficiency, and outcomes.
   • Experience designing or implementing performance management protocols or improvement plans.
   • Experience helping organizations or teams apply process improvement methods (e.g. process mapping or flow-charts, 5S, Lean Six Sigma, Lean Management, Lean Six Sigma, Kaizen, Kanban, Value Stream Mapping, or Agile Management).
   • Experience leading or producing assessment or evaluation work (e.g. impact evaluation, program evaluation, gap analysis, readiness assessment, capability assessment, cause-effect analysis, root cause analysis, cost-benefit analysis, or return on investment).
3. Experience working with teams, leaders, and partners on high-profile projects . This experience must include FOUR of the following:
   • Experience building relationships with partners, customers, or stakeholders.
   • Experience leading groups with shared interests (e.g. working groups, communities of practice, groups within professional associations, or affinity groups).
   • Experience managing contract teams and working with contracting documents (e.g. RFIs, vendor proposals).
   • Experience leading cross-functional teams (i.e. developers, product managers, designers, clients) collaboratively toward shared objectives.
   • Experience managing complex and fast-paced projects.
   • Experience working with or on behalf of executives (e.g. briefing, supporting decision-making, making evidence-based recommendations, or managing conflict).

Qualification determinations cannot be made when resumes do not include the required information, so failure to provide this information may result in disqualification.

For each job on your resume, provide:

• the exact dates you held each job (from month/year to month/year or “present”)
• number of hours per week you worked (if part time)