PIF - Presidential Innovation Fellow

Presidential Innovation Fellows is hiring for GS-15 - Presidential Innovation Fellow. 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.

Location: Washington, DC

Salary: The salary for this position is: GS-15 Step 1 - $142,701

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

Who May Apply: All United States citizens who are not currently Federal employees or GSA contractors are eligible to apply.

Role Summary:

Presidential Innovation Fellow - GS-15

The Presidential Innovation Fellows (PIF) is a highly-competitive program that pairs mid-to-senior level entrepreneurs, technologists, designers and data scientists with top civil-servants and change-makers working within the federal government to tackle some of our nation’s biggest challenges and deliver better solutions to U.S. citizens. Fellows are embedded within agencies as entrepreneurs-in-residence for 12-24 month engagements working on mission critical problems, shaping smarter policy and/or delivering on technology.

Since the program was launched in 2012 by former U.S. CTO Todd Park, 139 Fellows have worked with over 36 agencies. These Fellows have included the Lead Developer on Google Maps, Former CEO of Symantec and Co-Founder of the Earth Genome Project. Past Fellows’ projects have focused on improving care and access to benefits for our veterans, re-imagining cancer clinical trials to increase awareness and access for patients, defining an ecosystem to help the private sector manage risk and mitigate threats, and creating a central digital location to share and improve outcomes for children within the foster care system.

We will begin recruiting the next cohort of Fellows in January 2020. Applicants can apply online at apply.pif.gov and Fellows will start in October 2020.

The characteristics that we look for in Fellows, include:

Entrepreneurship and Technology:

• Expert in a hard skill such as modern product management, software development, lean startup, strategy consulting, analysis, strategic design, experience design, human centered design, data science, artificial intelligence, machine learning, cybersecurity, etc.
• Self-starter - either an entrepreneur or intrapreneur with experience starting and building initiatives
• Ability to break down business problems, understand and design effective solutions and strategies that draw on current and emergent tools, technologies, initiatives and other resources
• Experience delivering products or services from concept to market

Approach and Methodology:

• Expertise applying frameworks that emphasize delivery, iteration, quantitative/qualitative learnings and responsiveness
• Expertise determining user needs, identifying market opportunities and designing and deploying solutions
• Ability to apply forward thinking design and development principles to product development and project management such as lean start-up, agile and user centered design
• Ability to describe esoteric and highly technical solutions to non-technical stakeholders

Empathy and Emotional Intelligence:

• High degree of emotional intelligence. A quick study, who intuitively knows what needs to get done to deliver with integrity
• Experience in client-facing roles, navigating bureaucracy, business development and delivering services with a strong user-facing or consumer-oriented element
• Coalition builder with the ability to persuade and convince others to think about solutions in new and creative ways
• Ability to know when you need to show and when you need to tell
• Tenacity to push forward over difficult obstacles
• Evidence navigating large, complex organizations and stakeholders
• Demonstrates patience and leads with humility

Leadership

• At least 8 years of professional experience working in your area
• Demonstrated experience leading stakeholders through change where you don’t have explicit authority
• Ability to be a thought leader and contribute best practices in a variety of technologies and business areas
• Teamwork - ability to lead teams and work effective with others within a team
• Interested in building a culture within the Fellowship and taking a genuine interest in other Fellows’ work, including providing feedback and collaborating when appropriate

Key Objectives

Objective #1: You will assess the state of digital services provided by the Federal Government, and work to align strategies and practice; conferring with key government/private officials and top experts in the field.

• You will analyze and scope the technical and policy requirements needed to implement complex digital solutions
• You will leverage your experience deploying high-quality, user centric platforms and services to lead major initiatives
• You will apply forward thinking design and development principles to product development and project management such as lean start-up, user centered design and agile

Objective #2: You will conceive/recommend projects/strategies to advance the state of the art in the specialty area.

• You will consult on systems and policy proposals, and provide technical policy and programmatic guidance to the government
• You will demonstrate thought leadership, contributing best practices in a variety of technologies and principles
• You will translate business problems into technology solutions that draw on current and emergent tools and technologies

Objective #3: You will utilize an entrepreneurial mindset, technology acumen, and strong communication skills in order to drive projects from ideation to completion.

• You have the ability to present sensitive recommendations to higher authority and to articulate positions/policy of vast technical complexity
• You possess knowledge of and expertise in driving and implementing technology solutions from concept to market that overcome significant challenges resulting from complex bureaucratic environments or technically difficult problems
• You have a high degree of emotional intelligence, are a quick study, and intuitively know what needs to get done to deliver with integrity, ensuring compliance at all levels

Basic Information

Location: Washington, DC

Salary: Salary GS-15 - $142,701

Who May Apply: All United States citizens who are not currently Federal employees or GSA contractors are eligible to apply.

Job announcement number: 2000228OTR

Opening and closing period for this job application: 12:00pm on Wednesday, January 29, 2020 EDT to 11:59pm on Monday, May 18, 2020 EDT

Job Title: Industry Specialist

Series & Grade: 0301 - 15

Promotion Potential: GS-15

Number of vacancies: 25 (Additional vacancies may be filled from this announcement as needed)

Supervisory status: No

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

Security clearance: Public trust. Background investigation required. Select positions may require higher levels of clearance.

Work Schedule: Full time

Appointment Type: Excepted Service: 12 months and 1 day. May be extended up to an additional 12 months.

Job Summary

The Presidential Innovation Fellows (PIF) program brings the principles, values, and practices of the innovation economy into government through the most effective agents of change we know: our people. This highly competitive program pairs talented, diverse individuals from the innovation community with top civil servants to tackle many of our nation’s biggest challenges, and to achieve a profound and lasting social impact. These teams of government experts and private­sector doers are using approaches like design­thinking and lean startup to achieve results for the American people in months, not years.

The position requires 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 will leverage their experience deploying high­quality, user­centric platforms and services to lead major initiatives, consult on systems and policy proposals, and provide technical, policy, and programmatic guidance to government. The individual will be expected to deliver innovative solutions that draw upon best practices. These solutions should have the potential to dramatically improve the delivery of government services, and provide value to the citizens at whom those services are directed.

The incumbent will use their demonstrated experience building and scaling initiatives to grow the effectiveness of the program.

This position is located within the General Services Administration (GSA), Federal Acquisition Service (FAS), Technology Transformation Service (TTS), Office of the Presidential Innovation Fellows (PIF).

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)
• 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 Presidential Innovation Fellow include, but are not limited to:

Analyzing and scoping the technical and policy requirements needed to implement complex digital solutions; Conceiving/recommending projects/studies to advance the state of the art in the specialty area; applying forward­thinking design and development principles to product development and program management, such as lean startup, user centered design, and agile development; 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

• Analysis and Creative Problem Solving: Determining user needs or identifying market opportunities and designing and deploying solutions
• Technology Acumen: Translating business problems into technology solutions that draw on current and emergent tools and technologies; and experience describing esoteric and highly technical solutions to non-technical stakeholders
• Leadership: Ability to effectively lead a cross-functional team to meet product objectives
• Entrepreneurship and Product Management: Delivering products or services from concept to market
• Communication: Ability to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences to establish a shared vision and understanding of the project’s objectives and goals.

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-14 in the Federal service. Specialized experience is:

1. Experience navigating highly ambiguous or uncertain situations to deliver results. This experience must include ALL of the following:
   • Leading stakeholders through organizational change demonstrated by: Leading a cross-functional team to meet strategic objectives; Garnering support for team by persuading others to provide approval, funding or resources; or Adjusting strategy based on qualitative or quantitative strategy.
   • Working in a team-oriented environment and collaborating within teams.
   • Working as an entrepreneur (i.e started and grown companies or organizations) measured in increased revenue, clients or users; OR intrapreneur (i.e. starting and/or leading initiatives within corporate, academic or non-profit institutions) measured by increased revenue, promoted growth, drove business strategy, acquired clients or customers/end users.
2. Experience applying technology innovation craft to the design and development of products and services. This experience must include ONE of the following:
   • Developing digital applications across the full stack (i.e. server side, client side & databases) using server-side languages (e.g Java, .NET, Ruby on Rails, Python, Go, Node.js), client-side languages (e.g HTML, CSS, Javascript) and database and other persistence layers (e.g. PostgreSQL, mySQL, Oracle, noSQL, MongoDB).
   • Advising organizations on developing and delivering digital products or services, contributing to the development or the evolution of the organization’s technical strategy, and leading technical teams (i.e. providing mentorship, reviewing code and overall architecture and making technical recommendations).
   • Leading cross-functional teams (e.g. product leads, developers, content designers, and other UX designers) in the research (i.e. planning, conducting, analyzing, translating & sharing user research) and design (e.g. developing wireframes, site maps, journey maps, process flows and prototypes,) of digital products or services using User Experience principles & practices (e.g. User Centered Design, Human Centered Design, Design Thinking).
   • Driving the success of a product by leading the product vision, developing the product roadmap, utilizing innovation methodologies (e.g. Lean Startup, Agile, User Centered Design, Human Centered Design, UX Design, Experience Design) and leading cross functional teams (e.g.developers, content designers, UX designers, strategist) to design, develop, and deliver digital products or services.
   • Experience functioning in an organizational leadership capacity as a data scientist (using predictive analytics) or working in an organizational leadership capacity in the field of artificial intelligence/machine learning which can include: utilizing tools, algorithms or mathematical/statistical modeling techniques to positively impact business outcomes.

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)