Quality Assurance Specialist (Keystone)

About the role

See below for important information regarding this job. Additional vacancies may be filled from this announcement. This position is a Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) Keystone Program Opening.

Prior to appointment, all candidates will be required to sign a Keystone Conditions of Employment Agreement. Additional vacancies may be filled from this announcement.

What you will do

• Serves as a Quality Assurance developmental intern within DCMA.
• Completes classroom and on-the-job training to acquire, exercise, and maintain knowledge of the duties inherent quality assurance mission support activities.
• Observes and assists with quality or manufacturing surveillance activities on assigned contracts or other delegated support activities.
• Observes and assists with the performance of pre-award and/or post-award contract reviews to help assess the appropriate level of quality assurance recommendations and requirements.
• In a developmental capacity observes and assists with: quality system validation; ensuring critical characteristic inspections are performed and processes validated; participating in material review boards for nonconforming hardware.
• In a developmental capacity observes and assists with: special tooling, test equipment and facilities inspections; evaluating first article inspections according to approved plans; documenting QA activity findings.

Education

If the position has a minimum education requirement you MUST provide transcripts (unofficial are acceptable at the time of application) to support your educational claims. Or, if you are using education to qualify in lieu of specialized experience you MUST provide transcripts (unofficial are acceptable at the time of application) to support your educational claims.

The transcripts must include your name, the name of the college or university, class/course list, completed number of credits/hours, and the date degree conferred (if applicable). Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Licenses must be current at time of application.

GRADUATE EDUCATION: One academic year of graduate education is considered to be the number of credits hours that your graduate school has determined to represent one academic year of full-time study. Such study may have been performed on a full-time or part-time basis.

If you cannot obtain your graduate school's definition of one year of graduate study, 18 semester hours (or 27 quarter hours) should be considered as satisfying the requirement for one year of full-time graduate study.

FOREIGN EDUCATION: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show that the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university.

How you will be evaluated

Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your eligibility and/or score. Once the application process is complete, a review of your resume and supporting documentation may be completed and compared against your responses to the assessment questionnaire to determine if you are qualified for this job.

The rating you receive is based on your responses to the assessment questionnaire and USA Hire assessments. The score is a measure of the degree to which your background matches the competencies required for this position.

If your resume and/or supporting documentation is reviewed and a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications and or experience, you may lose consideration for this position. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating.

Direct Hire Evaluation: Once the application process is complete, a review of your application will be made to ensure you meet the job requirements. This vacancy will be filled through OPM's Direct Hire Authority. All applicants who meet the basic qualification requirements will be forwarded to the Selecting Official for consideration.

The rule of Three, Veteran's Preference and traditional rating and ranking of applicants do not apply to this vacancy. We will evaluate your application for basic eligibility and to determine if your experience meets the basic qualification requirements described in the announcement.

All applicants who meet the qualifications and other basic requirement are eligible for referral and selection consideration. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating.

Documents you must provide

• Required documents for submission vary based on the authority you are using to apply (e.g., applying as a veteran, a current permanent Federal employee, a reinstatement, etc).
• Your complete application includes your resume, your responses to the online questionnaire, and documents which prove your eligibility to apply.
• If you fail to provide these documents, you will be marked as having an incomplete application package and you will not be considered any further.
• The following documents are REQUIRED: 1.
• Your resume: IMPORTANT UPDATE: Your resume must not exceed two (2) pages.
• If your resume exceeds the two-page limit, you will be removed from consideration for this announcement.
• The resume and required supporting documentation should provide the minimum qualifications and relevant experience for the announced position.
• Must include the work schedule, hours worked per week, dates of employment, and duties performed.
• If multiple resumes are submitted by an applicant, only the last resume submitted will be reviewed for qualifications and referred for selection consideration, if eligible.
• The resume must not be more than 5MB and should be saved and uploaded as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages.
• We also accept GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, TXT, PDF, ODT or Word (DOC or DOCX).
• We do not accept PDF portfolio files.
• Page margins should be 0.5 inches, and font styles must be legible.
• Consider using 14-point size font for titles and 10-point for the main text.
• We recommend using a font like Lato, if available.
• Other widely available options are Calibri, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, Open San Source Sans Pro, Roboto or Noro Sans.
• Additional guidance on writing a federal resume can be found at: USAJOBS Help Center - How do I write a resume for a federal job?
• The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started.
• To ensure full credit for time worked regarding qualifications determinations your resume must include your work schedule.
• You are strongly encouraged to ensure your resume contains the number of hours worked per week and the specific dates of employment (i.e.,"40 hrs per week; 1/15/2020 - 1/14/2022" or "30 hrs per week; 1/15/2020 - Present").
• Transcripts (must include your name, the name of the college or university, class/course list, completed number of credits/hours, and the date degree conferred (if applicable): Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
• Licenses must be current at time of application.
• College transcript(s), required if qualifying based on education.
• PLEASE REVIEW THE LINK FOR OTHER SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS needed for proof of eligibility: Supporting Documents

What to expect next

If you meet the minimum qualifications of this position, you may be presented with instructions on how to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments (CBA) system. These additional online assessments must be completed within 48 hours following the close of this announcement unless you have requested Reasonable Accommodation for the USA Hire CBA.

Your results will be kept on record for one year when applying for future jobs that require the same USA Hire CBA. NOTE: If the USA Hire CBA is altered within a year of your last application, you will be required to take the new USA Hire CBA.

If no additional online assessments are required you will receive an OPM notification stating "It has been determined that you have completed all required online assessments and your application is complete.

No further action is required." To verify the status of your application, log into your USAJOBS account (***), all of your applications will appear on the Welcome screen. The Application Status will appear along with the date your application was last updated.

For information on what each Application Status means, visit: ***

Additional information

This position does not meet criteria for appointment of Reemployed Annuitants. The DoD criteria for hiring Reemployed Annuitants can be found at: DoDI 1400.25-V300. Tour of Duty: 1st Shift FLSA: Non-Exempt Bargaining Unit: No Selectee may be required to serve a trial/probationary period.

Financial Disclosure Required Acquisition, Technology & Logistics (AT&L) NON-CAP: Position requires DoD Acquisition Engineering & Tech Management, Foundational certification within required timeframes. Selectee must also achieve 80 hours of Continuous Learning Points (CLPs) every 2-years. Click here for more details and Resources.

Current federal employees may be entitled to pay retention, if selected. Military spouses working remotely are exempt from in-person work under the conditions explained by OPM's February 12, 2025 memorandum and the March 20, 2025 Frequently Asked Questions.

NOTE: During the Keystone Program, participants will receive specialized formal classroom training, computer-based training, and on-the-job (OJT) training. The training development program will consist of the following: Report initially to the Contract Management Office (CMO)/Center in the duty location for which you were selected.

Travel TDY (Temporary Duty Travel) for one week to attend training at the DCMA Learning Campus (DLC) in Fort Lee, VA. Spend 6 months in the CMO/Center for on-the-job (OJT) and developmental training. Return within the three-year developmental training to the DLC, HQ or other CMO locations for assessment/various functional specific training.

Reasonable Accommodation Requests: If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended and Americans with Disabilities Act 1990 as amended, that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a reasonable accommodation in your online application.

Requests for Reasonable Accommodations for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for Reasonable Accommodation must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for Reasonable Accommodations are made on a case-by-case basis.

If you meet the minimum qualifications of the position, after notification of the adjudication of your request, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments.

You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments.

To determine if you need a Reasonable Accommodation, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments here: *** Positions will be filled at any of the locations listed below.

Site specific salary information as follows: Austin, TX: $51,878 - $67,443 Fort Worth, TX: $54,857 - $71,315