Supervisory Personnel Security Specialist

About the role

About the Position: This position supports the mission of the Defense Health Agency (DHA) Administration Security Division, Personnel Security Branch and is located in San Antonio, TX. This is not a virtual/remote position.

You must live within or be willing to relocate within a commutable distance of the identified duty location (San Antonio, TX).

What you will do

• Serve as the final adjudicative authority for suitability or fitness determinations for federal employment.
• Advise DHA personnel on the status of background investigations and onboarding timelines to support their staffing needs.
• Provide clear, accurate guidance to applicants and current personnel regarding complex security clearance requirements, fingerprinting processes, and appeal procedures.
• Evaluate complex cases containing derogatory information (e.g., criminal history, financial issues) and making definitive, timely "pass/fail" risk decisions to protect the agency.
• Prioritize and reassign casework among subordinate specialists to meet urgent, mission-critical deployment or hiring deadlines.
• Adapt agency Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and local policies rapidly in response to sudden changes in Office of Personnel Management (OPM) or Department of Defense (DoD) vetting mandates.
• Manage workflows and balance workloads across geographically separated offices to account for staffing shortages or sudden surges in investigation requests.
• Provide day-to-day supervision, mentorship, and performance feedback to a team of security specialists, fostering a cohesive team environment despite geographic separation.
• Analyze conflicting or incomplete information within National Agency Checks or Single Scope Background Investigations to determine the true nature of a security risk.
• Identify systemic bottlenecks or delays within the DHA personnel vetting pipeline and implementing procedural improvements to reduce overall processing and onboarding times.
• Formulate comprehensive personnel security policies to ensure organizational compliance with federal regulations.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated based on how well you meet the qualifications listed in this vacancy announcement. Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), the responses you provide on the application questionnaire, and the result of the online assessments required for this position.

You will be assessed on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics): Accountability Customer Service Decisiveness Flexibility Interpersonal Skills Problem Solving Resilience Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration.

Cheating on the online assessment may also result in your removal from consideration. You may claim Military Spouse preference. You may claim Priority Placement Program (PPP) preference.

Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP). If you are a Federal employee in the competitive service and your agency has notified you in writing that you are a displaced employee eligible for ICTAP consideration, you may receive selection priority for this position.

To receive selection priority, you must: (1) meet ICTAP eligibility criteria (2) be rated well-qualified for the position and; (3) submit the appropriate documentation to support your ICTAP eligibility. To be considered well-qualified and receive selection priority applicants must satisfy all qualification requirements for the position and receive a score of 90 or above.

Additional information about the program is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website.

Documents you must provide

• The documents you are required to submit vary based on the authority you are using to apply (i.e., applying as a veteran, applying as a current permanent Federal employee, applying as a reinstatement, etc).
• Please review the following links to see which documents you need to provide to prove your eligibility to apply: Applicant Checklist for Internal/MP Announcements (DoD) As described above, 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.
• Your resume: Your resume must be two pages or less and must support the specialized experience described in this announcement.
• Resumes exceeding two pages will be removed from consideration.
• For each relevant work experience, make sure you include the employer's name, job title, start and end dates (include month and year), for qualifications purposes, the number of hours worked per week, and a brief description that show you can perform the tasks at the required level listed in the job announcement.
• If your resume does not contain this information, your application may be marked as incomplete, and you may not receive consideration for this position.
• Avoid using acronyms and terms that are not easily understood.
• The hiring agency will not make assumptions about what's in your resume.
• If your resume includes a photograph or other inappropriate material or content, it will not be used to make eligibility and qualification determinations, and you may not be considered for this vacancy.
• For additional information, to include formatting tips, see: What to include in your resume.
• Other supporting documents: Cover Letter, optional Most recent Performance Appraisal, if applicable Proof of Eligibility to Apply: Your application must include the documents which prove you are eligible to apply for the vacancy.
• The Proof of Eligibility document describes authorities commonly used in merit promotion recruitment and what document(s) are required to prove you meet the requirements of the authority.
• You must meet the requirements of at least one of the authorities listed in the Who May Apply section above to receive further consideration.
• Time-in-grade documentation: If you are applying for a higher grade and your SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you meet the one year time-in-grade requirement so you will need to provide an SF-50 which clearly demonstrates you meet the time-in-grade requirements (examples of appropriate SF-50s include Promotions, Within-grade Grade/Range Increases, and SF-50s with an effective date more than one year old).
• NOTE: Documents submitted as part of the application package, to include supplemental documents, may be shared beyond the Human Resources Office.
• Some supplemental documents such as military orders and marriage certificates may contain personal information for someone other than you.
• You may sanitize these documents to remove another person's personal information before you submit your application.
• You may be asked to provide an un-sanitized version of the documents if you are selected to confirm your eligibility.

What to expect next

If you provided an email address, you will receive an email message acknowledging receipt of your application. Your application package will be used to determine your eligibility, qualifications, and quality ranking for this position. If you are determined to be ineligible or not qualified, your application will receive no further consideration.

Based on your application and your responses to the application questionnaire, you may be presented with instructions on how to access the USA Hire system to complete the online assessments. The online assessments must be completed within 48 hours following the close of this announcement.

You will have the opportunity to request a testing accommodation for the assessment should you have a disability covered under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended.

Additional information

Male applicants born after December 31, 1959 must complete a Pre-Employment Certification Statement for Selective Service Registration.

You will be required to provide proof of U.S. Citizenship.

This position requires a 1 year probationary period during which the agency evaluates your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest.

In making this determination, the agency may consider your performance and conduct; agency needs and interests; whether your continued employment supports organizational or Government goals; and whether it promotes the efficiency of the Federal service. Continued employment requires written certification that it advances the public interest. Direct Deposit of Pay is required.

Selection is subject to restrictions resulting from Department of Defense referral system for displaced employees. Recruitment or relocation incentives MAY be authorized for highly qualified candidates. Salary negotiation may be available for those candidates who are new to Federal service.

Leave accrual negotiation may be available for those candidates who are new to Federal service. Student Loan repayment may be authorized. Multiple positions may be filled from this announcement.

Salary includes applicable locality pay or Local Market Supplement. If you have retired from federal service and you are interested in employment as a reemployed annuitant, see the information in the Reemployed Annuitant information sheet.

Payment of Permanent Change of Station (PCS) costs is not authorized, based on a determination that a PCS move is not in the Government interest.

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

Requests for RA for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for RA 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, based on your adjudication decision.

You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments if you received the link after the close of the announcement.

To determine if you need a RA, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments here: ***