ATTORNEY ADVISOR (GS-14)

Summary

The primary purpose of this position is to serve as the senior civilian attorney for Administrative and Civil Law in the Office of the Staff Judge Advocate (OSJA), Headquarters, North American Aerospace Defense Command and United States Northern Command (NORAD and USNORTHCOM), and its components, regions, and separate commands (C/R/Ss), providing expert legal advice and counsel on highly sensitive, politically significant, and complex legal matters.

Duties

Provides comprehensive legal advice and counsel on administrative and civil law matters affecting command operations, mission execution, and organizational administration. Serves as Principal Deputy to the SJA as Ethics Counselor for N/NC, with responsibility for developing, administering, and overseeing the Commands' comprehensive ethics training, counseling, and financial disclosure management programs. Serves as the Commands' Labor and Employment Law Attorney, providing comprehensive legal advice, representation, and counsel on all civilian workforce matters, labor-management relations, and employment disputes. Provides legal advice and counsel on federal acquisition, fiscal law, environmental law, and procurement matters affecting command operations and activities.

Qualifications

GENERAL REQUIREMENTS: You MUST have successfully completed a full course of study in a school of law accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA) and have the first professional law degree (LLB or JD). In addition, at the time of application, you must provide proof, dated within four months of application, of "active" status with a bar of the highest court of a State, U.S. commonwealth, U.S. territory, or the District of Columbia. On-line information is allowed as long as it shows that you are in "active" status. Specialized Experience: In addition to the basic requirement: you must have professional legal experience in excess of three (3) years that commensurate with the position's duties and responsibilities. KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES (KSAs): Your qualifications will be evaluated on the basis of your level of knowledge, skills, abilities and/or competencies in the following areas: 1. Ability to apply a broad range of administrative and civil law principles to independently analyze and resolve complex legal issues affecting a senior-level joint military command. 2. Ability to develop, administer, and oversee a command-wide ethics program including providing authoritative advice and rendering recommendations on complex financial disclosure and conflict of interest matters. 3. Skill in federal labor and employment law sufficient to represent the agency in complex administrative litigation before bodies such as the EEOC and MSPB and to advise on all aspects of civilian personnel law. 4. Skill in federal fiscal, contract, and acquisition law sufficient to analyze and resolve complex issues involving multi million-dollar programs, varied appropriations, and novel procurement matters with limited or no legal precedent. 5. Skill in legal research and analysis sufficient to interpret ambiguous statutes, resolve novel questions of law, and draft complex legal memoranda, opinions, briefs, and agreements. 6. Ability to communicate effectively with senior officials, command staff, and external stakeholders on complex administrative and civil law matters through written opinions, oral briefings, and advisory consultations. At the time of application, you must provide proof, dated within four months of application, of "active" status and in good standing with a bar of the highest court of a State, US commonwealth, US territory, or the District of Columbia. On-line information is allowed as long as it shows that you are in "active" status and dated within four months of application. PART-TIME OR UNPAID EXPERIENCE: Credit will be given for appropriate unpaid and or part-time work. You must clearly identify the duties and responsibilities in each position held and the total number of hours per week. VOLUNTEER WORK EXPERIENCE: Refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service Programs (i.e., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community; student and social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge and skills that can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Conditions of Employment: This position is designated by the Air Force as a Test Designated Position (TDP) under the Air Force Civilian Drug Testing Program. As a mandatory requirement for employment in this TDP, the incumbent is (A) to refrain from use of illegal drugs and (B) if required, to submit to urinalysis testing. Illegal drug use by employees in sensitive position presents a clear threat to the mission of the Air Force, national security, and public safety. The selectee must sign a statement acknowledging the position occupied is identified as a TDP. May be required to perform Battle Roster functions during Exercises and Real-World events. Battle Roster functions may include but are not limited to the Joint Operations Center (JOC), Future Operations Center (FOC), Future Plans Center (FPC), Joint Logistics Operations Center (JLOC), N&NC Deployment and Distribution Operations Center (NDDOC), Joint Intelligence Operations Center-North (JIOC-N), Joint Cyber Center (JCC), and other tasks as assigned. These duties may require additional duty hours and/or a physical/medical assessment to deploy to alternate duty locations (non-combat) or in place. The physical/medical assessment is not a pre-employment requirement. This is a KEY position IAW 32 CFR, Part 44 Appendix A and DoD Directive 1200.7. A Key Position is a Federal position that cannot be vacated during a war, national emergency, or mobilization without seriously impairing the capability of the parent Federal Agency to function effectively. Applicants for positions designated as "Key" positions who do not agree to this condition shall not be extended an offer of employment. The employee must be removed from the Ready Reserve and CANNOT become a member of the Ready Reserve while assigned to this position. Employee may be required to work overtime and/or be "on call" after normal duty hours, which may include evenings, weekends or holidays. To meet deadlines imposed by the need for resolutions to urgent legal problems involving national security and fluid real-life situations, more than a 40-hour workweek may frequently be required. Employee must be a graduate of a law school accredited by the American Bar Association, and be currently licensed as an attorney, in active (or equivalent) status and in good standing, with the bar of a U.S. state, territory, or commonwealth. Required to disclose any pending ethics or other judicial or miscellaneous allegations under review, including any adverse findings by a state bar or disciplinary committee and must consent to provide a letter from each state where admitted in order to demonstrate good standing. YA002 = Eligible for situational telework only, including Ad hoc, Emergency, or OPM prescribed "Unscheduled" Telework. This eligibility is separate and distinct from the employee's eligibility. A civilian employee's telework arrangement may be terminated at the discretion of the supervisor or at the employee's request.

Education

Must be a graduate of a law school accredited by the American Bar Association, and be currently licensed as an attorney, in active (or equivalent) status and in good standing, with the bar of a U.S. state, territory, or commonwealth. The attorney must maintain such bar membership in at least one jurisdiction during the entire course of employment with the Air Force.

How you will be evaluated

Your application package (resume, supporting documents, and responses to the questionnaire) will be used to determine your eligibility, qualifications, and quality ranking for this position. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating or consideration for employment. The resume/documents you submit must support your responses to the online questionnaire. If your application contradicts or does not support your questionnaire responses, you will receive a rating of "not qualified" or "insufficient information" and you will not receive further consideration for this job. Applications who disqualify themselves will not be evaluated further.

How to apply

The complete Application Package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on 11/02/2026 To preview the Application Questionnaire, please click the following link: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13100096 To begin the process, click the Apply Online button to create an account or log in to your existing USAJOBS account. Follow the prompts to complete the application questionnaire. Please ensure you click the Submit My Application button at the end of the process. To apply for this position, you must provide a complete Application Package which includes: 1. Your Resume. If you submit more than one resume, only the most recent will be reviewed. The "most recent" is considered the resume with the latest timestamp. Resumes may not exceed two pages. The two-page resume ensures the most relevant experience is reviewed and considered, which is a common practice in both the public and private sectors. Resumes exceeding two pages will be removed from consideration. Additional information on how to complete or update your resume may be located here. For qualification determination your resume must contain hours worked per week and dates of employment (i.e., month/year to month/year or month/year to present). If your resume does not contain this information, your application may be marked as insufficient, and you will not receive consideration for this position. If you are a current Federal employee or previous Federal employee, provide your pay plan, series and grade, i.e. GS-0301-09. Current Federal Civilian Employees may list any relevant performance related rating (given within the last three years) and/or incentive awards in your resume. Do NOT include photographs, inappropriate material, inappropriate content, nor personal information such as age, gender, religion, social security number, etc., on your resume. If the resume you submit contains such information you will not be considered for this vacancy. Your name, first and last, MUST be included on your resume. 2. A complete Application Questionnaire 3. Additional Required Documents (see Required Documents section). Ensure all submitted documents contain your full name. 4. Help recruiters find you. Make your resume and profile searchable, which means recruiters may contact you about possible jobs. Additional information may be located here. 5. Optional Documents: Performance Appraisals for Current Federal Civilian Employees - Most recent performance appraisals (dated within last 3 years) showing the official rating of record, signed by a supervisor, or statement why the performance appraisal is unavailable. PLEASE NOTE: It is the applicant's responsibility to verify that information entered and/or uploaded, (i.e., resume) is received, accurate, and submitted by the closing date. You may verify your documents have been processed with your application package successfully. You can access your USAJOBS account to do so by clicking here. Uploaded documents may take up to one hour to clear the virus scan. Human Resources WILL NOT modify or change any answers submitted by an applicant.

Other information

Employed Annuitants (Reemployed Annuitants): Applicants in receipt of an annuity based on civilian employment in the Federal Service are subject to the DoD Policy on The Employment of Annuitants. Click here for more information. Writing Example: Prior to receiving an offer, you will be asked to provide a writing sample demonstrating your legal analytical skills. 120-Day Register: This announcement may result in a 120-day register that may be used to fill like vacancies for 120 days after the closing date. Applicants may be referred for consideration as vacancies occur. Direct Deposit: All federal employees are required to have direct deposit. Incentives: Recruitment and/or retention incentives may or may not be used. Disabled veteran leave is available to a Federal employee hired on/after 5 Nov 2016, who is a veteran with a service-connected disability rating of 30% or more. For more information, click here. If you have questions regarding this announcement and have hearing or speech difficulties click here.