Attorney (GS-15)

Summary

The Office of General Counsel (OGC) at the ODNI provides legal advice and counsel to the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and other ODNI officials on a wide range of legal issues to include intelligence and national security law; procurement and acquisition law; personnel law; government ethics, fiscal law; general administrative law; legislative support; government information practices (Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act); and intellectual property law.

Duties

Provide expert oral and written legal advice and guidance on the most complex areas of law, with appropriate input from supervisors and colleagues; expertly interpret and explain laws, regulations, policies, and other legal authorities, related to Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and Intelligence Community (IC) business. Counsel clients, including executive-level government officials, on the most complex legal issues and provide innovative and highly effective guidance on possible courses of action; expertly prepare complex, high profile, and persuasive legal documents on the most complex legal issues for a variety of internal and external recipients. Adroitly coordinate legal guidance within the Office of General Counsel (OGC), ODNI, the IC, and the Executive Branch; expertly mediate, negotiate, and resolve inter-agency and intra-agency disputes covering a wide range of topics across multiple legal practice areas; consistently demonstrate "strategic lawyering" practices that anticipate or prevent legal problems. Expertly conduct, or direct the conduct of, legal research and analysis on extremely complex or sensitive legal issues that have a significant impact on ODNI or IC interests, to include conducting interviews and investigations and briefing ODNI leadership on issues and findings. Provide timely reviews of planned ODNI and IC activities for compliance with the law and brief ODNI and IC leaders on potential legal and policy issues, and develop solutions to address the most difficult legal problems having potential high-level or large-scale impact on the ODNIs and ICs mission or activities. Expertly analyze laws, bills, reports and Congressional records, as well as proposed Executive Branch orders, directives, regulations and policy statements, to determine their effect on the ODNI and the IC; provide authoritative advice and counsel to senior management on ODNI and IC legislative proposals, including Congressional testimony. Provide expert briefings and advocate for ODNI and IC views on particular matters to judges, administrative bodies, Executive Branch entities, Congress, and private sector entities; cogently briefs senior ODNI and IC management on legal issues that relate to ODNI and IC activities. Assist the Department of Justice in the most complex civil and criminal litigation by advocating for the ODNIs position, protecting classified information from disclosure, and defending the official actions of IC employees. Expertly negotiate complex contracts and other agreements with other agencies, private sector entities, and foreign liaison.

Qualifications

This is an excepted service GS-15 position open to the public and all current federal employees at the GS-15 and one level below. Current federal employees at the GS-15 and one level below may apply to this position, and if selected will maintain pay set at their current grade and step. Current federal employees at grade levels GS-13 and below are not eligible for this position and their application will not be forwarded to the hiring manager. All current federal employees that apply for this position must submit their most recent SF-50, Notification of Personal Action (i.e., dated within the last 52 weeks from the closing date of this vacancy announcement) to verify their status of eligibility. Mandatory Requirements: Expert ability to interpret laws, regulations, judicial decisions, Executive orders, and statutes involving complex concepts and issues, as well as expert-level research, analytical, and organizational skills. Expert-level knowledge of one or more of the general or specialized areas of OGC's law practice, such as: federal taxation, federal employee ethics, Equal Employment Opportunity law, contracts, operations law, administrative law, and litigation. Expert interviewing skills and techniques to skillfully collect relevant information; superior ability to balance client needs with professional objectivity and integrity. Expert ability to prepare and edit logical, concise, and accurate written materials on the most complex topics that are easy to understand, persuasive, grammatically correct, and conform to OGC, ODNI, and other applicable legal standards for form and content. Superior ability to quickly integrate and synthesize the facts and law to make legally sound decisions pertaining to the most complex situations, or in the context of ambiguous or ill-defined situations. Superior ability to routinely communicate the most complex concepts and issues in a manner well matched to the audience being addressed, and to consistently make sound, timely decisions in complex, ambiguous or ill-defined situations. Superior interpersonal, organizational and problem solving skills, including ability to work effectively both independently and in a collaborative environment and superior creative problem solving skills. Completion of a Doctorate of Jurisprudence or Bachelor of Laws degree from an American Bar Association accredited law school, and active membership of the Bar of the highest court of a US State, Territory, Commonwealth, or the District of Columbia. Proof of Bar status is required. At least 5 years professional legal experience post Bar admission is required to qualify at the GS-15 level.

Education

Bachelors

How you will be evaluated

You must submit the supporting documents listed under the "Required Documents" section of this announcement. We will review your resume and supporting documentation to ensure you meet the basic qualification requirements. Only include documents listed under the "Required Documents" section of this announcement. If you have more than one copy of a document, only include your most recent copy. If you are among the best qualified, you may be referred to the hiring manager for consideration and may be called for an interview. As part of the application process for this position, applicants will be required to respond to four free-response essay questions, which are detailed below. These responses will not be scored or rated as part of the initial evaluation. Instead, they provide applicants with an opportunity to elaborate on their qualifications, professional background, and commitment to public service. FREE RESPONSE ESSAY QUESTIONS All applicants must answer the following four short, free response essay questions. The responses cannot exceed 200 words per question. By submitting your responses to the following questions, you certify that you are using your own words and did not use a consultant or AI (such as a large language model [LLM]). How has your commitment to the Constitution and the founding principles of the United States inspired you to pursue this role within the Federal government? Provide a concrete example from professional, academic, or personal experience. In this role, how would you use your skills and experience to improve government efficiency and effectiveness? Provide specific examples where you improved processes, reduced costs, or improved outcomes. In this role, you will be expected to professionally and efficiently implement executive direction. Provide an example where you implemented leadership direction on a strategy or policy decision that differed from your own recommendation. How has a strong work ethic contributed to your professional, academic or personal achievements? Provide one or two specific examples and explain how those qualities would enable you to serve effectively in this position.

How to apply

We encourage you to read the entire announcement prior to submitting your application. In order to be considered, you must apply via USAJOBS. The ODNI will not accept emailed applications. Your application must be received by 11:59 PM (EST) on the closing date of this announcement. Applications received after the closing date will NOT be eligible for consideration. All attachments should be in Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF format. Do not include the following types of information in your profile or resume: Classified or government sensitive information Social Security Number (SSN) Photos of yourself Personal information such as age, gender, religious affiliation, etc. Encrypted and digitally signed documents

Other information

Selected candidates may be entitled to incentive/retention payments of 10% of base salary. JOB INTERVIEW TRAVEL Candidates from outside the Washington Metropolitan Area (WMA) may be selected for a telephone, teleconference, or in-person interview. SALARY DETERMINATION The ODNI uses a rank-in-person system in which rank is attached to GS employees on the basis of individual qualifications, experience, and performance. Individuals whose current GS grade is equivalent to the grade of the advertised position will retain their current grade and step. Individuals who transfer to the ODNI from a non-GS pay scale will have base pay converted to the appropriate GS grade and step as determined by the Chief of Human Resource Management. In some cases when a current federal civilian employee applies for an ODNI position that is a lower grade than his or her personal grade, the candidate's personal grade will be downgraded to the grade of the advertised ODNI position and pay will be set at the step that is closest to, and not less than, the employee's current annual base rate of pay, not to exceed the maximum step rate of the GS grade to which assigned. RELOCATION EXPENSES For new ODNI employees, reimbursement for relocation is discretionary based on availability of funds. REASONABLE ACCOMMODATIONS For individuals requiring a reasonable accommodation to support a disability that interferes with completing the job application or hiring process, please contact ODNI Human Resource Management Reasonable Accommodation (HRM RA) by email at DNI_COO_HRM_RA_ALL@odni.gov. Requests for reasonable accommodation will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. To ensure ODNI HRM RA can respond to requests for reasonable accommodation in a timely manner, ODNI HRM RA will only respond to communications that are directly related to an individual's accommodation request. We appreciate your understanding in this matter. The ODNI is an equal opportunity employer and abides by applicable employment laws and regulations.