Public Affairs Specialist

Duties

This position will organizationally be referred to as Director of External Affairs and Partnerships. Reporting to the Director, the Director of External Affairs and Partnerships serves on the senior management team and collaborates closely with leadership and experts to develop and communicate a strong identity, voice, positioning, and external relations strategy for APAC.

In this position, you will:

• Build identity, vision, and strategy. Oversee, manage, and contribute to engagement campaigns and partnerships, and ensure an integrated approach to various stakeholder communications.
• Develop and manage an integrated approach to programs, marketing, events, and services.
• Establish and maintain effective working relationships with APAC partners, stakeholders, media, and collaborators and oversee team efforts in this area.
• Manage department staff as requested, with oversight of the programming and communications teams. Deploy resources to successfully complete APAC programs and initiatives.
• Responsible for planning, designing and executing an overall strategy to inform and educate the general and specialized public about APAC’s programs, activities and services.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• Pass Pre-employment Background Investigation
• May need to complete a Probationary Period
• Maintain a Bank Account for Direct Deposit/Electronic Transfer
• Males born after 12/31/59 must be registered with Selective Service.
• May be required to serve an 18-month probationary period for supervisors.

Conditions of Employment

COVID-19 VACCINATION REQUIREMENTS:

For the latest information on the COVID-19 vaccination requirements and its impact on your application, click on Smithsonian Institution’s Frequently Asked Questions.

Qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of the announcement.

For information on qualification requirements, see Qualification Standards Handbook for General Schedule Positions on OPM website.

Qualifications

You qualify for this position if you have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-13 level in the Federal Service. For this position, specialized experience is defined as leading or directing a public relations program to include but not limited to social media and digital platforms within a museum, academic or nonprofit; developing and implementing communications and marketing to build the identity, mission and vision for a museum, academic or nonprofit; and overseeing or directly executing communications, outreach, public affairs, community engagement, partnership development, programmatic strategic planning, and program management.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Part-time and/or unpaid experience related to this position will be considered to determine the total number of years and months of experience. Be sure to note the number of paid or unpaid hours worked each week.

ATTENTION: Due to the large number of qualified applicants for positions of this type, this job announcement will close at 11:59 pm Eastern Time on either: (A) The closing date listed above or (B) The date that 100 applications are received; whichever occurs first. If the announcement closes on the date that 100 applications are received, all applications submitted by 11:59pm that day will be given consideration, including those in excess of 100.

Education

Education can't be substituted at this grade level.

Additional information

This position is not included in the bargaining unit.

Current or Former Political Appointees: Beginning January 1, 2010, agencies must seek prior approval from OPM before they can appoint a current or recent political appointee to a competitive or non-political excepted service position at any level under the provisions of title 5, United States Code. If you are currently or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule C, or Non-career SES employee in the executive branch, you MUST disclose that to the Office of Human Resources. Submit a copy of your applicable SF-50, along with a statement that provides the following information regarding your most recent political appointment:

• Position title;
• Type of appointment (Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES, or Presidential Appointee);
• Agency; and,
• Beginning and ending dates of appointment.

Recruitment Incentive: Recruitment incentive(s) may be authorized for this position. However, approval for incentives are contingent upon various availability. If authorized, certain incentives will require the incumbent to sign a service agreement to remain in the Federal government for a certain time period.

Note: This statement does not imply nor guarantee an incentive will be offered and paid.

• Benefits
• The Smithsonian offers a comprehensive benefits package that includes, in part, vacation and sick leave, holidays, health/life insurance, accident insurance, and excellent retirement program options.
• 
  
• Please see Benefits at https://www.si.edu/OHR/benefits for a complete description.
• Flexible Spending Accounts - https://www.fsafeds.com/
• Health Insurance - http://www.opm.gov/insure/health/index.asp
• Leave - http://www.opm.gov/oca/leave/index.asp
• Life Insurance - http://www.opm.gov/insure/life/index.asp
• Long Term Care Insurance - http://www.ltcfeds.com
• Retirement Program - https://www.opm.gov/retirement-services/

How You Will Be Evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Applicants for this position may be evaluated in multiple stages. The first stage is an evaluation of your responses to the online multiple-choice questions that assess your experience, education, and/or training for the job related competencies below:

• Knowledge of the principles, methods, practices and techniques of communication that enable the employee to function as an organization’s technical authority on all public affairs and community problems and issues.
• Skill in public/media relations, digital and social media advertising and publicity campaigns including visual branding to reach a variety of stakeholders particularly in the Asian American and Native/Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities.
• Skill in managing complex and highly sensitive projects that involve multiple departments with an organization.
• Knowledge of and experience working with Asian American and Native/Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities, organizations, and stakeholders in the United States.
• Ability to influence and engage direct and indirect reports and peers, provide leadership and establish sound, collegial working relationships and demonstrate good judgement.

Applicants who meet or exceed minimum qualifications will be assigned to one of three category groups based on job-related criteria:

• Best Category - Meets the minimum qualification requirements and excels in most of the job related competencies above.
• Better Category - Meets the minimum qualification requirements and satisfies most of the job related competencies above.
• Good Category - Meets the minimum qualification requirements, but does not satisfy most of the job related competencies above to a substantive degree.

This category rating process does not add veterans' preference points or apply the "rule of three", but protects the rights of veterans by placing them ahead of non-preference eligibles within each category. A selecting official may make selections from the highest quality category (Best Category) provided no preference eligible in that category is passed over to select a non-preference eligible in that category unless the requirements of 5 U.S.C. 3317(b) or 3318(b) are satisfied. Preference eligibles who meet minimum qualification requirements and who have a compensable service-connected disability of at least 10 percent must be listed in the highest quality category, except when the position being filled is scientific or professional at the GS-9 grade level or higher. Applicants who have not submitted a resume in the USAjobs system and/or have not answered all of the vacancy questions will not be considered for this position.