Program Manager (Area Manager)

Organizational Location: This position is with the Department of Homeland Security, within U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Information and Technology, Field Support Directorate, Northeast Region and National Capital Region. See duties sections for a list of duty locations.

Qualifications:

Experience: You qualify for the GS-14 grade level if you possess 1 year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level, performing duties such as:

• Planning, organizing, coordinating, controlling, and evaluating the IT activities of an organization
• Leading large, complex, high-visibility IT projects, often cutting across organizational lines
• Developing strategic plans or directives in regards to program development while providing expert and authoritative advice on program issues to higher level officials across an organization
• Defining critical quality factors and processing improvements on key initiatives that result in significant improvements in service delivery, reduced operational unit costs, increased quality, and reduced process cycle time

NOTE: Your resume must explicitly indicate how you meet this requirement, otherwise you will be found ineligible. Please see the "Required Documents" section below for additional resume requirements.

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.

You must:

• Meet all qualification requirements, including education if applicable to this position, subject to verification at any stage of the application process; and
• Meet all applicable Time in Grade requirements (current federal employees must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade or equivalent grade band in the federal service) by 06/04/2026.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) must authorize employment offers made to current or former political appointees. If you are currently, or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES or Presidential Appointee employee in the Executive Branch, you must disclose this information to the Human Resources Office.

Background Investigation: U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is a federal law enforcement agency that requires all applicants to undergo a thorough background investigation prior to employment in order to promote the agency's core values of vigilance, service to country, and integrity. During the screening and/or background investigation process, you will be asked questions regarding any felony criminal convictions or current felony charges, the use of illegal drugs (e.g., marijuana, cocaine, heroin, LSD, methamphetamines, ecstasy), and the use of non-prescribed controlled substances including any experimentation, possession, sale, receipt, manufacture, cultivation, production, transfer, shipping, trafficking, or distribution of controlled substances. For additional information on the preemployment process, review the following link: Applicant Resources | CBP Careers

Residency: There is a residency requirement for all applicants not currently employed by CBP. Individuals are required to have physically resided in the United States or its protectorates (as declared under international law) for at least three of the last five years. If you do not meet the residency requirement and you have been physically located in a foreign location for more than two of the last five years, you may request an exception to determine if you are eligible for a residency waiver by meeting one or more of the following conditions:

• Working for the U.S. Government as a federal civilian or as a member of the military
• A dependent who was authorized to accompany a federal civilian or member of the military who was working for the U.S. government
• Participation in a study abroad program sponsored by a U.S. affiliated college or university
• Working as a contractor, intern, consultant or volunteer supporting the U.S. government

Probationary Period: All employees new to the federal government must serve a one year probationary period during the first year of his/her initial permanent federal appointment to determine fitness for continued employment. Current and former federal employees may be required to serve or complete a probationary period.

Responsibilities:

The vacancies can be filled in the following locations:

1 vacancy:

• Baltimore, MD
• Boston, MA
• Fort Fairfield, ME
• Houlton, ME
• Elizabeth, NJ
• Buffalo, NY
• Champlain, NY
• Grand Island, NY
• Massena, NY
• New York (Queens), NY
• Pittsburgh, PA
• Harpers Ferry, WV

1 vacancy:

• Washington, DC

Location Preference: You may select up to two locations where you would be willing to work.

Additional selections may be made to include other organizational divisions and/or units within the duty location(s) listed above.

Joining the Customs and Border Protection, Office of Information and Technology, will allow you to provide expert advice and analysis to management on a wide range of administrative programs having department wide impact. This position starts at a salary of $125,776.00 (GS-14, Step 1) to $163,514.00 (GS-14, Step 10). Apply for this exciting opportunity to strengthen the Department of Homeland Security's ability to perform homeland security functions by developing, analyzing and advising internal administrative policies, procedures, and management processes of the office.

In this Program Manager position you will become a key team member of the Department of Homeland Security professionals. Typical work assignments include:

• Directing, planning, organizing, coordinating, controlling, and evaluating the activities/services which are professional, technical, and/or administrative in nature for an Office of Information Technology program (OIT); such as technical direction in project management, team building, facilitation, process improvement analysis, and the methodology required to develop and substantiate a business case for the selected project.
• Providing technical advice on strategic issues; collaborating with other program offices across the Office of Information and Technology (OIT), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and other components within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to improve end-to-end processes throughout the program office within OIT; utilizing various analytical methodology including but not limited to a wide range of statistical methods and tools, mathematical techniques, and process mapping.
• Determining goals and objectives that need additional emphasis by developing measures that evaluate performance and making recommendations for information technology improvement.
• Managing through subordinate supervisors of technical, professional, administrative and comparable work diverse programs and/or services, along with monitoring program accomplishments and identifying actual or potential problem areas, trends, merit and deficiency situations, areas of imbalance or other similar factors.
• Making decisions and resolving problems involving interpretation of the law or unusual situations requiring interpretation and application of CBP policy.

Salary : $125,776