Summary The incumbent serves as a Risk Management Specialist in the Deputy Administration for Product Management, Product Administration and Standards Division, Underwriting Standards Branch with primary responsibility for the development and maintenance of new and existing crop policies, Federal regulations, underwriting and loss adjustment standards, and methods and procedures for all phases of the crop, revenue, and other insurance programs. USDA employees: Please refer to the Next Steps section. Duties Develop Federal regulations, procedures, and schedules to ensure proper implementation and administration of the Federal crop insurance program. Coordinate, conduct, and participate in the research, development, and revision of insurance policies, standards, underwriting methods, and loss adjustment procedures. Review, analyze, and evaluate proposed regulatory and legislative changes, legal decisions and opinions to serve as a resource person. Develop and recommend appropriate actions to the proper chain of command. Research and evaluate statutory, regulatory, policy, and procedural impact analyses to enhance RMA's operations, functions, and activities. Relay insurance and reinsurance principles, practices, and terminology and facilitates conference calls, meetings, and discussion groups with government and non-government personnel, in formal and informal settings. Work with Contracting Officers, Contracting Officer's Representatives, and other entities in the contracting chain to ensure fiscal responsibility and prudent expenditure of Federal funds. Qualifications In order to qualify, you must meet the eligibility and qualifications requirements as defined below by the closing date of the announcement. For more information on the qualifications for this position, visit the Office of Personnel Management's General Schedule Qualification Standards. Time-in-Grade Requirement: If you are a current federal employee in the General Schedule (GS) pay plan and applying for a promotion opportunity, you must meet time-in-grade (TIG) requirements of 52 weeks of service at the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the position being filled. You must meet this requirement by the closing date of this announcement. Your application and resume must clearly show that you possess the experience requirements. If education is required or being used to qualify, you must submit a copy of your transcripts. Specialized Experience Requirement For the GS-11 grade level: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-09 grade level in federal service or comparable experience not gained through federal service. Specialized experience is defined as: planning, conducting and implementing research and analysis pertaining to agriculture, business data, or business support processing system issues; including applying analytical and investigative techniques while evaluating problems and conducting detailed analysis of complex functions, data and work processes to ensure uniform and consistent application of underwriting policy, laws and other legal and procedural requirements. OR Education at the GS-11 grade level: Ph. D or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M. in a field which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position, such as: agriculture, agricultural economics, farm management, agronomy, horticulture, economics, statistics, actuarial science, or any other field directly related to the position. OR Combination of Education and Experience: A combination of education and experience may be used to qualify for this position as long as the computed percentage of the requirements is at least 100%. To compute the percentage of the requirements, divide your total months of experience by 12. Then divide the total number of completed graduate semester hours (or equivalent) beyond the second year (total graduate semester hours minus 36) by 18. Add the two percentages. Specialized Experience for GS-12: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 grade level in federal service or comparable experience not gained through federal service. Specialized experience is defined as: interpreting requirements for the implementation and administration of new or revised legislation or regulatory changes to insurance or agricultural programs, policies and legislation; ensuring uniform and consistent application of agricultural or insurance related policies and laws; and developing or modifying risk management and insurance programs and performing evaluations to ensure their efficiency and effectiveness. Specialized Experience for GS-13: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 grade level in federal service or comparable experience not gained through federal service. Specialized experience is defined as: independently interpreting requirements for the implementation and administration of new or revised legislation or regulatory changes; including independently initiating and conducting research, applying analytical techniques, interpreting, researching, and performing analysis on regulations related to agricultural programs, policies, and legislation; ensuring uniform and consistent application of agricultural related policies, laws; and developing or modifying risk management and insurance programs and performing evaluations to ensure their efficiency and effectiveness. 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 and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Education THE SUBSTITUTION OF EDUCATION IS NOT QUALIFYING FOR THE GS-12/GS-13 LEVEL. College Transcript: If qualifying based on education, you must submit a copy of your college transcript with course number and department (i.e., Bio 101, Math 210, etc.), course title, number of credit hours, and grade earned. If a relevant course is not clearly qualifying (e.g., special topic, seminar, research, thesis, obscure or misleading course title, etc.), please submit an official course syllabi and/or detailed course description from the university/college to ensure proper evaluation. Your education must have been successfully obtained from an accredited school, college or university recognized by the U.S. Department of Education to be credited toward qualifications. You may verify accreditation by visiting the U.S. Department of Education Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs website. We will verify your education accordingly. Foreign Education: You must submit verification that education completed in a foreign institution, was recognized by an accreditation body accepted by the U.S. Department of Education. You must include a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript. There are private organizations that specialize in this evaluation and a fee is normally associated with this service. For a list of private organizations that evaluate education, visit the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES) website. Your transcripts must be in English or include an English translation. You may submit an unofficial copy of your transcript at the initial phase of the application process. However, if selected, you will be required to submit official transcripts prior to entering on duty. Please refer to the "How to Apply" section for instructions on submitting transcripts.