TASKS AT BUREAU OF EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS (ECA) AND WASHINGTON-BASED OFFICES

Advisory Functions: Advises Department officials and other stakeholders in Washington, D.C. on American Spaces program environments. Advises overseas posts on American Spaces programming and operations; monitors trends; reports on the impact of American spaces; and files consultation reports.

Development of Programs: Proposes new programs, serves as a member of program development teams, and tests and evaluates program outcomes.

Administrative Functions: Manages fiscal resources, advises on funding sources for American Spaces, maintains currency of centralized databases, and ensures accountability.

Advocacy/Promoting Functions: Promotes American Spaces programs, awareness of American Spaces within the Department and among U.S. stakeholders, optimizes use of Bureau programs, and liaises with American academic, library, information, and cultural institution communities.

Specialist Expertise: Provides and applies specialist knowledge focused on public access to reliable, correct, and timely information and resources, and outreach to a wide range of audiences focused on identified priority subjects.

TASKS AT OVERSEAS MISSIONS AND AMERICAN SPACES ASSIGNED TO RPES PORTFOLIO

Engagement with Public Diplomacy Officials: Participates in public diplomacy programs, conducts official travel related to advisory and consultative services to PD sections, provides specialized expertise in information resources, troubleshoots on behalf of post, and promotes institutional linkages.

American Spaces Management: Develops strategic plans, provides expertise in the management of venues, such as libraries, museums, makerspaces, cultural spaces, and other related centers, assesses local information landscape, evaluates American Spaces collections, and advises on library/information/resource practice and standards.

American Spaces Supervision of Locally Employed (LE) Staff and Partner Coordinators: Conducts needs assessments, trains staff, hosts regional and topical workshops, writes position descriptions, participates in staff recruitment, and builds professional communities.

American Spaces Program Oversight: Promotes best practices, conducts outreach to library, tech, business, and cultural institution professionals and broader NGO and private sector community, develops collection resources, oversees programs, advises staff on the management of American spaces, recruits participants for exchanges, promotes use of new technologies, advises on copyright compliance, and advises on purchases/acquisitions.

Partner American Spaces and Binational Centers: Advises on viability of partnerships with American Space host institutions, clears on memoranda of understanding and other agreements, assesses compliance with American Spaces standards, advises on library/media collections, participates in partner programming, promotes best practices for partners, trains partner staff, and oversees partner grants.

Specialist Expertise: Provides and applies specialist knowledge focused on public access to reliable, correct, and timely information and resources, curating information, and outreach to a wide range of overseas audiences focused on identified priority subjects.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• Be a U.S. citizen and accept assignments based on the needs of the FS.
• Be able to obtain/maintain a Top Secret Security Clearance.
• Be able to meet the minimum medical qualification standard.
• Be able to obtain a favorable Suitability Review Panel determination.
• Be at least 20 years old at application and 21 years old to be appointed.
• Be appointed prior to age 60 (preference eligible veterans excepted).

Foreign Service Regional Public Engagement Specialists are experienced professional leaders with expertise in information resources and the management of libraries, makerspaces, cultural spaces, and other related centers. They are expected to interact with the global network of American Spaces, U.S. embassies and consulates, partner institutions, and the thousands of U.S. government and partner staff who operate them.

A Regional Public Engagement Specialist must adhere to the highest standards of integrity, dependability, attention to detail, teamwork and cooperation while accepting the need to travel frequently, to live overseas, and when necessary, to live away from family.

Qualifications

Specialized Experience demonstrates the candidate has acquired, and is able to apply, a combination of specific knowledge, skills and abilities appropriate to a Foreign Service RPES position. Candidates must demonstrate that their job-related experience has been at progressively increasing levels of performance and responsibility through such indicators as promotions, raises, increases in duties and responsibilities, and organizational and employee impact. Candidates must possess at least 10 years of Specialized Experience.

Examples of Specialized Experience include:

1. Experience in managing libraries, makerspaces, cultural spaces, and other related centers to include working with diverse public audiences, overseeing and advising on operations, understanding security risks and planning developing policies to support public access and accessibility, and upgrading and replacing equipment, furnishings, and resources.
2. Experience providing information and making recommendations to leadership teams affecting libraries, makerspaces, cultural centers, and other related centers based on input and data from their respective communities. Experience in supervising and developing staff and coordinating public outreach activities and programs for diverse audiences.
3. Experience implementing strategic planning, program design and assessment, and evaluation principles related to public outreach, with some experience in their applications in a multicultural setting preferred.
4. Experience developing and delivering training and professional development programs for adult learners. Experience in conducting staff training needs assessments, designing experiential learning activities, and facilitating training for diverse professional audiences.
5. Experience with financial mechanisms to include program budgets, contracts and grants management, reviewing funding proposals, and monitoring and evaluating program performance and effectiveness.

Candidates should demonstrate a strong command of the English language to include grammar, word usage, spelling, and punctuation. Foreign Service Specialists must consistently meet a high standard for English, both written (overall structure as well as grammar, spelling, and punctuation) and spoken (overall structure as well as delivery, clarity, and succinctness).

Formal experience studying a foreign language or demonstrated ability using a foreign language is desirable, but not required.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

The Department has conducted extensive job analysis research to determine Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs) and other attributes conducive to successful performance in this position. A candidate's education level, work experience, and other qualifications will be considered as part of the hiring decision-making process based on these KSA criteria. Not all of these attributes need to be met by a candidate; the attributes will be used as a set to evaluate candidates.

Knowledge of:

• Library, Museum, and/or Cultural Center Management: Experience in managing a library, museum, and/or cultural center that offers public programs. Knowledge of policies governing public access, resources, technology, and security, as referenced in the American Library Association's Core Competencies of Librarianship.
• Public Outreach, Applied Technology and Community Engagement: Knowledge of trends in public outreach, applied technology, and community-oriented reimagined spaces to attract, cultivate and impact audiences to promote organizational objectives. Some knowledge of data science principles and the ability to promote a data-driven mindset to guide decisions.
• Information Products and Services: Knowledgeable in the principles of reference services and collection development to recommend, interpret, evaluate, disseminate and/or use information resources to promote information literacy and media literacy.
• Project Management: Ability to plan and designate project resources, prepare budgets, monitor progress, and keep stakeholders informed on American Spaces projects, including renovation and construction projects.
• U.S. Culture: Basic knowledge of U.S. culture, values and customs, political and social institutions, history, and contemporary affairs.
• Fiscal Management Principles: Ability to manage budget and fiscal resources in support of public outreach and programming.
• Team and Personnel Management: Ability to direct and coordinate the activities of team members and staff, assess performance, assign tasks, motivate team members and staff, plan and organize, and establish a positive atmosphere.
  

Skills in:

• Public Access to Information and Community Outreach: Advanced applicable skill in providing public access to reliable, correct, and timely information and resources, and outreach to a wide range of audiences focused on identified priority subjects.
• Emerging Information Technology and Digital Platforms: Advanced applicable skill in using current and emerging information technology (e.g., social media, web and mobile technology) for public outreach and analyzing its effectiveness to meet organizational objectives.
• Outreach and Promotional Strategies: Ability to keep abreast of evolving community needs and promote a slate of programs, services and partnerships to develop programming to meet learning goals in support of organizational objectives.
• Change Management: Advanced interpersonal and management skills in order to motivate individuals and teams transitioning to new organizational goals, structures and/or ways of working (e.g., transition to cloud, social, mobile environments, collaborative team-based environments, changed reporting patterns).
• Training: Ability to conduct training needs assessments, design experiential learning activities, and facilitate training for staff on American Spaces programming and operations.
• Program Evaluation: Skills in evaluating a diverse range of outreach initiatives and programming services, with strong monitoring skills to manage grants and contracts.

Partner Relationships: Skills in establishing new models of collaboration and strengthening partnerships with multiple stakeholders to achieve organizational objectives.

• Organizational Management: Advanced skill in planning, organizing, and managing human and fiscal resources to bring about the successful completion of projects that support or achieve defined goals.
• Public Speaking and Presentations: Advanced communication skills to publicly articulate and explain objectives, societal norms and values, both in current and historical contexts, in order to advance understanding.
• Cross Cultural Environments: Ability to work effectively with embassy local staff and professional colleagues from host country institutions to design, implement, evaluate, and promote programming in a cross-cultural environment.
• Budget Management: Experience in preparing and monitoring budget and financial reports in order to assure that funds are used appropriately.
• Staff Development: Ability to assess staff professional development needs, including American Spaces staff and coordinators, and advise PDS teams on the appropriate procedures to meet those needs. Ability to supervise and effectively manage the performance of subordinates and develop staff involved in American Spaces activities.

Ability to:

• Formulate Strategic Goals: Ability to request and explain positions on policy issues to internal and external audiences and stakeholders, and to develop and execute strategies to achieve organizational objectives.
• Align Abilities and Talent with Organizational Vision: Ability to adapt individual abilities and talents to align with a larger organization's strategic goals and objectives.
• Locate, curate and adapt information from a wide variety of sources to achieve a programmatic objective.

Other Requirements: Openness for international career: Accept assignments based on the needs of the Foreign Service, experiencing frequent global travel.

Education

At the time of application, candidates MUST possess a Master's degree (or higher) from an accredited U.S. graduate program in one of the following fields, or closely-related fields, and 10 years of Specialized Experience out of the last 15 years.

• Library and Information Science
• Museum Studies
• Education
• Public Administration
• Strategic Communications

Education from a program or institution within the United States must be accredited at the time of program completion by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation.

Foreign Education

Foreign education acquired outside of any state of the U.S., the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, a Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, or any territory or possession of the U.S. must be evaluated by a member organization of one of the two national associations of credential evaluation services (NACES or AICE) in order to be given credit towards qualification.

• The accredited interpretation must include the summary and the foreign education transcripts.
• Foreign education transcripts that have not been evaluated by a credential evaluation service will not be accepted and the candidacy will be terminated.

For further information on the evaluation of foreign education, please refer to the Office of Personnel Management, Foreign Education section, and the U.S. Department of Education. The U.S. Department of State neither endorses nor recommends any individual evaluation service.

OPM: www.opm.gov

U.S. Department of Education: http://www.ed.gov

Please refer to the Required Documents Section on how to submit the required educational documentation for this position.

Additional information

EMPLOYMENT ELIGIBILITY VERIFICATION PROGRAM (E-Verify) - Verification of employment eligibility in the United States is required.

U.S. law requires organizations to employ only individuals who may legally work in the United States - either U.S. citizens, or foreign citizens who have the necessary authorization. This agency utilizes E-Verify to compare information from the Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, to data from U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Social Security Administration (SSA) records to confirm employment eligibility. If the employee's information does not match DHS and/or SSA records, the employee is given an opportunity to resolve the problem. If eligibility cannot be verified, employment will be terminated.

The U.S. Department of State Suitability Review Panel and standards are defined in Chapter 3 of the Foreign Affairs Manual. For more information please visit: https://fam.state.gov .

For more information about Veteran's Preference and how it is applied in the selection process, please visit: https://careers.state.gov/faq-items/are-veterans-given-hiring-preference/.

No candidate will be considered who has previously been separated from the Foreign Service under sections §607, §608, §610 or §611 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980, as amended, or who resigned or retired in lieu of separation under these provisions. In addition, no candidate will be considered who has previously been separated for failure to receive a career appointment under section §306 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980, as amended, or who resigned or retired in lieu thereof.

A Foreign Service Specialist separated for failure to receive a career appointment under section 306 may not re-apply to be a Foreign Service Specialist in the same skill code but may apply for another skill code or to be a Foreign Service Generalist.

Executive Branch agencies are barred by 5 US Code 3303 as amended from accepting or considering prohibited political recommendations and are required to return any prohibited political recommendations to sender. In addition, as mandated by 5 US Code 3110, relatives of federal employees cannot be granted preference in competing for these employment opportunities.

It is the policy of the Federal Government to treat all of its employees with dignity and respect and to provide a workplace that is free from discrimination whether discrimination is based on race, color, religion, sex (including gender identity or pregnancy), national origin, disability, political affiliation, marital status, membership in an employee organization, age, sexual orientation, or other non-merit factors.

The U.S. Department of State provides reasonable accommodation to candidates with disabilities. Procedures vary by test type, and all candidates must request reasonable accommodations in advance. For more information visit Requesting Reasonable Accommodations - Careers (state.gov). Decisions for granting reasonable accommodations are made on a case-by-case basis.

• Benefits
  
  A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new window Learn more about federal benefits.
  
  Benefits include health and medical coverage, federal retirement benefits, and paid leave. Overseas benefits include tax-free housing overseas, tax-free education allowance for dependent children between K-12 overseas, and an unrivaled opportunity to see the world and experience different cultures.
  
  The salary range listed is extracted from the Foreign Service Overseas and Washington pay scales. The starting step is determined in part by highest educational level achieved and professional experience level beyond the minimum qualifications. Individuals already working in government positions may be appointed based on highest previous rate as a federal employee. For more information on salary, please visit: https://careers.state.gov/benefits/benefits/.
  
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  Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.

How You Will Be Evaluated

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

Candidates will be evaluated on their total background including experience, education, awards, training, and self-development as it relates to the position. Selection for this position will be made only from among candidates possessing the best qualifications. Part-time work experience will be prorated.

The Department of State prohibits candidates from plagiarizing any portion of their employment application materials to include responses to questions in which candidates must provide a narrative response. Candidates must create their own responses originally and not copy or adapt them from other sources. The Department analyzes candidate submissions for plagiarism and will discontinue any individual's candidacy if found to have violated this plagiarism policy.

While the Department of State encourages candidates to create their narratives with great care, including correct use of grammar and style, candidates are prohibited from using any artificial intelligence (AI) tool, to include but not limited to ChatGPT, to aid in their written responses. The Department will discontinue any individual's candidacy if found to have violated this prohibition on use of AI tools in the application process.

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