Summary

Technical Research, Development, and Engineering Officers use their specialized expertise to create and manage technical solutions to meet Agency mission needs.

Learn more about this agency

This job is open to

The public

U.S. Citizens, Nationals or those who owe allegiance to the U.S.

Federal employees - Competitive service

Current federal employees whose agencies follow the U.S. Office of Personnel Management's hiring rules and pay scales.

Federal employees - Excepted service

Current federal employees whose agencies have their own hiring rules, pay scales and evaluation criteria.

Duties

Technical Research, Development, and Engineering (TRDE) Officers create technical solutions to CIA's unique challenges. They research, develop, and operate new technologies, leveraging skills and experience in project management, engineering, the physical and life sciences, hardware, software, computing, and data processing. They work with industry, national labs, universities, and partners throughout the U.S. Government to design, build, and operate technical solutions. By applying their knowledge and skills, they are able to meet a wide range of needs to support and fulfill CIA overall mission.

This position calls for a strong grasp of new and developing technologies, excellent communication skills with a variety of audiences, and strong leadership in using technology to make intelligence gathering and operations more effective.

Requirements

Conditions of employment

• You must be physically in the United States or one of its territories when you submit your resume via MyLINK.
• You must be registered for the Selective Service, if applicable.
• You must be a U.S. citizen and at least 18 years of age (dual-national US citizens are eligible).
• You must be willing to move to the Washington, DC area.
• You must successfully complete a thorough medical and psychological exam, a polygraph interview, and a comprehensive background investigation.
• For further requirements information, please visit: https://www.cia.gov/careers/cia-requirements/

Qualifications

Interested candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the US Constitution. Hiring decisions will not be based on race, sex, color, religion, or national origin.

Minimum Qualifications:

• All Directorate of Science and Technology candidates are expected to be effective in a mission-focused environment by:
  • Displaying interpersonal and team-oriented skills to work effectively in multidisciplinary teams
  • Demonstrating an ability to think critically towards solving complex problems
  • Applying and improving technical aptitude
  • Demonstrating strong organizational and planning skills,
  • Demonstrating effective written and verbal communication and an ability to convey complex concepts to all audiences
  • Demonstrating integrity, judgment, initiative and creativity

In addition, TRDE Officers will have skills, experience, and interest in one or more of the following areas:

• Strong project and program management principles, methods, and tools
• Management of programmatic risks, resources, schedules
• Systems engineering
• Design, modeling, fabrication, and prototyping
• Validation, verification, and testing
• Drafting technical documentation to include system performance, training, operations, and maintenance
• Signatures processing or analysis, to include principles and phenomena, theories, and concepts
• Conducting or leading research programs
• The latest trends in the industry and the future of technology and its applications to the intelligence mission
• Manufacturing, especially in creating custom products
• Working with metal, wood, plastics, textiles, make up, paper, machining, graphic design, printing, costume design, cosmetology, prosthetics, mold making, aesthetics, material science, industrial design, paper science
• Software development/coding/scripting in contemporary programming languages (C/C++, Python, Rust, GO, JavaScript, C#, Java, SQL, etc.)
• Design, development, testing, maintenance and/or governance of computers and associated hardware, software, networks, and / or data
• Data ingestion, transformation, modeling, and processing (including bulk data sets)
• Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (Al/ML)
• Architecture design/development leveraging High Performance Computing (HPC), commercial cloud platforms, and application of Quantum technology
• Traffic analysis, vulnerability assessment, exploitation methods, forensic analysis, and data recovery methods for digital networks and mobile devices
• Common industry lab and analysis methods like polymerase chain reaction (PCR), DNA sequencing, microscopy, mass spectrometry, and next-generation sequencing (NGS)
• Knowledge/Experience conducting experiments in a lab setting by conducting testing, data collection, and analysis
• Computational methods, software, and bioinformatics tools to analyze large biological datasets to find patterns and develop strategies
• Biotechnology trends and/or biosecurity and biodefense concepts
• Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear hazards and associated detection, monitoring, countermeasures, and defense strategies
• Ability to meet the minimum requirements for CIA, including U.S. citizenship and background investigation

Desired Qualifications:

• Advanced degree and/or professional technical experience in a relevant STEM discipline
• Program or Project Management Certification
• In some cases, a degree or certification and/or professional technical experience in a relevant an Arts or Trade discipline

Education

• A Bachelor's Degree (or equivalent experience) in a relevant STEM discipline (e.g., engineering; computers, networks and data science; physics; chemistry; biology or other life science; math)
• GPA of at least a 3.0 on a 4.0 scale (if less than X years relevant experience)

Additional information

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

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 windowLearn more about federal benefits.

Review our benefits

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.

For more information, please visit: https://www.cia.gov/careers/.

Required Documents

For further information, please visit: https://www.cia.gov/careers/.

If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.

How to Apply

This post is for viewing purposes only. To get started, please visit https://www.cia.gov/careers/, where you can read more about this position and express your interest in up to four jobs. Upon expressing your interest, you will be taken to MyLINK, which allows you to submit your resume and job rankings and provide basic information about yourself.

Agency contact information

Central Intelligence Agency

Website

https://cia.gov/careers

Next steps

After you express interest for up to four positions on cia.gov/careers, a CIA recruiter may contact you for further discussion if your qualifications meet our needs. See the MyLINK FAQs on our website for more information.

Overview

Accepting applications

Location

Many vacancies in the following location:

Washington, DC

No matching locations found.

Work site options

Telework eligible

No

Remote job

No

Relocation expenses reimbursed

Yes—You may qualify for reimbursement of relocation expenses in accordance with agency policy.

Salary

$70,623 - $197,200 per year

Pay scale & grade

GS 9 - 15

Promotion potential

15

Learn more about pay scale and grade

Pay scale and grade determines the salary of the job.

Work schedule

Full-time

Travel Required

Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel for this position.

Appointment type

Permanent

Occupations and job series

• 0801 General Engineering

Supervisory status

No

Federal service type

This job is in the Excepted Service

Represented by a union

No

Drug test

Yes

Security clearance

Sensitive Compartmented Information

Position sensitivity and risk

High Risk (HR)

Jobs require a background check and some require a security clearance. The type depends on the job.

Background check type

• National security

Financial disclosure required

Yes

Some jobs require financial disclosure to identify conflicts of interests.

Announcement number

26-13056928

Control number

883591300