Transportation Finance Specialist - Direct Hire

The incumbent serves as a Transportation Finance Specialist within the Federal Highway Administration, providing support to the agency in enhancing the FHWA’s stewardship, ensuring accountability of Federal funds and achieving organizational excellence in delivering the FHWA’s various highway and transportation programs.

As a Transportation Finance Specialist, you will:

• Serve as a technical advisor for FHWA division personnel, Headquarters personnel, and State DOT employees on various phases of auditing.
• Be responsible for establishing, reviewing, and maintaining internal controls to achieve the objectives of effective and efficient operations, reliable financial reporting, and compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
• Develop financial management reports and conducts analysis to help resolve financial operations issues.
• Oversee the collection, review and communication of data requested by financial statement auditors or other outside entities requesting obligation or payment data.

The ideal candidate is an experienced and highly motivated person looking to expand their knowledge and experience in governmental finance, budgets, and information control systems.

To determine which grade(s) you may be eligible for, review the following grade specific details.  You will be asked a few questions as part of your application but make sure to verify how you meet this experience in your resume or you may be deemed ineligible.  

For the GS-11: You qualify for this grade level if you meet one of the following experience and/or education requirements.

On Experience, you must have at least one year of experience, equal or equivalent to the GS-09 grade level, which included:

• Experience organizing, analyzing, and interpreting numerical or financial data.

Or on Education, you must have 3 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree OR Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree.

You can also have a combination of graduate education and experience.  This must be fully supported by your resume and transcripts, provided with your application.

For the GS-12: You qualify for this grade level if you have at least one year of specialized experience, equal or equivalent to the GS-11 grade level, which included:

• Experience conducting reviews and/or audits of financial programs such as financial integrity reviews to ensure expenditure of funds in accordance with regulatory or legal requirements.

For the GS-13:You qualify for this grade level if you have at least one year of specialized experience, equal or equivalent to the GS-12 grade level, which included: 

• Experience conducting reviews and/or audits of financial programs such as financial integrity reviews to ensure expenditure of funds in accordance with regulatory or legal requirements; AND
• Experience providing technical advice on cost accounting and billing procedures for financial programs such as developing procedures, policies and internal controls.

For the GS-14:You qualify for this grade level if you have at least one year of specialized experience, equal or equivalent to the GS-13 grade level, which included: 

• Experience conducting reviews and/or audits of financial programs such as financial integrity reviews to ensure expenditure of funds in accordance with regulatory or legal requirements; AND
• Experience providing technical advice on cost accounting and billing procedures for financial programs such as developing procedures, policies and internal controls; AND
• Experience communicating technical information to stakeholders from diverse disciplines and backgrounds to convey regulatory requirements, outline a need for change, and to coordinate acceptable corrective actions.

You cannot qualify on education at grades GS-12 and above, you must meet the specialized experience for each grade, which is cited above.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES (KSAs): Your qualifications will be evaluated on the basis of your level of knowledge, skills, abilities and/or competencies in the following areas:

1. Technical Credibility - Understands and appropriately applies principles, procedures, requirements, regulations, and policies related to specialized expertise.
2. Compliance - Knowledge of procedures for assessing, evaluating, and monitoring programs or projects for compliance with Federal laws, regulations, and guidance.
3. Oral Communication - Expresses information (for example, ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (for example, technical, sensitive, controversial); makes clear and convincing oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately.
4. Written Communication - Writes in a clear, concise, organized, and convincing manner for the intended audience.

For all types of consideration, 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

Students enrolled in a qualifying degree program can apply to the GS-11 if the anticipated graduation date is within six months of closing date of the announcement. Graduation transcript must be received before start date. Other applicants must meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.