Air Traffic Control Specialist
About This Position
This is a Direct Hire Authority (DHA) solicitation utilizing the DHA for Certain Personnel of the DoD Workforce to recruit and appoint qualified candidates to positions in the competitive service. About the Position: Serves as an Air Traffic Control Specialist in an Army Airfield Control Tower responsible for the efficient use of the Class D airspace and traffic patterns to minimize delays and maximize effective mission time for aviators under tower control.
Qualifications
Who May Apply: US Citizens In order to qualify, you must meet the requirements described below. 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).
You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.
Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience; if qualifying based on education, your transcripts will be required as part of your application. Additional information about transcripts is in this document. Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience which includes advising pilots of traffic patterns, weather/airfield conditions, and giving clearance for landing/take off in a military or civilian air traffic control facility.
This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the next lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-10). Time in Grade Requirement: Applicants who have held a General Schedule (GS) position within the last 52 weeks must have 52 weeks of Federal service at the next lower grade or equivalent (GS-10). Maximum Entry Age: Employees hired for the first time ("originally hired") into GS-2152 positions must not exceed the established Maximum Entry Age (MEA) at the time of appointment.
The MEA for an Air Traffic Controller (ATC) is
- An employee originally hired into a covered ATC position must be hired by the last day of the month he/she reaches 36 unless a waiver from Department of Army is approved prior to appointment. As this is a Special Retirement covered ATC position, your application package must include a government-issued document indicating your date of birth.
Failure to submit this document will result in your application being marked as incomplete and you WILL NOT receive further consideration for this position. WORKING CONDITIONS: During emergency situations the work may become extremely stressful. The incumbent must maintain necessary alertness, self-control, and emotional stability and be able to make rapid decisions and use precise judgment under emergency conditions.
As required by staffing, workload, and mission requirements, incumbent may be required to work during other than normal duty hours which may include working nights, weekends, and holidays.
Major Duties
You will provide tower control services using visual and Control Tower Radar Display (CTRD) data and apply IFR separation standards and procedures.
You will coordinate instructions to separate and sequence aircraft conducting simultaneous arrivals and departures to a complex array of runways, landing pads and parallel taxiways including several landing areas not visible from the tower.
As a flight data specialist, you will receive, post, and relay flight data to the local controller and ground control/clearance delivery.
You will provide instructions and advisories to insure an orderly flow of traffic operating under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) within several separate multi-directional feeder corridors.
As a Ground Controller, you will perform ground control/clearance delivery duties, assuring effective movement of aircraft on all areas of the airport.
Education
Some federal jobs allow you to substitute your education for the required experience in order to qualify. For this job, you must meet the qualification requirement using experience alone--no substitution of education for experience is permitted.
How You Will Be Evaluated
Once the announcement has closed, a review of your application package (resume, supporting documents, and responses to the questionnaire) will be used to determine whether you meet the qualification requirements listed on this announcement. Please follow all instructions carefully when applying, errors or omissions may affect your eligibility. If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications and/or experience, you may lose consideration for this position.
Veterans and Military Spouses will be considered along with all other candidates.
Additional Information
Male applicants born after December 31, 1959, must complete a Pre-Employment Certification Statement for Selective Service Registration.
You will be required to provide proof of U.S. Citizenship.
This position requires a 1 year probationary period during which the agency evaluates your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In making this determination, the agency may consider your performance and conduct; agency needs and interests; whether your continued employment supports organizational or Government goals; and whether it promotes the efficiency of the Federal service. Continued employment requires written certification that it advances the public interest.
Direct Deposit of Pay is required. Selection is subject to restrictions resulting from Department of Defense referral system for displaced employees. If you have retired from federal service and you are interested in employment as a reemployed annuitant, see the information in the Reemployed Annuitant information sheet.
This is an Aviation Career Program position aligned under the Installations Career Management Directorate. Multiple positions may be filled from this announcement. Salary includes applicable locality pay or Local Market Supplement.
When you perform a Civilian Permanent Change of Station (PCS) with the government, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) considers the majority of your entitlements to be taxable. Visit https://www.dfas.mil/civilianemployees/civrelo/Civilian-Moving-Expenses-Tax-Deduction/ for more information. Payment of Permanent Change of Station (PCS) costs is authorized, subject to the provisions of the Joint Travel Regulations.
Position may be filled as a time-limited promotion, reassignment or change to lower grade not to exceed (NTE) 5 Years by a current permanent Army employee. Time-limited promotions may be extended up to a maximum of five years. Time limited reassignments and changes to lower grade may exceed five years, however return rights may be impacted.
Position may be made permanent without further competition. Current permanent Federal employees (to include permanent Army employees) applying for a Term appointment will be appointed/converted into a Term appointment with no statutory return rights back to a permanent position. A recruitment or relocation incentive may be authorized.
An incentive for student loan repayment may be authorized.
How to Apply
To apply for this position, you must complete the online questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section above.
The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 10/16/2026 to receive consideration Follow the prompts to select your resume and/or other supporting documents to be included with your application package. As a reminder, your resume must be two pages or less and must support the specialized experience described in this announcement. Resumes exceeding two pages will be removed from consideration. For additional information, refer to the 'Required Documents' section.
You will have the opportunity to upload additional documents to include in your application before it is submitted.
Your uploaded documents may take several hours to clear the virus scan process.
After acknowledging you have reviewed your application package, complete the Include Personal Information section as you deem appropriate and click to continue with the application process.
You will be taken to the online application which you must complete in order to apply for the position.
Complete the online application, verify the required documentation is included with your application package, and submit the application.
Your resume selected in USAJOBS will be included, but you must re-select other documents from your USAJOBS account or your application may be incomplete. It is your responsibility to verify that your application package (resume, supporting documents, and responses to the questionnaire) is complete, accurate, and submitted by the closing date. Uploaded documents may take up to one hour to clear the virus scan.
Additional information on how to complete the online application process and submit your online application may be found on the USA Staffing Applicant Resource Center. To verify the status of your application, log into your USAJOBS account (https://www.usajobs.gov/applicant/profile/dashboard/), all of your applications will appear on the Welcome screen. The Application Status will appear along with the date your application was last updated.
For information on what each Application Status means, visit: https://help.usajobs.gov/how-to/application/status.
Required Documents
The documents you are required to submit vary based on whether or not you are eligible for preference in federal employment. A complete description of preference categories and the associated required documents is in the Applicant Checklist for Public Announcements. As described above, your complete application includes your resume, your responses to the online questionnaire, and documents which prove your eligibility to apply. If you fail to provide these documents, you will be marked as having an incomplete application package and you will not be considered any further.
1.
Your resume: Your resume must be two pages or less and must support the specialized experience described in this announcement. Resumes exceeding two pages will be removed from consideration. For each relevant work experience, make sure you include the employer's name, job title, start and end dates (include month and year), for qualifications purposes, the number of hours worked per week, and a brief description that show you can perform the tasks at the required level listed in the job announcement.
If your resume does not contain this information, your application may be marked as incomplete, and you may not receive consideration for this position. Use plain language. Avoid using acronyms and terms that are not easily understood.
The hiring agency will not make assumptions about what's in your resume. If your resume includes a photograph or other inappropriate material or content, it will not be used to make eligibility and qualification determinations, and you may not be considered for this vacancy. For additional information, to include formatting tips, see: What to include in your resume.
- Other supporting documents: Cover Letter, optional Most recent Performance Appraisal, if applicable This position requires a job-related license or certification.
You MUST submit a copy of your license or certification with your application package or you will be rated ineligible. See: Transcripts and Licenses
NOTE: Documents submitted as part of the application package, to include supplemental documents, may be shared beyond the Human Resources Office. Some supplemental documents such as military orders and marriage certificates may contain personal information for someone other than you.
You may sanitize these documents to remove another person's personal information before you submit your application.
You may be asked to provide an un-sanitized version of the documents if you are selected to confirm your eligibility.