Federal

IC Spectrum Lead

Office of the Director of National Intelligence ยท Other Agencies and Independent Organizations
๐Ÿ“ McLean, Virginia GS-14 $143,913 - $187,093/yr
Posted: Apr 7, 2026 Deadline: Apr 22, 2026 (Closes in 15 days days left)

About This Position

The Policy & Capabilities (PC) Directorate ensures the IC is best postured for the threats and challenges of an uncertain future, through strategy, policy, and capabilities development. PC is comprised of the Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO) and Policy Strategy and Accountability (PSA) Office.

Qualifications

FREE RESPONSE ESSAY QUESTIONS All applicants must answer the following four short, free response essay questions. The responses cannot exceed 200 words per question. By submitting your responses to the following questions, you certify that you are using your own words and did not use a consultant or AI (such as a large language model [LLM]).

How has your commitment to the Constitution and the founding principles of the United States inspired you to pursue this role within the Federal government? Provide a concrete example from professional, academic, or personal experience. In this role, how would you use your skills and experience to improve government efficiency and effectiveness?

Provide specific examples where you improved processes, reduced costs, or improved outcomes. How would you help advance the President's Executive Orders and policy priorities in this role? Identify one or two relevant Executive Orders or policy initiatives that are significant to you and explain how you would help implement them if hired.

How has a strong work ethic contributed to your professional, academic or personal achievements? Provide one or two specific examples and explain how those qualities would enable you to serve effectively in this position. Extensive understanding of Intelligence Community Spectrum tasks to include all IC Spectrum Council and International spectrum allocation decisions and related standards-setting determinations.

Extensive understanding of roles and missions of enterprise (e.g., agency, department, IC) and other external factors. Superior ability to perceive organizational and political reality and expert understanding of how actions by one entity affect others to identify practical solutions for enterprise mission accomplishment. Extensive and demonstrated knowledge of Intelligence Community Program Management.

Demonstrated ability to bring about strategic change, both within and outside the organization, to meet organizational goals. Includes the ability to carry out an organizational vision in a continuously changing environment. Excellent interpersonal skills, ability to work effectively with senior leaders from inside and outside the USG, to advocate and advance ODNI policy, and to communicate, coordinate, and develop a professional network across the IC, academia, and industry.

Superb oral and written communication skills and demonstrated ability to collect, filter, and synthesize data, and produce clear, logical, and concise products. Extensive leadership and managerial capabilities, including the ability to effectively direct taskings, assess and manage performance, and support professional development of staff. Demonstrated ability to meet organizational goals and customer expectations.

Includes the ability to make decisions that produce high-quality results by applying technical knowledge, analyzing problems, and calculating risks. Record of success in building teams, leading change, and working effectively with others in a complex and evolving environment. Extensive ability to plan, manage and complete complex, multi-faceted projects involving government and contractor personnel.

Proven critical thinking skills and the ability to prepare finished assessments of organizational issues and other written products with an emphasis on clear organization, and concise and logical presentation. Experience working in or with the Intelligence Community and demonstrating a broad knowledge of the IC mission, objectives, policies, and current events within the IC. Demonstrated ability to identify, interpret, comply, and with and stay current on relevant regulations, guidelines, laws, and directives.

Desired Requirements: Demonstrated experience supporting the development of Intelligence Community Programs. Demonstrated experience supporting Intelligence Community Spectrum issues. Demonstrated experience supporting Intelligence Community Spectrum Council activities.

Demonstrated experience building acquisition systems. Project/Program Management Advanced/Expert Level certification or equivalent.

Major Duties

ODNI's Policy and Capabilities (P&C) Directorate is squarely focused on winning the geostrategic competition to secure America's future. P&C establishes the IC's strategic roadmap, develops requisite IC policies, and drives technology capabilities in alignment with national priorities. Within P&C, the Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO) leads DNI-directed, results-oriented campaigns in key contested areas, including Mission Artificial Intelligence (AI), Advanced Compute, and Space & Sensors.

These campaigns run from 18-36 months and are focused on establishing multi-agency capabilities that will transform the intelligence community (IC). The Space and Sensors campaign is a bold, enterprise-wide effort to harness the power of Space and Sensors to revolutionize the way IC tasks, collects, processes, exploits, and disseminates insights. The Space and Sensors campaign will focus on establishing an automated and resilient space and sensors architecture for the community.

It will produce solutions that improve the IC's ability to deliver unprompted warning and improve the IC's ability to make sense of increasing amounts of data and information. By leveraging innovative partnerships between government and industry, the campaign is committed to rapid prototyping, testing, and deployment of Space and Sensors solutions. The campaign will address technical, research, infrastructure, data and policy elements needed to build a multi-INT collection orchestration and multi-INT fusion solution.

Lead Intelligence Community Spectrum tasks to include all IC Spectrum Council executive support and International spectrum allocation decisions and related standards-setting determinations. Coordinate ODNI chairing of the IC Spectrum Council and will collaborate across the community to ensure representation of IC equities, as well as IC mission focus on support to preparation activities for the World Radio Conference. Ensure recognition of identified program needs to inform and begin the requirements validation process.

Lead and integrate functional teams to analyze potential program requirements and refine program requirements and continuously coordinate with users to determine appropriate interpretation. Conduct advanced acquisition planning and programming to produce the acquisition and investment strategy and program plan and coordinate the acquisition through the contracting process (e.g., contracting milestones, solicitation, source selection, award, negotiation, and administration). Focus on establishing an automated and resilient space and sensors architecture for the community.

Oversee the preparation, justification, and/or administration of budgets and monitor expenditures for program areas. Lead, plan, organize, staff, and monitor specific acquisition programs to ensure they meet cost, schedule, and performance requirements throughout the life cycle and maintain accountability for accurate and credible cost, schedule, and performance reporting. Lead efforts to dramatically upscale IC compute and processing infrastructure, ensuring automated and resilient architectures.

Establish and oversee a risk management approach to ensure program success. Manage ongoing working relationships and expectations with customers, stakeholders, users, and decision authorities throughout the program life cycle. Oversee, monitor, and approved the technical strategy against requirements.

Ensure mission assurance (e.g. quality, maintainability, affordability, supportability, and training) for products and/or services throughout the life cycle. Assist in representing ODNI positions, priorities, and/or perspectives to National policy makers, Congress, OMB and White House staff, and other government agencies. Assist in leading legislatively and policy mandated activities and in formulating the National Intelligence Program (NIP) budget.

Embody and foster a culture of excellence, respect, team pride, urgency of mission, and playing to win. Ensure mission assurance (e.g. quality, maintainability, affordability, supportability, and training) for products and/or services throughout the life cycle.

Education

Bachelor's degree

How You Will Be Evaluated

You must submit the supporting documents listed under the required documents section of this announcement. We will review your resume and supporting documentation to ensure you meet the basic qualification requirements. If you are among the best qualified, you may be referred to the hiring manager for consideration and may be called for an interview.

Additional Information

JOB INTERVIEW TRAVEL Candidates from outside the Washington Metropolitan Area (WMA) may be selected for a telephone, teleconference, or in-person interview. SALARY DETERMINATION The ODNI uses a rank-in-person system in which rank is attached to GS employees on the basis of individual qualifications, experience, and performance. Individuals whose current GS grade is equivalent to the grade of the advertised position will retain their current grade and step.

Individuals who transfer to the ODNI from a non-GS pay scale will have base pay converted to the appropriate GS grade and step as determined by the Chief of Human Resource Management. In some cases when a current federal civilian employee applies for an ODNI position that is a lower grade than his or her personal grade, the candidate's personal grade will be downgraded to the grade of the advertised ODNI position and pay will be set at the step that is closest to, and not less than, the employee's current annual base rate of pay, not to exceed the maximum step rate of the GS grade to which assigned. RELOCATION EXPENSES For new ODNI employees, reimbursement for relocation is discretionary based on availability of funds.

REASONABLE ACCOMMODATIONS The ODNI provides reasonable accommodations to qualified applicants with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process, please notify the Reasonable Accommodations Officer by email at [email protected], by telephone at (703)275-3900 or by FAX at (703)275-1217.

Your request for reasonable accommodations will be addressed on a case-by-case basis. PLEASE DO NOT SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION TO THE REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION EMAIL ADDRESS. THIS EMAIL IS FOR REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION REQUESTS ONLY. The ODNI is an equal opportunity employer and abides by applicable employment laws and regulations.

How to Apply

We encourage you to read the entire announcement prior to submitting your application. In order to be considered, you must apply via USAJOBS. The ODNI will not accept emailed applications.

Your application must be received by 11:59 PM (EST) on the closing date of this announcement. Applications received after the closing date will NOT be eligible for consideration. All attachments should be in Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF format. Do not include the following types of information in your profile or resume: Classified or government sensitive information Social Security Number (SSN) Photos of yourself Personal information such as age, gender, religious affiliation, etc. Encrypted and digitally signed documents

Required Documents

A complete application package must include: a. RESUME: Resumes must be no longer than two (2) pages in length. Resumes longer than two (2) pages will be removed from consideration. Applicants are encouraged to carefully review the vacancy announcement, particularly the MDRs, and construct their resume to highlight their most significant experience and qualifications relevant to this job opportunity.

You must ensure the resume contains all of the required information and you organize it so we can associate the following information for each experience/position: job title; name of employer; beginning and ending dates of employment (month/day/year format), and hours worked per week. We will assume full-time unless otherwise stated. Additionally, include a detailed description of job duties, accomplishments, related skills and responsibilities, to include any supervisory/managerial responsibilities and number of staff supervised (if applicable), and series and grade or equivalent (if a federal position). b.

ESSAY QUESTION RESPONSES: The responses cannot exceed 200 words per question (please see questions in the Requirements section above). By submitting your responses to these questions, you certify that you are using your own words and did not use a consultant or AI (such as a large language model [LLM]). c. COVER LETTER: Applicants must submit a professional narrative as a supplement to the resume to elaborate on their qualifications and previous work performed. d.

CURRENT SF-50: Federal Government employees must provide your official most recent SF-50 (i.e., dated within the last 52 weeks from the closing date of this vacancy announcement). An SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action, is used to verify current federal status, position, title, grade, and organization of record. If your SF-50(s) does not provide the information needed to make a final determination for qualification, you will be found ineligible for the position. e.

POSITION NUMBER: Reference the announcement number in the subject line on each document submitted. Failure to submit any of the above-mentioned required documents may result in loss of consideration due to an incomplete application package. It is your responsibility to ensure all required documents have been submitted.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the salary for the IC Spectrum Lead position at Office of the Director of National Intelligence?
The salary range for this position is $143,913 - $187,093/yr. This is a GS-14 position on the General Schedule pay scale. Actual pay may vary based on locality adjustments.
Where is the IC Spectrum Lead job located?
This position is located in McLean, Virginia. This is an on-site position.
What qualifications do I need?
FREE RESPONSE ESSAY QUESTIONS All applicants must answer the following four short, free response essay questions. The responses cannot exceed 200 words per question. By submitting your responses to the following questions, you certify that you are using your own words and did not use a consultant or AI (such as a large language model [LLM]). How...
How do I apply for this position?
Apply through USAJobs.gov by clicking the 'Apply on USAJobs' button. You'll need a USAJobs account, a federal-style resume, and supporting documents. The deadline is Apr 22, 2026.
Is a security clearance required?
No security clearance is required for this position.
What does GS-14 mean?
GS-14 refers to the General Schedule grade level. Higher grades require more experience and offer higher pay. Visit our GS Pay Scale page for full salary tables by grade and locality.
What benefits do federal employees receive?
Federal employees receive comprehensive benefits including health insurance (FEHB), retirement through FERS, Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) with government matching, paid annual and sick leave, paid parental leave, life insurance, and student loan repayment programs.