Budget Officer

The Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia • Washington, DC, United States • $200k - $250k / year • 1m ago

Location: 633 3rd Street Washington, District Of Columbia 20001

About The Job

PDS Overview:

The Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia (PDS) is a federally funded, independent organization governed by an eleven-member Board of Trustees. PDS provides legal representation to individuals facing a loss of freedom in the local criminal, delinquency, and mental health systems in the District of Columbia. PDS’s approximately 260 employees, comprised of attorneys, social workers, investigative specialists, administrative, and technical staff, collaborate with each other to advance the PDS mission. PDS is funded by federal appropriations, and all employees are entitled to participate in certain federal benefits plans: health and life insurance, federal retirement system, and the Thrift Savings Plan.

Employment at the Public Defender Service (PDS) is neither federal nor District of Columbia government employment, and all employees are at-will.

Division Overview:

This position is in PDS’s Office of Budget and Finance (OBF). OBF provides planning, oversight, management and stability of all financial activities including accounting, financial management, procurement, and budget operations. The OBF mission is to protect the organization’s assets through effective financial planning and management, enhance fiscal integrity, ensure accurate and comprehensive financial reporting and analysis, and enable the achievement of the PDS mission through the strategic allocation and optimization of resources.

Major Duties:

As Budget Officer, the incumbent plans, directs, and coordinates the activities of the Budget Branch in PDS’s Office of Budget and Finance (OBF), and serves as the principal advisor to the Chief Financial Officer and other agency management officials on matters of budget policy, legislation, laws, federal rules and regulations, and procedural guidelines for the agency.

Additionally, the Budget Officer:

Conducts complex financial analyses and provides expert advice and recommendations to senior leaders and stakeholders.
Considers, solves, or recommends solutions for difficult analytical problems by forecasting the validity of estimates and balance among operating programs.
Develops or recommends instructions concerning budget formulation, budget justifications and presentations, and budget execution.
Prepares detailed analysis and estimates of annual funding needs for the agency, linking those needs to the agency’s strategic and annual performance plans.
Advises the Chief Financial Officer and other management officials concerning agency strategy for responding to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) questions or requests for additional budget justifications.
As needed, serves as agency liaison to OMB for purposes of reiterating budgetary needs, communicating justification content, and negotiating appeals.
Attends OMB budget review hearings, provides advice or assistance to the Chief Financial Officer during the hearing; and as required, testifies on certain budget questions or issues.
Reviews and analyzes the OMB approved budget by line items and prepares an agency appeal relating to certain OMB budget actions or decisions.
Prepares a final annual budget request for submission to Congressional appropriations committees and advises agency management officials with the process of Congressional review of the budget request.
Develops and manages a system of administrative controls designed to monitor, check, and control the use of agency funds.
Assures that the obligations incurred and resulting expenditures of funds are in accordance with existing laws and regulations.
Establishes and maintains a variety of records and documents relating to budget execution.
Acts as backup to the Staff Accountant for reviews of year-to-date obligations and disbursements on all accounts and reconciles differences.
Prepares monthly and special reports on fund execution.

Required Qualifications:

Qualifications:
The incumbent must possess the following:

At least 4 years’ experience in federal budgeting, federal financial management, or related positions.
At least 1 year of specialized experience, which must have been professional experience at a level of difficulty comparable to the next lowest grade level.

Specialized experience includes, but is not limited to, hands-on experience in the following activities:

Design, develop, and manage data driven departmental and enterprise budget forecasts.
Provide data-driven financial reports to the Chief Financial Officer and other senior officials as required.
Create accurate, detailed tables, charts, and other exhibits for the annual budget request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
Create accurate, detailed tables, charts, and other exhibits for the annual congressional budget justification.
Develop accurate annual personnel cost projections using personnel and payroll data.
Initiate transactions in an automated financial system of record.
Generate data from automated financial management systems and conduct detailed analyses of the extracted data.
Conduct periodic reviews and updates with managers to ensure efficient use of PDS funds.
Reconcile data discrepancies between feeder systems and official systems of record.
Use automated tools such as spreadsheets to analyze and track information.

In addition to the specialized experience as described above, the incumbent must also possess two years of general experience as described below.

General experience in executing administrative functions, including best practices such as electronic record keeping and document retention. Candidate must possess strong math, analytical, organizational, and communication skills. Must be a team player but possess the negotiation skills and the ability to work independently as needed.

General experience includes, but is not limited to:

Effectively using Microsoft Word to create exhibits, reports, analyses, and other correspondence.
Effectively using Microsoft Excel to produce analytical spreadsheets and trackers.

Note: Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs and other organizations. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Additionally, the incumbent must possess strong interpersonal skills, as candidates will be expected to work with a diverse number of stakeholders with varying levels of procurement knowledge.

Preferred Qualifications:

Demonstrated knowledge of the Oracle Federal Financial system
Government or Defense financial management certification (CGFM, CDFM)
Demonstrated knowledge of data visualization tools (e.g., Tableau) and techniques

Application Evaluation:

How you will be evaluated
Your application package includes your cover letter, resume and requested supporting documentation. Please ensure your application package includes detailed information to support your qualifications for this position. Failure to provide sufficient evidence in your application package can result in a rejection of your application package.

Rating: Your application package will be rated and ranked among other applicants, based on your experience, education, training, and awards relevant to the duties of this position.

Number of vacancies:

Pay Series:

0905

Compensation:

AD-0560-13/14 (GS-13/14 Equivalent)

Promotion Potential: AD-14 (equivalent to GS-14)

PDS is funded by federal appropriations, and employees are entitled to participate in federal benefits plans, federal retirement systems, and the workers compensation program. Benefits include:

Federal Employees Retirement Systems (retirement annuity)
Thrift Savings Plan (similar to a 401K program)
Federal Employees Group Life Insurance (life insurance)
Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program
Flexible Spending Accounts (for health care and dependent care)
Employee Assistance Program

Telework: This position is eligible for telework in accordance with the organization’s policy.

Who May Apply:

U.S. Citizens and those authorized to work in the United States.

How to Apply:

For consideration, applicants must submit the required documents listed below. Failure to submit will result in an incomplete application. Please upload the required documents as one PDF attachment.

Your application package should include the following:

Resume must not exceed 5 (five pages) and should not cover more than the most recent 5 (five) years of experience.
A list of three professional references with a brief description on how each reference is able to attest to your skills/experience.

Please send your application package in MS WORD or PDF documents; please combine application documents in one PDF document, if able. Applications MUST be emailed to PDSHRMailbox@pdsdc.org.

All application materials become property of PDS and will not be returned. PDS will not accept application packages by postal mail, fax, or personal delivery.

For applicants with disabilities, this organization provides reasonable accommodations which will be decided on a case-by-case basis. To request a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or interview process, please contact Teresa Oliver, Senior HR Specialist at (202) 824-2352 or at HR@pdsdc.org.