Job Description
Description of Organization:
USAID’s Bureau for Inclusive Growth, Partnerships, and Innovation, Center for Economics and Market Development (IPI/EMD) provides policy advice and technical expertise to the IPI Bureau and Missions with a focus on international trade regulations, trade facilitation, and trade capacity building. IPI/EMD also provides leadership and policy guidance on a range of complex trade capacity building programs and how they interact with U.S. Government trade policy, private sector needs, and world markets.
Description of Position:
The Trade Specialist will serve as a primary point of contact for USAID Missions on trade-related programs, supply chain issues, and the business enabling environment, and will carry out the following duties:
- Advise USAID/Washington, country teams, and Missions in the application of trade priorities and strategies, and the most effective approaches to promote supply chain efficiencies to determine whether goods and services can flow across borders in a cost-effective manner.
- Serve as liaison with interagency and private sector partners on issues related to: the capacity of developing countries to successfully implement commitments and compliance on customs processing; and legal and regulatory reforms to encourage private investment and trade and the overall business enabling environment.
- Serve as a Contracting/Agreement Officer’s Representative (COR/AOR) that manages funds and can quickly provide high-quality expertise on trade and trade capacity building, and business enabling environment issues to Missions and Regional Bureaus. Regularly track the impact of Mission and Regional Bureau activity supporting trade. Report on the utilization and impact of these funds in strategic planning and budget reports.
- Serve as a technical expert, exercising independence and judgment to develop and maintain relations with various stakeholders in government, private industry, and the international community to further USAID’s programs and broader development efforts.
- Support and manage centrally administered programs/projects that affect broad Mission areas, applied research, and dissemination of findings or methodologies to USAID-assisted countries and the development community. Prepare briefing papers as needed.
- Advance Agency and Mission priorities through strategic planning, design, analysis, and evaluation of country, regional, and worldwide trade facilitation, critical supply chains, and market access and diversification programs. Visit Missions to provide program development, evaluation, monitoring, and direct technical assistance. Review project proposals, requests for funding, interim and final project reports, annual assessments of program impacts, and other documents for trade-related programs and Mission activities.
- May undertake assignments, rotations, or short-term assignments in countries with active trade and economic growth portfolios.
Qualifications:
- Must be a U.S. citizen;
- Must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level (FS-02/GS-14) of this position;
- Must have a minimum of ten years of work experience in related areas;
- Must have demonstrated mastery of a wide range of qualitative and/or quantitative methods for the assessment and improvement of trade program effectiveness or the improvement of extremely sensitive and complex trade systems and customs and border controls;
- Must have extensive knowledge of the range of laws, policies, regulations, and precedents applicable to the administration of a number of the following areas: trade related compliance, trade liberalization and policy reform, trade and investment regulatory reform, customs and border agency reform, technical barriers to trade and standards, and intellectual property rights and business enabling environment;
- Must have experience interacting and negotiating with policy makers in the United States Government regarding supply chain logistics including customs and border controls, international trade, and foreign affairs;
- Must demonstrate evidence of excellent interpersonal, facilitation, and team building skills;
- Must have, or be able to obtain, a Secret-level security clearance; and
- Must be able to travel internationally (up to 25 percent).
Preferred Qualifications:
- Preference experience working for or with USAID, or other international development, trade, commerce, or finance organizations.
Interested candidates must the submit the following:
- A resume/CV (candidates must include the month, year, and the number of hours worked per week for each position listed);
- A short written statement of interest (please also state that you are a U.S. citizen);
- Three references;
- Documentation if claiming Veterans’ Preference (DD-214, Service Disability Letter, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty, etc.); and
- Documentation if serving as a current/former political appointee (SF-50s, appointment letter, etc.).
Please submit your application package to ipifsljobs@usaid.gov with the subject line: “FSL APPLICATION PACKAGE: FSL 01 PRIVATE ENTERPRISE OFFICER (TRADE SPECIALIST) IPI/EMD.” Application submissions are required by 11:59 p.m. ET, October 29, 2024. Packages not submitted by the deadline with the specified subject line—or incomplete packages—will not receive consideration. This notice may be used to fill additional vacancies, as the workforce needs of the Bureau may change.
