Human Resources Specialist (Business Analyst)

Summary

Organizational Location: This position is with the Department of Homeland Security, within U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Planning, Program Analysis, and Evaluation Directorate, Strategic Transformation Management Division in the following locations:

• Washington, District of Columbia
• Indianapolis, Indiana
• Minneapolis, Minnesota

Salary reflects the Rest of U.S. scale and will be adjusted to meet the locality pay of the duty location upon selection.

Duties

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Joining U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Office of Human Resources Management as a Human Resources Specialist (Information Systems) will allow you to lead mission-critical HR technology and business transformation initiatives that modernize how CBP delivers human capital services to its nationwide workforce.

This position starts at a salary of $106,437.00 (GS-13, Step 1) to $138,370.00 (GS-13, Step 10).

GS Salary: Visit this link to view the locality pay tables by geographic area. If you do not see your geographic area listed, select the "Rest of United States" pay table. Some positions fall under a special pay rate depending on the series, grade level and location of the position.Please visit this link to view special pay rate charts.

Additional selections may be made beyond the total number of vacancies specified using this vacancy announcement. Further selections may also be made for additional organizational divisions and/or units within the duty location(s) listed above.

Major Duties:

• Providing strategic functional leadership and expert consultation for HR IT systems and modernization initiatives, analyzing complex HR business requirements, system capabilities, data, policies, and operational needs to establish standardized, integrated, and sustainable solutions aligned with organizational objectives.
• Leading HR process re-engineering and transformation efforts by evaluating current-state processes, identifying inefficiencies, redundancies, control gaps, and manual activities, and designing future-state processes to improve service delivery, standardization, automation, operational efficiency, and the employee and manager experience.
• Conducting comprehensive business and systems analysis and provide evidence-based decision support by elevating quantitative and qualitative information, identifying trends, gaps, risks, dependencies, and alternative solutions, and developing well-documented analyses, recommendations, decision papers, executive briefings, process models, requirements, and other products to support senior leadership decisions.
• Serving as a cross-functional liaison and expert advisor among HR program offices, business owners, product and technical teams, and other stakeholders; facilitating requirements and process discussions, negotiating competing priorities and requirements, building consensus, and resolves complex business and system issues.
• Establishing and promoting standardized business analysis, requirements, process documentation, and continuous improvement practices across HR IT initiatives, ensuring clear, accurate, comprehensive, and traceable documentation throughout the development lifecycle.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this position
• Males born after 12/31/1959 must be registered with Selective Service
• Primary U.S. residency for at least three of the last five years (additional details below)
• All pre-employment processes will be conducted in English
• You may be required to pass a background investigation
• CBP follows the DHS Drug-Free Workplace Plan for drug testing procedures
• As an employee of CBP, you will be joining a workforce that is dedicated to accomplishing our mission while maintaining the trust of our Nation by strictly adhering to all government ethics standards. Your conduct will be subject to the ethics rules applicable to all Executive Branch employees, and to CBP employees specifically, as well as the criminal conflict of interest statutes. Once you enter on duty, these rules include obtaining approval for outside employment or business activity, to ensure such employment or business activity is not prohibited and does not interfere or conflict with performance of your official duties. Please review further details via the following link.
• DHS uses E-Verify, an internet-based system, to confirm the eligibility of all newly hired employees to work in the United States. Learn more about E-Verify including your rights and responsibilities.
• Bargaining Unit: This position is not covered under the bargaining unit.

Qualifications

Experience GS-13: You qualify for the GS-13 grade level if you possess 1 year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level, performing duties such as:

• Providing strategic functional leadership or expert consultation for complex Human Resources (HR) systems, business processes, or Information Technology(IT) modernization initiatives, including analyzing organizational requirements, system capabilities, policies, data, and operational needs to develop standardized and integrated solutions.
• Leading HR process re-engineering and transformation activities, including current-and future-state process analysis, workflow redesign, identification of process inefficiencies and redundancies, and development of recommendations for automation, standardization, and improved service delivery.
• Conducting complex business and systems analysis and providing evidence-based decision support, including analyzing data and other information to identify trends, gaps, risks, dependencies, and alternative solutions and developing documented recommendations for management and senior leadership.
• Developing and maintaining comprehensive business analysis and requirements documentation, including process maps, functional and business requirements, business rules, workflow documentation, user stories, acceptance criteria, decision papers, analytical reports, and executive briefs, with an emphasis on standardization, traceability, and quality.
• Serving as a cross-functional liaison and stakeholder advisor by facilitating complex business and technical discussions, negotiating competing requirements and priorities, building consensus among diverse stakeholders, and translating organizational needs into actionable HR IT improvements and solutions.

NOTE: Your resume must explicitly indicate how you meet this requirement, otherwise you will be found ineligible. Please see the "Required Documents" section below for additional resume requirements.

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.

You must meet all qualification requirements, including education if applicable to this position, subject to verification at any stage of the application process by 10/19/2026.

In order to be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and application questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job. The USA Hire Assessments includes a cut score based on the minimum level of required proficiency in these critical general competencies. You must meet or exceed the cut score to be considered. You will not be considered for the position if you score below the cut score or fail to complete the assessment.

Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration. Cheating on the online assessment may also result in your removal from consideration.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) must authorize employment offers made to current or former political appointees. If you are currently, or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES or Presidential Appointee employee in the Executive Branch, you must disclose this information to the Human Resources Office.

Background Investigation: U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is a federal law enforcement agency that requires all applicants to undergo a thorough background investigation prior to employment in order to promote the agency's core values of vigilance, service to country, and integrity. During the screening and/or background investigation process, you will be asked questions regarding any felony criminal convictions or current felony charges, the use of illegal drugs (e.g., marijuana, cocaine, heroin, LSD, methamphetamines, ecstasy), and the use of non-prescribed controlled substances including any experimentation, possession, sale, receipt, manufacture, cultivation, production, transfer, shipping, trafficking, or distribution of controlled substances. For additional information on the preemployment process, review the following link: Applicant Resources | CBP Careers

Residency: There is a residency requirement for all applicants not currently employed by CBP. Individuals are required to have physically resided in the United States or its protectorates (as declared under international law) for at least three of the last five years. If you do not meet the residency requirement and you have been physically located in a foreign location for more than two of the last five years, you may request an exception to determine if you are eligible for a residency waiver by meeting one or more of the following conditions:

• Working for the U.S. Government as a federal civilian or as a member of the military
• A dependent who was authorized to accompany a federal civilian or member of the military who was working for the U.S. government
• Participation in a study abroad program sponsored by a U.S. affiliated college or university
• Working as a contractor, intern, consultant or volunteer supporting the U.S. government

Probationary Period: All employees new to the federal government must serve a one year probationary period during the first year of his/her initial permanent federal appointment to determine fitness for continued employment. Current and former federal employees may be required to serve or complete a probationary period.

Agency Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) or the Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP) Eligibles: If you have never worked for the federal government, you are not CTAP/ICTAP eligible. View information about CTAP/ICTAP eligibilityon OPM's Career Transition Resources website. To be considered eligible under CTAP/ICTAP, you must be placed in the Well-Qualified category for this position, as described within this announcement. In addition, you must submit the supporting documents listed under the Required Documents section of this job announcement.

After CBP completes its hiring, the resumes of the remaining candidates referred for selection consideration may be shared with other DHS Components and other federal agencies. During the application process, you may choose to opt-in if you would like your name, application material, and assessment results to be shared. There is no guarantee of further consideration, and you can continue to explore other job opportunity announcements.

Education

Please see the Qualifications and Required Documents sections for more information if education is applicable to this position.

Additional information

Telework: This position MAY be eligible for situational telework, consistent with Agency policy.

The vacancy questionnaire includes four short, free-response essay questions. This provides an opportunity for you to highlight your dedication to public service for the hiring manager and agency leadership (or designee(s)). While your responses are not required and will not be scored, we encourage you to thoughtfully address each question. Please provide a response of 200 words or less to each question. You will be asked to certify that you are using your own words and did not use a consultant or artificial intelligence (AI) such as a large language model (LLM) like ChatGPT or Copilot. To preview the questionnaire please visit: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/[redacted]

Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Requests: If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a RA in your online application. Requests for RA for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for RA are made on a case-by-case basis. If you meet the minimum qualifications of the position, after notification of the adjudication of your request, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, based on your adjudication decision. You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, if you received the link after the close of the announcement. To determine if you need a RA, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments here.