Summary
The Deputy Assistant Secretary of War for Strategic, Space, and Intelligence Portfolio Management DASW (SSIPM) is responsible for supporting the Under Secretary of war for Acquisition and Sustainment (USW(A&S)) in execution of assigned responsibilities as Principal Staff Assistant for: Common Data Link; Unified Platform and Joint Cyber Command and Control Global Positioning System; Positioning, Navigation and Timing' Missile Defense; and Space and national Intelligence.
Duties
Major duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to: Manages and analyzes assigned capability portfolios across the Department to assess cost, schedule, and performance risks to Strategic Space and National Intelligence portfolios. Leveraging Department-wide data to identify capability gaps across Services and working with Services, the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering (USW(R&E)), and other organizations to address these gaps. Responsibilities include C4; Missile Defense; and Space and National Intelligence. Executes Secretariat responsibility and support to USW(A&S) as co-chair for both the Missile Defense Executive Board and the PNT Executive Committee to integrate multiple disciplines into a cohesive whole across science and technology, requirements, acquisition, development, test and evaluation, and sustainment to equip the applicable Department organizations. Directs the professional staff and oversees the management of the activities of the Office of DASW(SSIPM). Ensures staff is individually trained and experienced such that they are recognized as the Department's primary Acquisition Corps authorities on the planning, management, system engineering, acquisition strategies, and technical content of major acquisition program portfolios. Works closely with relevant Program Executive Officers to promote sound planning and management of assigned programs. Collaborates with key executive staff members in OUSW(A&S), other Office of the Secretary of War (OSW) offices and agencies, the Joint Staff and the Services on matters involving assigned strategic space and national intelligence portfolios, including technical, cost, and schedule issues that might affect the availability of capabilities. Serves as the OUSW(A&S) lead for Space Governance, including interfacing with the Department's Space Architecture lead and execution organization. Guides technology investments in support of system acquisition and sustainment; reforms and improves Department-wide decision making for resource allocation; develops and institutes adaptive acquisition framework options for the Services and Agencies to deliver capabilities on accelerated, but risk-balanced, timelines, over $4 billion annually. Supports the Department's strategic reviews as directed with analysis of assigned portfolios and programs capabilities and gaps. This includes recommendations on tradeoffs among programs in portfolios. Assesses strategic space and national intelligence portfolio performance in support of OUSW(A&S) participation in OSW Program and Budget Reviews and in support of Congressional reporting requirements. Prepares studies and analyses as required to support Congressional requirements and to enhance the performance of aforementioned duties.
Requirements
You must be a U.S. citizen to qualify for this position. All newly appointed Career SES leaders must sign the Reassignment Rights Obligations Agreement as a condition of appointment into the SES. You must submit to a drug test and receive a negative drug test before you can be appointed into this position. Designated and/or Random Drug Testing required. In order to qualify for this position, you must be able to obtain a Top Secret security clearance and access to Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI). Submit resume and all other required documents online by 11:59 PM Eastern Standard Time on 08/19/2026 The individual selected will be required to file an 'Executive Branch Personnel Financial Disclosure Report (OGE-278) in accordance with the Ethics in Government Act of 1978. You will serve a one-year probationary period unless you have previously completed the probationary period in the SES. Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered or exempt from Selective Service (see https://www.sss.gov/Home/Registration). This is a Critical Acquisition Position. This position requires a Program Management, Advanced, acquisition certification. The incumbent has 48 months to achieve this certification. Selectee must execute, as a condition of appointment, a written agreement to remain in Federal service in the position for at least three years.
Education
THIS POSITION HAS AN EDUCATION REQUIREMENT. ALL APPLICABLE TRANSCRIPTS MUST BE PROVIDED WITH YOUR APPLICATION. A. Degree: Engineering. To be acceptable, the program must: (1) lead to a bachelor's degree in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by ABET; or (2) include differential and integral calculus and courses (more advanced than first-year physics and chemistry) in five of the following seven areas of engineering science or physics: (a) statics, dynamics; (b) strength of materials (stress-strain relationships); (c) fluid mechanics, hydraulics; (d) thermodynamics; (e) electrical fields and circuits; (f) nature and properties of materials (relating particle and aggregate structure to properties); and (g) any other comparable area of fundamental engineering science or physics, such as optics, heat transfer, soil mechanics, or electronics. OR B. Combination of education and experience -- college-level education, training, and/or technical experience that furnished(1) a thorough knowledge of the physical and mathematical sciences underlying engineering, and (2) a good understanding, both theoretical and practical, of the engineering sciences and techniques and their applications to one of the branches of engineering. The adequacy of such background must be demonstrated by one of the following: 1. Professional registration or licensure -- Current registration as an Engineer Intern (EI), Engineer in Training (EIT)1, or licensure as a Professional Engineer (PE) by any State, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico. Absent other means of qualifying under this standard, those applicants who achieved such registration by means other than written test (e.g., State grandfather or eminence provisions) are eligible only for positions that are within or closely related to the specialty field of their registration. For example, an applicant who attains registration through a State Board's eminence provision as a manufacturing engineer typically would be rated eligible only for manufacturing engineering positions. 2. Written Test -- Evidence of having successfully passed the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE)2 examination or any other written test required for professional registration by an engineering licensure board in the various States, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico. 3. Specified academic courses -- Successful completion of at least 60 semester hours of courses in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences and that included the courses specified in the basic requirements under paragraph A. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program as described in paragraph A. 4. Related curriculum -- Successful completion of a curriculum leading to a bachelor's degree in an appropriate scientific field, e.g., engineering technology, physics, chemistry, architecture, computer science, mathematics, hydrology, or geology, may be accepted in lieu of a bachelor's degree in engineering, provided the applicant has had at least 1 year of professional engineering experience acquired under professional engineering supervision and guidance. Ordinarily there should be either an established plan of intensive training to develop professional engineering competence, or several years of prior professional engineering-type experience, e.g., in interdisciplinary positions. (The above examples of related curricula are not all-inclusive.) Note: An applicant who meets the basic requirements as specified in A or B above, except as noted under B.1., may qualify for positions in any branch of engineering unless selective factors indicate otherwise. Qualifications standard for all Professional Engineering Positions can be found here: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/0800/files/all-professional-engineering-positions-0800.pdf.
How you will be evaluated
Once the application process is complete, a review of your resume and supporting documentation will be conducted. If you meet minimum qualifications, your Application Package will be further reviewed to determine if you possess the Executive Core Qualifications (ECQ) and Technical Qualifications (MTQ) listed above. ECQs and TQs must be thoroughly addressed within your two (2) page resume. Separate narratives will not be accepted or reviewed. Highly Qualified applicants may undergo one or more interviews and may be referred to the selecting official for further consideration. Upon selection, if not already a member of the SES serving under a career appointment, the individual selected must have his/her executive qualifications certified by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management's SES Qualifications Review Board (QRB) before appointment to this position. The selected individual's application will be forwarded to the OPM for review and certification by the QRB through a Structured Interview process, unless the selectee provides evidence of their noncompetitive status (i.e., a current SES, OPM QRB certified SESCDP graduate, or SES reinstatement eligible). Upon QRB certification, the selected individual will be required to serve a one-year probationary period. For more information regarding the SES, go to https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/senior-executive-service/.