Management Program Analyst (UX/UI Designer), GS-13

Summary

This position is located in the U.S. Department of Education (ED) Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA), Office of the Chief Technology Officer. FSA is a Principal Office of the United States Department of Education responsible for awarding billions of dollars in federal student aid funds. Our vision is to be the most trusted and reliable source of student financial aid, information, and services in the nation.

Duties

This is an open continuous announcement to fill current and future vacancies, until 08/14/2026.

This is a term position with a Not to exceed 13 months which can be extended up to four year with a possibility of being converted to permanent. Note: There is a full time permanent competitive position being announced at the same time for another position under FSA-2026-0092, if you would like to be considered for both. Applicants must apply for both announcements as they are two different appointment lengths.

We encourage you to read this entire vacancy announcement prior to submitting your application.

As a Management Program Analyst (UX/UI Designer), GS-0343-13, you will be responsible for:

• Leading human centered design practices such as user experience (UX) research and interaction design (lxD) to help improve products on FSA's customer facing site, StudentAid.ed.gov. The site provides customers with a personalized and self service experience across multiple channels that covers the federal student aid journey which includes learning about financial aid, applying for financial aid, and managing aid including loans.
• Applying qualitative and quantitative methods to assess program efficiency, effectiveness, guidelines, practices, procedures, administrative operations, processes, and mechanisms, as well as evaluating progress toward program goals and objectives.
• Preparing reports and briefs for program management while implementing and promoting best practices in organizational change management.
• Leading and working independently to conduct and oversee UX 20 research to understand the needs of students, parents and borrowers and develop reports and recommendations to FSA stakeholders.
• Overseeing user research activities, including development of detailed customer journeys; analyzing FSA and servicer legacy websites to understand their functionality and gather requirements; eliciting requirements from customers, subject matter experts, and product owners; and assisting vendor and FSA staff.
• Leading the development interactive prototypes as part of the design process and stakeholder reviews while communicating requirements to vendors and providing feedback to vendors on deliverables.
• Collaborating with vendor and FSA staff to design the digital experience for students, parents, borrowers, schools, and partners; Working with the development team to understand technical constraints and communicating the desired functionality for the digital platform; answering user interface design questions; and participating in user acceptance testing.
  
  
  

Requirements

Conditions of employment

Condition of Employment:

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As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you may be required to serve a probationary period or trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• Your performance and conduct;
• The needs and interests of the agency;
• Whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• Whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.
  
  
  

Upon completion of your probationary period OR trial period your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

You must meet all qualification requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this vacancy announcement.

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. We will consider all qualifying experience, including any volunteer experience.

Qualifications

This is an open continuous announcement with cutoff dates. Applications will be referred based on receipt of application and established cutoff dates as follows:

1st cutoff date: 06/26/2026

2nd cutoff date: 07/17/2026

3rd cutoff date: 08/03/2026

Last cutoff date: 08/14/2026

Minimum Qualification Requirements

You may meet the minimum qualifications for the GS-13, if you possess the specialize experience, education, or a combination of the two.

Specialized Experience For The GS-13

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One year of experience in either federal or non-federal service that is equivalent to at least a GS-12 performing two (2) out of three (3) of the following duties or work assignments:

• Experience supporting a multi disciplinary project involving the design, development, and implementation of a new system or a major enhancement to an existing IT system.
• Experience serving as a design contributor overseeing adoption of new functionalities or technologies for users.
• Experience communicating technical Information Technology concepts or business practices to non technical audiences.
  
  
  

Knowledge, Skills, And Abilities (KSAs)

The quality of your experience will be measured by the extent to which you possess the following knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs). You do not need to provide separate narrative responses to these KSAs, as they will be measured by your responses to the occupational questionnaire (you may preview the occupational questionnaire by clicking the link at the end of the Evaluations section of this vacancy announcement).

• Skill in conducting UX research and interaction design principles and methods.
• Knowledge of qualitative and quantitative analytical and evaluative methods and techniques for measuring effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity of assigned programs and projects.
• Ability to work directly with developers and documenting design work for them.
• Ability to communicate verbally and in writing including recommendations and policy guidance to a variety of audiences.
  
  
  

Education

Education cannot be substituted for experience for this position and grade level.

Additional Information

Veterans’ Career Counseling: If you are a veteran interested in receiving tips on preparing a Federal resume and/or how to prepare for an interview, you may email [email protected] to schedule a session with a career counselor (“Veterans Counseling Session” should be placed in the subject line of the email).

Student Loan Default: If selected for this position, we will verify that you have not defaulted on any loan funded or guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Education. If you are found to be in default, we will contact you to make arrangements for repayment prior to making an official offer of employment.

Suitability and Investigation: If selected for this position, you will be required to complete the Declaration for Federal Employment (OF-306) to determine your suitability for federal employment and successfully complete a pre-appointment investigation/background check.

Essential/Non-Essential: This position is considered non-essential for purposes of reporting to work during federal government closures.

Financial Disclosure: This position does not require financial disclosure.

Bargaining Unit: This position is included in the bargaining unit (American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 252).

Selections: Agencies have broad authority under law to hire from any appropriate source of eligibles and may fill a vacancy in the competitive service by any method authorized. We may make additional selections from this vacancy announcement within 90 days from the date the selection certificates are issued, should vacancies occur. We may also share selection certificates amongst program offices across the agency.

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding.

As an ED employee, you will also benefit from our family-friendly work environment. As part of our commitment to maintain a work life balance, we offer excused leave for Parent/Teacher Conferences (3 hours); excused leave for annual health screenings (4 hours); and matching leave for community volunteer service. Other flexibilities that may be available to you include alternative work schedules. You may be eligible to receive a recruitment incentive for this position. To receive this incentive payment, you will be required to sign a service agreement obligating you to remain with the U.S. Department of Education for a specified period as agreed upon. You may be eligible to receive a relocation incentive for this position. To receive this incentive payment, you will be required to sign a service agreement obligating you to remain with the U.S. Department of Education for a specified period as agreed upon. You may be eligible to participate in the Student Loan Repayment Program as a recruitment incentive for this position. To receive student loan repayments, you will be required to sign a service agreement obligating you to remain with the U.S. Department of Education for a specified period as agreed upon.

Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.

How You Will Be Evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

We will review your application and documentation submitted to ensure you meet the basic qualification requirements. You will be evaluated based on how well you meet the qualifications and competencies listed in this vacancy announcement. Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), and the result of the Monster Competency Based Assessment(s) required for this position. You will be assessed on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics):

Non-Supervisory: Oral Communications, Writing, Interpersonal Skills, Problem Solving, Teamwork, Technology Orientation, Customer Service, Attention to Detail and Self-Management

You will be evaluated to determine if you meet qualifications required, and on the extent to which your application shows that you possess the knowledge, skills and abilities associated with this position as defined in the Qualifications section. Please be sure to give examples in your resume and explain how often you used these skills, the complexity of the knowledge you possessed, the level of people you interacted with, and the complexity and sensitivity of the issues you handled.

Based on the outcome of this evaluation, your application data may be further assessed by a Subject Matter Expert (SME) panel. If your qualifications are not substantiated by your submitted resume, you may be eliminated from receiving further consideration.

If you are found to be amongst the most highly qualified applicants, you will be referred to the selecting official. As part of the assessment and selection process, the selecting official may invite you to participate in a structured interview, check your references, and/or request that you submit a writing sample or complete a written assessment or exercise to further evaluate your qualifications for this position.

This is an open continuous announcement to fill current and future vacancies until 08/14/2026.

Positions are open until filled, but no later than August 14, 2026. You may only apply to this vacancy once. No updates will be permitted. If you incur changes to your credentials or eligibilities, please continue to review USAJOBS for additional similar vacancies throughout the year. All credentials must be received at the time of application submission.

You may preview questions for this vacancy.