Summary The Deputy Director, Safety and Mission Assurance (SMA) shares responsibility with the Director for managing and directing the SMA activities for all human space flight programs and projects assigned to the Johnson Space Center (JSC) including the International Space Station, Orion, Gateway, and Commercial Crew Programs, as well as supporting Agency goals for exploration programs. Responsibilities The Deputy Director Safety and Mission Assurance: Implements Agency SMA policies and practices for human-rated spaceflight programs and projects assigned to JSC, and provides technical authority leadership for these programs and projects. Develops and implements the capability to analyze and assess the safety, reliability, maintainability, and quality aspects of the design, development, test, manufacturing, and operational phases of these programs and projects. Serves as technical expert, policy advisor, and consultant to the JSC Center Director and additional Agency senior management regarding the overall status of SMA related issues. Ensures JSC organizational and contractor compliance with accepted requirements and standards including those associated with JSC's Quality Management System. Ensures that an effective industrial safety program is implemented to comply with NASA safety goals and with the laws and regulations imposed by the federal, state, and other regulatory agencies. Develops Center-wide SMA standards and guidelines tailored to unique program requirements and manages the Agency-delegated functions such as independent assessments. Supports Program milestone reviews and provides certification of flight readiness assessment to various Flight Readiness Review Boards. Serves as the approval authority for the Center Director on requests for waivers to Center safety policies and regulations; and acts for the program offices when authorized as approval authority for waivers to SMA requirements. Monitors space flight mission in real time to assist in the analysis of flight anomalies and corrective measures and participates in post flight analysis and test activities. Fosters and continually drives a culture of engagement, diversity, inclusiveness, excellence, and innovation within and outside of the organization and NASA. Champions the Agency's commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) and creates an environment and culture that promotes and enables the Agency's commitment to safety, inclusion, integrity, teamwork, and excellence. Requirements Conditions of Employment Qualifications You must have the skill and ability to perform the duties described above as demonstrated by progressively responsible supervisory/leadership experience, normally obtained over several years by serving in positions at the GS-15 level or equivalent. Your application package must be in your own words. Experience statements copied from a position description, vacancy announcement, or other reference material constitutes plagiarism and may result in disqualification and losing consideration for the job. NASA prohibits the use of artificial intelligence (AI) or AI-assisted tool in drafting application and assessment responses. Please visit https://www.nasa.gov/careers/how-to-apply/#Artificial-Intelligence to review NASA's guidance on the use of AI tools during the application process. To meet the minimum qualification requirements for this position, you MUST address each Executive Core Qualification (ECQ) and Mandatory Technical Qualification (MTQ) separately. If you fail to do so, your application will be rated ineligible. We recommend you provide two (2) examples of relevant experience for each ECQ. Responses to ALL ECQs must not exceed ten (10) pages; MTQ responses must not exceed one (1) page per MTQ. Please include your full name on all documents submitted. If you are currently serving under a career SES appointment, are eligible for reinstatement into the SES (this means you were previously employed as a Career SES employee and you successfully completed a one-year probationary period), or have successfully completed a SES Candidate Development Program and been certified by Office of Personnel Management (OPM) you MUST submit a resume and in a separate document address the MTQs. Any ECQs submitted will not be considered. Your resume must clearly state that you are a current career SES, eligible for reinstatement, or SES CDP certified and year of certification. When preparing your responses to the ECQs and MTQs, you are encouraged to follow the Challenge, Context, Action, and Result model outlined in the OPM's Guide to Senior Executive Service Qualification. For a sample template on how to format your ECQ narrative visit NASA's Executive Leadership Opportunities. EXECUTIVE CORE QUALIFICATIONS: ECQ 1 - Leading Change: The ability to bring about strategic change, both within and outside the organization, to meet organizational goals. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to establish an organizational vision and to implement it in a continuously changing environment. ECQ 2 - Leading People: The ability to lead people toward meeting the organization's vision, mission, and goals. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to provide an inclusive workplace that fosters the development of others, facilitates cooperation and teamwork, and supports constructive resolution of conflicts. ECQ 3 - Results Driven: The ability to meet organizational goals and customer expectations. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to make decisions that produce high-quality results by applying technical knowledge, analyzing problems, and calculating risks. ECQ 4 - Business Acumen: The ability to manage human, financial, and information resources strategically. ECQ 5 - Building Coalitions: The ability to build coalitions internally and with other Federal agencies, State and local governments, nonprofit and private sector organizations, foreign governments, or international organizations to achieve common goals. MANDATORY TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS: MTQ 1- Demonstrated knowledge and experience with safety, reliability, and quality assurance policies and practices for design, development, test and certification of large spaceflight programs. MTQ 2- Experience leading and managing an organization responsible for safety and mission assurance processes and procedures for complex systems, including workforce and budgets. Education This position has a positive education requirement. To be eligible, you must clearly state in your resume the following: degree, major and/or minor, and college/university. A bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university with major study in engineering, physical science, mathematics, life sciences, computer science, or other field of science. SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR FOREIGN EDUCATION: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show that the education credentials have been evaluated by a credential evaluation service that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs. These education credentials must be deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. For further information, click here. Additional Information Must be able to obtain and maintain a Top Secret/SCI security clearance.
