Associate Director, Trust Decision (Adjudications)

Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency • Fort Meade, MD

10d

About The Position

The Associate Director, Trust Decision (Adjudications) heads DCSA’s Trust Decision organization and serves as a principal advisor to senior management on delivering timely, consistent, legally sufficient, risk-informed trust determinations and security review services for the Department of War and other federal customers. The role advises on business transformation aligned with DCSA’s strategic and business plans and reports to DCSA’s Director.

The incumbent leads a high-volume service-delivery organization supporting DCSA’s personnel-vetting mission. The position translates agency priorities into measurable outcomes and aligns workforce, technology, and funding with mission demand; oversees adjudicative determinations, issue resolution, and security reviews; and monitors operational performance, quality, compliance, and risk. It also leads process and technology modernization, represents DCSA in senior-level governance and interagency forums, manages the Trust Decision budget and contractor performance, and develops subordinate executives, managers, and technical experts.

This is a full-time, permanent, supervisory/managerial DCIPS position in the excepted service, designated Special Sensitive and Mission Essential. The incumbent must obtain and maintain a Top Secret/SCI clearance. The work schedule is flexible with agency policy; situational telework may be approved on a temporary, case-by-case basis. Occasional temporary duty and/or local travel may be required. A one-year DISES trial period and/or two-year DCIPS trial period may apply. The position requires OGE-278e financial disclosure and drug testing, including initial and random testing.

Requirements

• Must be a U.S. citizen.
• Males born after December 31, 1959, must be registered for Selective Service.
• Must obtain and maintain a Top Secret/SCI security clearance.
• Must meet the Executive Core Qualifications: commitment to the rule of law and principles of the American Founding; driving efficiency; merit and competence; leading people; and achieving results. Evidence must be included in a resume not exceeding two pages; a separate narrative is not required.
• Must demonstrate experience leading a high-volume, complex services business or knowledge-work, integrating workforce planning, multi-million-dollar budgets, P&L responsibility, and contracted support to meet mission demand.
• Must demonstrate experience making high-consequence decisions within legal, policy, and security constraints and building strategic coalitions across internal and external stakeholders.
• Must demonstrate experience leading major business or mission transformations in a highly regulated or high-consequence environment.
• Must demonstrate experience using performance data, rigorous operating reviews, and leader accountability to improve throughput, backlog, and quality metrics.
• Must demonstrate experience driving technology-enabled change, such as process redesign, automated workflows, and data analytics, while maintaining human judgment in critical decision-making.
• Must meet the Joint Duty Credit requirement to be eligible for appointment; an external candidate selected without credit must immediately apply, and a waiver may be required before final appointment.
• Must pass an initial drug screening and may be subject to random testing thereafter.
• Must submit OGE-278e Executive Personnel Financial Disclosure.
• May be required to accept a change of official duty station in support of the DCSA mission.
• May be subject to a DISES one-year trial period and/or a DCIPS two-year trial period, unless the applicable trial period has already been served.
• Resume and supporting documents must be received by 11:59 PM EST to be considered.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Trust Decision organization in support of DCSA’s personnel-vetting mission and translate agency priorities into measurable outcomes, aligning workforce, technology, and funding with mission demand.
• Direct a high-volume service-delivery operation responsible for adjudicative determinations, issue resolution, and security reviews, using an operating system that connects demand, inventory, capacity, and mission commitments.
• Lead outcome-based capacity planning and monitor performance standards, including defect rate, exit rate, capacity utilization, and backlog.
• Use operational indicators to mitigate emerging risks, direct recovery plans, and maintain resilience of mission-essential services.
• Establish an enterprise quality-management system to measure accuracy, consistency, and systemic risk and ensure compliance with applicable statutes, federal directives, and security policies.
• Analyze requests for additional and supplemental information, develop continuous-improvement strategies and performance analytics, and partner with investigative leaders to reduce avoidable rework and delay.
• Transform Trust Decision processes, services, and operating models in partnership with technical, acquisition, and security leaders.
• Establish business ownership for workflow, automation, and artificial-intelligence technology investments; use pilots and phased implementation to address validated mission problems and measure benefits.
• Modernize data systems while keeping human judgment central to consequential trust decisions and ensuring automated processes are secure, explainable, and compliant with law and policy.
• Represent DCSA in senior-level governance forums, negotiations, and interagency initiatives with Department of War components, federal customers, and intelligence partners.
• Build strategic coalitions to address cross-organizational challenges involving timeliness, quality, reciprocity, and technology; establish service expectations and transparent performance and risk reporting.
• Promote reciprocity and consistency across the personnel-vetting enterprise and communicate performance trade-offs, resource constraints, and practical solutions.
• Develop, justify, and execute the Trust Decision budget, linking resource requests to workload forecasts, productivity, and risk reduction to prioritize hiring, technology, and contract investments.
• Oversee contractor performance, integrate support without displacing inherently governmental responsibilities, maintain internal controls, and identify resource trade-offs for senior-leader decisions.
• Preserve the integrity and independence of case-level determinations while improving systems, standards, and training.
• Lead, develop, and hold accountable a diverse workforce of subordinate executives, managers, and technical experts, fostering a culture of integrity, accountability, inclusion, and high performance.

Benefits

• Federal employees and their families have access to a comprehensive benefits package; specific benefits depend on position eligibility and should be confirmed with the hiring agency.
• Permanent Change of Station (PCS) may be authorized.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Executive
• Education Level: No Education Listed