IT Specialist

Federal Emergency Management Agency•Washington, DC

About The Position

This IT Specialist position is in FEMA’s Resilience Federal Insurance Directorate, Insurance Acquisition & Technology Division. The role focuses on User Centered Design to modernize National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) insurance, mapping, and digital workflows. The specialist applies user research, prototyping, and process-design methods across discovery, design, testing, and iterative improvement. The position supports emergency management operations; employees may be recalled around the clock, work irregular hours or away from their official duty station, and deploy for extended periods with little advance notice. Deployments may involve physically austere and operationally challenging conditions. If selected, the employee must attend a three-week, in-person training course in Emmitsburg, Maryland, within six months of onboarding; FEMA covers travel expenses.

Requirements

Must be a U.S. citizen.
Must successfully pass and maintain a High Risk background investigation; this may include a credit check and review of financial issues and certain criminal or drug-related matters.
Must register with Selective Service, if applicable.
Current federal employees must meet time-in-grade requirements.
Must be able to obtain and maintain a Government credit card.
Must be able to deploy with little or no advance notice anywhere in the United States and its territories for an extended period.
Must complete a three-week in-person training course in Emmitsburg, Maryland, within six months of onboarding.
Must have IT-related experience, which may include paid or unpaid experience or applicable intensive training.
Must demonstrate competencies in attention to detail, customer service, decision making, information management, interpersonal skills, oral communication, problem solving, teamwork, and technical competence.
For GS-13 qualification, must have one full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least GS-12 in the Federal government, demonstrating: application of User-Centered Design principles to develop or improve digital products, services, workflows, or applications; user research and usability testing to identify needs, analyze findings, or recommend improvements; and design and documentation of digital workflows or interfaces using process maps, user journeys, wireframes, prototypes, or requirements.
There is no educational substitution for the position’s qualification requirements.

Responsibilities

Apply User Centered Design methods to modernize NFIP insurance, mapping, and digital service workflows, from discovery through design, testing, and iterative improvement.
Conduct user research, stakeholder interviews, and usability testing with internal staff, policyholders, insurance partners, flood mapping partners, and other stakeholders.
Identify user needs, pain points, and opportunities for process improvement.
Design and document current- and future-state NFIP insurance and mapping workflows, including user journeys, process maps, service blueprints, requirements, and decision points.
Create wireframes, prototypes, and responsive application designs using Figma, Axure, Adobe XD, or similar tools.
Collaborate with product owners, business partners, technical teams, vendors, and program stakeholders to translate user needs and business requirements into design recommendations, functional requirements, and implementation-ready solutions.
Participate in visioning sessions, design sessions, and other solution-design activities.
Support FEMA emergency management operations, including deployment when required.