Supervisory Operations Research Specialist

Role Overview

This position is part of the Defense Human Resources Activity, Defense Personnel Analytics Center. The incumbent will supervise a team of analysts responsible for evaluating and improving the efficiency, effectiveness, and applicability of data analytics for measuring and improving the DoW's understanding of its manpower and related topics.

You may qualify at the GS-14 if you fulfill the following qualifications:

• One year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS‑13 grade level in the Federal service, including:
• Ability to plan and execute the full analytic lifecycle, including data ingestion, preparation, feature engineering, modeling, validation, and delivery of results.
• Proficiency in applying advanced analytical techniques (linear/non‑linear methods, Bayesian methods, tree‑based algorithms, clustering, NLP, LLMs) to large, diverse datasets.
• Skill in designing, building, and automating data pipelines (ETL, feature tables, jobs, experiments) for efficient, repeatable, and scalable workflows.
• Ability to develop user‑focused analytics and decision‑support tools, ensuring reproducibility and documentation.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, Ameri Corps) and other organizations (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. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

In addition to meeting qualifications, your application package must reflect the applicable experience to meet the Individual Occupational Requirements for the 1515 series as listed below:

• Degree:
  In Operations Research or at least 24 semester hours in a combination of operations research, mathematics, probability, statistics, mathematical logic, science, or subject‑matter courses requiring substantial competence in college‑level mathematics or statistics. At least 3 of the 24 semester hours must have been in calculus.

The primary requirement for operations research work is competence in the rigorous methods of scientific inquiry and analysis rather than in the subject matter of the problem. Therefore, applicants should have sufficient knowledge of applied mathematics to understand and use the fundamental concepts and techniques of operations research methods of analysis. In addition, some positions may require knowledge of a specific subject area.

Courses acceptable for qualifying for operations research positions may have been taken in departments other than Operations Research, e.g., Engineering (usually Industrial Engineering), Science, Economics, Mathematics, Statistics, or Management Science.

The following are illustrative of acceptable courses: optimization; mathematical modeling; queueing theory; engineering; physics (except descriptive or survey courses); econometrics; psychometrics; biometrics; experimental psychology; physical chemistry; industrial process analysis; managerial economics; computer science; measurement for management; mathematical models in social phenomena; and courses that involved application of operations research techniques and methodologies to problems of management, marketing, systems design, and other specialized fields;

or other comparable quantitative analysis courses for which college‑level mathematics or statistics is a prerequisite. Courses in theory of probability and statistics are highly desirable, but are not specified as minimum educational requirements because to do so would possibly exclude some applicants who would otherwise be well qualified.