Chief Deputy Clerk

Overview of the Position The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina seeks applications from qualified candidates for the position of Chief Deputy Clerk (Type II). This position is located in Greensboro, North Carolina, and reports directly to the Clerk of Court.

The Chief Deputy Clerk is primarily responsible for the administration and supervision of court operations, the largest section in the Clerk’s Office. Although Information Technology, Finance, Facilities, and Human Resources report separately to the Clerk, the Chief Deputy also plays a key role as trusted advisor in these areas and, in the absence of the Clerk, assumes his functions and responsibilities.

Thus, the incumbent will need to become familiar with, and capable of handling, duties and responsibilities related to procurement, budget, restitution, registry, technology, information security, and the administration of human resources policies and  addition to the day-to-day duties of the position, the Chief Deputy manages or personally handles special projects and assignments as needed and helps to develop court-wide policies.

The position of Chief Deputy Clerk requires a strong knowledge of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, the Local Rules of the Middle District, as well as the procedures utilized by the different sections of the Clerk’s Office.

The incumbent assists the Clerk in providing leadership, management, and supervision for all aspects of the Clerk’s Office with a primary focus on court operations, including court schedules, intake, docketing, courtroom services, jury management, the Case Management/Electronic Case Filing (CM/ECF) system, records management, statistical reporting, and quality assurance. Specific duties include the following:

• Develops and communicates policies, procedures, and objectives of management to employees to enhance the productivity of the entire organization
• Develops the master court schedule under direction of the Court
• Assists with the formulation, implementation, monitoring, and modification of organizational policy and court rules
• Assists with the implementation of automated systems
• Interacts with the Judges, Administrative Office, Federal Judicial Center, other federal courts, the bar, government agencies, and the public to resolve complex issues of practice and procedure
• Special projects including, but not limited to, studies of operational areas, implementation of new local or national programs, and various types of writing assignments
• Acts as the Clerk in his absence, which includes ruling on motions under the Court’s Standing Order 40, entering defaults, and ruling on bills of costs; approving payments; and evaluating leave requests and other human resource matters
• Under the current organizational structure of the office, the Chief Deputy Clerk directly supervises the Operations Manager, CM/ECF Administrator, Jury Administrator, and a case manager with responsibility for interpreter scheduling and naturalizations. The Operations Manager, in turn, supervises the Docketing Supervisor, court reporters, and case managers/courtroom deputies. The Docketing Supervisor leads a team of deputy clerks with responsibility for intake and docketing.

Candidates must have a minimum of six years of progressively responsible administrative, supervisory, technical, professional or managerial experience that provided an opportunity to gain: (1) a thorough knowledge of management practices and administrative processes; (2) skill in dealing with others in person-to-person work relationships; (3) the ability to exercise mature judgment, and (4) the ability to communicate effectively both orally and in writing to a wide variety of people.

At least three of the six years of experience must have been in a position with substantial management responsibility. The successful candidate should be a leader, motivator, highly organized, and possess a high degree of integrity. Applicants should be proficient with word processing applications, such as Word and other administrative applications (e-mail, spreadsheets, recordkeeping). A bachelor’s…