Criminal Investigator
Office of Inspector General
Posted: January 28, 2026 (0 days ago)
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Office of Inspector General
Department of Health and Human Services
Location
Salary
$125,776 - $163,514
per year
Type
Closes
Base salary range: $104,604 - $135,987
Typical requirements: 1 year specialized experience at GS-13. Senior expert or supervisor.
Note: Actual salary includes locality pay (15-40%+ depending on location).
This job is for a senior criminal investigator in the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General, focusing on leading investigations into potential fraud or misconduct in health programs.
It involves developing policies, conducting complex probes, and advising top officials on critical cases.
A good fit would be someone with extensive law enforcement experience, strong leadership skills, and a passion for protecting public health resources, ideally under 37 years old unless they have prior federal service.
This position is located in the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, Office of Investigations, Investigations Branch, Temporary promotion for 2 years with 1-year extensions possible for a max of 5 years.
Resumes must be no more than 2-pages in length. Duty location will be at a current OIG Regional or Field Office upon selection. The salary for this position will be adjusted based on the duty location.
Temporary Promotion: May be terminated earlier or extended for up to 5 years based on management discretion. It may also be made permanent without further competition.
If the temporary promotion is not made permanent the employee will be returned to their former position of record.
You must meet the requirements of the job by 11:59 (Eastern Standard Time) of the closing date: 02/01/2026 Applicants must meet all the qualification requirements, including education, and any selective placement factors described below within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement.
Education used as part of an application package will only be considered if complete transcripts are submitted and must be from an accredited institution as recognized by the U.S.
Department of Education. To see if your institution is accredited, please follow this link: Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs.
Training Requirements: Successful completion of the Criminal Investigator Training Program at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) or an approved equivalent is required.
Must successfully qualify with OI-issued firearms on an approved course of fire and successfully complete OI Control Tactics training program.
Appointments to this position will be terminated if all of the above are not satisfactorily completed.
Minimum Age Requirements: The minimum entry age for this position is 21 years of age and the maximum entry age for this position is 36 years of age (the date of appointment must be no later than the date immediately preceding the 37th birthday) unless you have sufficient prior Federal service in a covered law enforcement position.
Specialized Experience: In addition to meeting the basic requirements above, applicants MUST meet the additional requirements below: Minimum Qualification Requirements For the GS-14: Applicants must have 1 year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level GS-13 in the Federal service which provided the applicant with the knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the duties of the position.
Qualifying specialized experience must demonstrate the following: (1) Develops agency wide policies, procedures, and strategies; (2) Conducting and reporting on a full range of criminal investigations; and (3) provides expert technical advice, guidance, and recommendations to senior management and senior agents on critical operations.
Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., 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.
Your resume should include the dates of all qualifying experience (from month/year to month/year) and the number of hours worked/volunteered per week.
This position authorizes the incumbent to carry a firearm and must meet the Lautenberg Amendment requirements as described in Title 18, USC Section 992 (g).
Any person who has been convicted of a felony, a misdemeanor or crime of domestic violence cannot lawfully possess a firearm.
The term convicted as defined by the statute, excludes any person whose conviction has been expunged, set-aside, pardoned, or any person whose civil rights have been restored, so long as the restoration does not restrict the shipping, transport, possession or receipt of firearms or ammunition.
Candidates who have been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor or crimes of domestic violence within the meaning of the referenced statute are not eligible for this position.
Law Enforcement Retirement: This position meets the eligibility criteria for law enforcement retirement under both the Civil Service Retirement Systems (CSRS) and the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS).
Employees covered by either retirement system that reach age 50 or over with at least twenty years of service as a law enforcement officer are qualified for law enforcement retirement.
In addition, employees covered by FERS (all new hires to the federal government) of any age with at least twenty-five years of service as a law enforcement officer are qualified for law enforcement retirement.
Finally, employees who reach age 57 with at least twenty years of service as a law enforcement officer are subject to mandatory retirement.
This position is approved for Secondary Law Enforcement coverage under 5 (USC) 8331 (20) or 5 USC 8401 (17). Major Duties:
Duties include but are not limited to: Performing sensitive high-level investigations as the direction of OI management.
Providing program and policy direction necessary to accomplish all investigative work requirements, and to ensure compliance with all legal requirements and OI policies and procedures.
Identifying, planning, directing, coordinating and conducting extensive internal and external training and outreach relative to program areas and investigative activities.
Developing and assisting in the management of new initiatives and makes recommendations to the scope of OI efforts to be expended on the project.
Conducting a wide range of special studies, research and analysis relative to issues of special concern to OI and prepares and presents briefings on these subjects.
Representing OI at conferences, meetings, seminars, etc.
of high-level officials of the Department, other government agencies, professional organizations, Federal, State and local government where matters represented potentially affect OI programs and require authoritative representation.
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