IT Cybersecurity Specialist (INFOSEC) (Recent Graduate)

Full Job Description

The SSA Recent Graduates Program provides Recent Graduates with entry-level developmental experience and is designed to lead to a career in the Federal government.

Program participant(s) are placed in excepted service appointments, not-to-exceed 1 year. Note: This position is being filled on a full-time basis. This is a 1-year developmental program.

After successful completion of the program, you may be non-competitively converted to a term (not to exceed 1-4 years) or permanent appointment.

Resumes exceeding two pages in length will not be considered, please visit the new resume guidance for more information.

To be considered for selection, you must be eligible for the Recent Graduate Program AND meet the qualifications specified for the posted position(s).

Recent Graduate Program Eligibility To qualify for appointment to the Recent Graduates Program, you must have completed all requirements of an academic course of study leading to an associate's, bachelor's, master's, professional, doctorate, vocational, or technical degree or qualifying certificate program from an accredited educational institution.

Your graduation (degree conferred) date must be within the 2 years preceding your application to this announcement.

Note: See Required Documents section to ensure you provide the correct documentation to prove your Recent Graduates Program eligibility.

Preference-eligible veterans who, due to military service obligations, were precluded from applying to the Program during any portion of the 2-year eligibility period are entitled to a full 2-year period of eligibility upon release or discharge from active duty.

In no event, however, may the eligibility period extend beyond 6 years from the date on which the preference eligible veteran completed the requirements of an academic course of study, when a qualifying degree or certificate was conferred.

Note: See Required Documents section to ensure you provide the correct documentation to prove your Recent Graduates Program and preference eligibility.

Qualifications You must also meet the below qualifications for the posted position(s) by the closing date of this announcement, 04/27/2026.

Applicants must qualify for the series and grade of the posted position.

Your resume must provide sufficient experience and/or education, knowledge, skills, abilities, and proficiency of any required competencies to perform the specific position for which you are applying.

Experience must be IT-related; the experience may be demonstrated by paid or unpaid experience and/or completion of specific, intensive training (for example, IT certification), as appropriate.

Your resume is essential for evaluating your qualifications for this position. Ensure it addresses the evaluation criteria and describes your relevant duties, not just your skills.

List each position separately with full dates, hours per week, grade (if federal), and a detailed description of your responsibilities.

Submit a thorough resume directly related to this position; incomplete or unrelated applications will not be considered.

To qualify for the 2210 IT Specialist series, applicants must demonstrate the following IT-related competencies: Attention to Detail - Is thorough when performing work and conscientious about attending to detail.

Customer Service - Works with clients and customers (that is, any individuals who use or receive the services or products that your work unit produces, including the general public, individuals who work in the agency, other agencies, or organizations outside the Government) to assess their needs, provide information or assistance, resolve their problems, or satisfy their expectations; knows about available products and services; is committed to providing quality products and services.

Oral Communication - Expresses information (for example, ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (for example, technical, sensitive, controversial); makes clear and convincing oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately.

Problem Solving - Identifies problems; determines accuracy and relevance of information; uses sound judgment to generate and evaluate alternatives, and to make recommendations.

Minimum Qualifications: Grade 9 To qualify at the GS-9 level, you must have one of the following: A master's or equivalent graduate degree (see Education section); OR Successful completion of two full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a master's or equivalent graduate degree (see Education section); OR At least 52 weeks of specialized experience at the GS-7 level, or equivalent.

Such IT-related experience must include: Assisted in the development and implementation of IT products using basic product management principles and methodologies.

Supported product lifecycle activities, including ideation, development, and post-launch evaluation, under supervision.

Participated in gathering and documenting stakeholder requirements for IT projects. Used programming languages and structured query languages to modify and maintain software applications with guidance.

Conducted preliminary analyses of user needs and system requirements to support application design. Assisted in preparing presentation materials and reports for team meetings and stakeholders.

Demonstrated effective communication skills in providing updates and information to team members. Major Duties:

• Provide support in implementing systems security measures in accordance with established procedures to ensure, confidentiality, integrity, availability, authentication, and non-repudiation for all of SSA.
• Manage and administer the updating of rules and signatures (e.g., intrusion detection/protection systems, anti-virus, and content blacklists) for specialized cyber defense applications.
• Perform system administration on specialized cyber defense applications and systems (e.g., anti-virus, audit and remediation) or Virtual Private Network (VPN) devices, to include installation, configuration, maintenance, backup and restoration.
• Assist in identifying, prioritizing and coordinating the protection of SSA’s network by building, installing, configuring, and testing dedicated cyber defense hardware.
• Create, edit, and manage network access control lists on specialized cyber defense systems (e.g., firewalls and intrusion prevention systems).
• Identify potential conflicts with the implementation of cyber defense using tools, signature testing and optimization.
• Provide cybersecurity guidance on significant threats and vulnerabilities via bulletins, newsletters and written reports.
• Evaluate security controls using NIST guidelines (e.g., 800-53) and implement measures to ensure agency system confidentiality, integrity, availability, authentication, and non-repudiation.
• Work with agency and external stakeholders to resolve computer security incidents and vulnerability compliance.
• Work with agency and external stakeholders to analyze candidate architectures to provide cybersecurity guidance on security services, and select security mechanisms to comply with agency security requirements.
• Performs other duties as assigned.