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Posted: January 15, 2026 (0 days ago)

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Program Manager (Center Director)

Small Business Administration

Other Agencies and Independent Organizations

Fresh

Location

Salary

$163,996 - $197,200

per year

Closes

January 29, 2026More SBA jobs →

GS-15 Pay Grade

Base salary range: $123,041 - $159,950

Typical requirements: 1 year specialized experience at GS-14. Senior leader or top expert.

Note: Actual salary includes locality pay (15-40%+ depending on location).

Job Description

Summary

This job involves leading a team that helps small businesses recover from disasters by managing loan programs across the western U.S.

and Pacific territories, including setting up recovery centers and coordinating with other government agencies.

A good fit would be someone with strong leadership experience in government or disaster response, who can handle high-stakes operations and communicate effectively with officials and the public.

Key Requirements

  • At least 1 year of specialized experience at GS-14 level or equivalent, including developing organizational strategy and vision
  • Experience overseeing day-to-day operations of a disaster or loan-making program
  • Skills in analyzing workload distribution and staffing needs to make recommendations or decisions
  • Ability to write clear communications like policies, guidelines, and funding requests for internal and external audiences
  • Strong oral communication skills, including representing the organization in meetings with high-level officials and executives
  • U.S. citizenship and ability to meet all qualification requirements by January 29, 2026

Full Job Description

You will serve as a Center Director for Small Business Administration (SBA), Field Operations Center West (FOCW) in Citrus Heights, CA.

As the Center Director, you will be responsible for planning, directing, managing, evaluating, and coordinating the implementation of the disaster loan program for all states west of the Mississippi River, American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

Generally, time in Non-Pay status is not creditable towards the specialized experience requirement listed below.

Experience: To receive credit, you must indicate the month and year as well as the average hours worked per week for each employer.

Average work hours must be stated on resume to quantify each period of work experience or that experience will not be credited toward meeting the specialized experience requirement.

You must address the specific specialized experience required for each grade level of this position on your resume or application or you will be rated "Ineligible" for that grade level.

GS-15: To qualify you must have at least 1 full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and complexity to the GS-14 level in the Federal service that has equipped you with the particular knowledge, skill, and ability to perform successfully in this position.

This specialized experience must demonstrate the following: Developing or implementing and communicating the strategy, vision and direction of an organization, such as a Federal, State or local government program office, department or field office; AND Overseeing, managing, or advising on the day-to-day operations of a disaster or loan-making organization/program; AND Analyzing and making recommendations or decisions on workload distribution and staffing requirements; AND Writing communications for internal and external customers to convey information such as policies, guidelines, operating procedures, position statements, funding requests/justifications, etc.; AND Communicating orally, or representing the organization, in meeting with high level government officials or private sector executives.

Do not copy and paste the duties, specialized experience, or occupational assessment questionnaire from this announcement into your resume as that will not be considered a demonstration of your qualifications for this position.

Additional information on the qualification requirements is outlined in the OPM Qualifications Standards Handbook of General Schedule Positions.

It is available for your review on OPM's Qualifications web site: Program Management Series 0340 Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work.

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. All qualification requirements must be met by 11:59 pm (Eastern Time) on 01/29/2026. Major Duties:

As a Program Manager (Center Director) at theGS-0340-15, some of your typical work assignments may include: Operation and staffing of Disaster Field Offices and Disaster Recovery Centers in cooperation with state, local and Federal officials.

Coordination and maintenance of a close working relationship with the Processing and Disbursing Center (PDC) and Disaster Lending Platform for the processing of loan applications from disaster survivors and the overall workflow.

Spokesperson to other government agencies, to top business and industry officials, and to Congressional staff and committees.

Coordination and acquisition of space, supplies, furnishing and equipment to meet the needs and goals of the FOCs response to major disasters.

Responsible for organizing damage surveys for disasters where administrative declarations by SBA has been requested.

Coordinates with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) where Presidential declarations have been requested.

Coordination with the Field Operation Center Director in developing procedures and processes to respond consistently to all types of disasters; reviews and evaluates the substantive work of the Centers to assure compliance with center quality standards; and develops and implements corrective actions as necessary.

Directly, or through subordinate staff, supervises Field Operations, Public Affairs, Information Technology (IT), and Administrative Support staff.

This position is also being announced under Merit Promotion Procedures, announcement # MP-26-FOCW-12863803, you will need to apply in order to receive consideration as a status candidate.

Additional selections may be made from this announcement if identical vacancies occur within 180 days from the closing date.

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Posted on USAJOBS: 1/15/2026 | Added to FreshGovJobs: 1/16/2026

Source: USAJOBS | ID: DE-26-FOCW-12864585