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Posted: April 3, 2026 (1 day ago)

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Supervisory Public Affairs Specialist

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Department of Commerce

Fresh

Location

Salary

$121,785 - $187,093

per year

Closes

GS-13 Pay Grade

Base salary range: $88,520 - $115,079

Typical requirements: 1 year specialized experience at GS-12. Expert-level knowledge in field.

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

Job Description

Summary

This job involves leading a team to handle communications for NOAA, including creating speeches, press releases, and strategic plans to share information with the public and media.

You'll act as a key spokesperson, advising top leaders on public relations while managing daily operations.

It's a great fit for experienced communicators with strong writing skills and leadership in government or public affairs who enjoy simplifying complex topics for everyday audiences.

Key Requirements

  • One full year of specialized experience equivalent to GS-12 or ZA-3 level in federal service
  • Experience reviewing and analyzing technical material to outline key information for general audiences
  • Experience drafting speeches, statements, talking points, or news releases for organizational leaders in public forums
  • Experience assessing materials and writing styles to produce content for speeches and public appearances
  • Ability to oversee operations and manage a team of public affairs specialists
  • Skills in planning and executing short- and long-term strategic communication plans
  • Experience serving as a spokesperson and building relationships with media, stakeholders, and groups

Full Job Description

This position is located in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Office of the Under Secretary, with two vacancies in Silver Spring, MD.

This position is also announced under vacancy number UNSEC DUSO-26-12921405-DE, which is open to all US Citizens or Nationals.

You must apply to both announcements if you want to be considered for both. Qualification requirements in the vacancy announcements are based on the U.S.

Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Qualification Standards Handbook, which contains federal qualification standards.

This handbook is available on the Office of Personnel Management's website located at: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/ SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: Applicants must possess one year of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and responsibility to the next lower grade level in the Federal Service.

Specialized experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular competencies/knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position.

This experience need not have been in the federal government.

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.

To qualify at the ZA-4 or GS-13 level: SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: Applicants must possess one full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent to the ZA-3 or GS-12 in the Federal service.

Specialized experience MUST include all of the following: Reviewing and analyzing technical material to outline key information for general audiences; Drafting speeches, statements, talking points, or other material, such as news releases, to be used by agency or other organizational leaders in a public forum; and Assessing materials and discerning writing styles to produce written materials for speeches and other public appearances.

Major Duties:

As a Supervisory Public Affairs Specialist, you will perform the following duties: Oversee the day-to-day operations and manage a team of public affairs specialists for NOAA Communications.

Plan, approve, and execute short and long-term strategic communication plans.

Serve as senior agency spokesperson who establishes and maintains effective working relationships with members of the news media, internal and external stakeholders and groups.

Advise senior NOAA leadership, the NOAA Communications Director, and Deputy Director; and take guidance from the same.

Throughout the recruitment and hiring process we will be communicating with you via email; therefore, it is imperative that the email address you provide when applying for this vacancy remains active.

Should your email address change, please notify the point of contact identified in the vacancy announcement as soon as possible so that we can update our system.

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Posted on USAJOBS: 4/3/2026 | Added to FreshGovJobs: 4/4/2026

Source: USAJOBS | ID: UNSEC DUSO-26-12921404-ST