Software Engineer and Data Automation Specialist

Summary

The Commission is seeking a Software Engineering and Data Automation Specialist who will work within the Information Systems team of the Office of Administration and Technology. The incumbent will design, develop, integrate, and maintain applications, data-processing workflows, data warehouse solutions, and analytics systems, with an emphasis on document and data extraction, processing, transformation, validation, integration, and automation.

Duties

The Software Engineering and Data Automation Specialist will work within the Information Systems team of the Office of Administration and Technology to support the research and operational work of the United States Sentencing Commission. The incumbent will design, develop, integrate, and maintain applications, data-processing workflows, data warehouse solutions, and analytics systems, with an emphasis on document and data extraction, processing, transformation, validation, integration, and automation. The position encompasses both modernization projects and ongoing support of existing systems. Assignments may include leading or supporting document extraction, data transformation, database integration, reporting, and application maintenance, with responsibilities varying according to project priorities, operational needs, and team expertise. The incumbent will collaborate with technical staff and subject-matter experts to develop shared knowledge of the Commission's data, business rules, and systems. The ideal candidate will be passionate about data and technology, possess strong analytical and problem-solving skills, and enjoy developing practical solutions to complex data and automation challenges. The incumbent will: Analyze business and user requirements and design, develop, implement, and maintain software solutions supporting data collection, document processing, data integration, business intelligence, and analytics. Design and develop Python applications and automated pipelines to ingest and process PDFs, scanned documents, databases, and other structured and unstructured data sources. Develop and enhance OCR, text parsing, regular-expression, and document-layout techniques. Segment documents into meaningful sections or chunks while preserving context, document identifiers, and source locations needed for subsequent processing and review. Collaborate with subject-matter experts to define, document, implement, and test coding rules that transform extracted information into standardized data elements. Address exceptions, conflicting information, and ambiguous results through documented validation and review procedures. Develop and maintain SQL and Oracle PL/SQL solutions for data transformation, validation, reconciliation, loading, and integration with operational databases and data warehouses. Design and support end-to-end workflows for ingestion, extraction, transformation, validation, and database loading, including scheduling, monitoring, error handling, restart, and recovery. Evaluate and apply machine learning, natural-language processing, and locally hosted AI models where they improve document extraction, classification, search, or analysis. Compare results with established methods and approved reference data before production use. Develop and integrate secure applications for air-gapped and restricted-network environments, using approved tools, APIs, and locally hosted services as appropriate. Design, maintain, and enhance data models, ETL/ELT processes, and system interfaces as data sources, technologies, and business requirements evolve. Develop, enhance, maintain, and validate reports, dashboards, and data visualizations, ensuring the accuracy and usability of information provided to staff and other authorized users. Maintain and enhance existing applications, data warehouse processes, and analytics platforms, including configurations, integrations, upgrades, and performance tuning. Contribute to application and data architecture by designing secure, maintainable interfaces and processing components that integrate with enterprise systems and support future modernization. Implement automated testing, regression testing, data-quality checks, logging, and monitoring. Maintain traceability from source documents through extraction and transformation to database values, including applicable rule and model versions. Implement and maintain application security, authentication, authorization, and related controls; comply with applicable federal information security, privacy, data governance, and records-management requirements. Monitor production systems, investigate data discrepancies and processing failures, and resolve technical issues to maintain reliable operations. Maintain technical documentation, coding-rule specifications, test cases, and operating procedures. Participate in cross-training and knowledge transfer to support shared responsibility for Commission systems. Provide technical support, consultation, and training to technical staff and end users, and manage assigned projects and operational tasks to meet established requirements, quality standards, and deadlines. Perform other duties as assigned.

Requirements

MANDATORY QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS Applicants must have: An undergraduate degree from an accredited university or college in information technology or a related field of study. A minimum of three (3) years of application development experience to qualify for JS-12. At least one (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower level of the grade for which they are applying. For example, to qualify for the JS-13, one (1) year of specialized experience must have been at the GS-12 level or equivalent.

Qualifications and evaluation

HOW YOU WILL BE EVALUATED The Commission evaluates applicants through a structured interview, and practical assessments. Applicants may also be screened for some jobs through a narrative/application review, and/or a preliminary telephone interview. Applicants who do not address the qualification requirements (mandatory and preferred) in his or her application materials as stated in the vacancy announcement are automatically disqualified from consideration and must re-apply before the closing date to be considered for employment. The Office of Human Resources: Reviews the applicant's application to ensure the proper materials are submitted. Ensures that the application addresses all the qualification requirements as stated in the vacancy announcement (mandatory and preferred). Determines whether the applicant meets the mandatory qualification requirements for the position and notifies the applicant about the status of their application. Applicants who meet the mandatory qualification requirements will be considered, and their application materials will be forwarded to the screening panel for review.

Education

Applicants must have an undergraduate degree from an accredited college or university in information technology or a related field of study.

How to apply

In order to be considered, all applicants must submit an electronic resume (limited to 2 pages) and cover letter that together address all the mandatory and preferred qualification requirements listed in this announcement, and if available, provide a recent job performance evaluation. All mandatory qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement. Applicants will also need to complete the online occupational questionnaire. All applications must be submitted at www.usajobs.gov.

Required documents

Resume (limited to 2 pages) Cover Letter Recent job performance evaluation (if available)

Additional information

BENEFITS The Commission participates in the following federal benefits: The Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) program; the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP), the Federal Employees Group Life Insurance (FEGLI) program, federal retirement, the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), and the federal leave program. In addition, the Commission participates in the Judiciary's Flexible Spending Program for dependent care, health care, and commuter reimbursement, the government-wide Long Term Care Insurance Program, unemployment, and workers' compensation benefits. The Commission offers a monthly transit subsidy to employees who use mass transit to commute to and from work, subject to the availability of funds. The Commission offers alternative work schedules (AWS), which are fixed work schedules that enable full-time employees to complete the basic 80-hour biweekly work requirement in less than 10 workdays. The position is eligible for regular telework (not full-time) at home or at an approved telework site for employees who meet the requirements of an approved telework arrangement. The Commission also offers training opportunities to employees through LinkedIn Learning, and the Judiciary's Online University, which offers academic credit and professional credit programs through web-based learning. These training tools assist Commission employees with taking online courses in a flexible way, by offering training courses in the areas of: staff training and development; credit toward undergraduate degree programs; continuing education and non-credit certificate programs; executive education; contract training; credit credentials courses for continuing professional education and credit for individuals who hold credentials and achieve certifications associated with several globally-recognized sponsored organizations.