Description of Organization: The position is located within the Energy Division. The Energy Division works to advance sustainable results in support of the Agency’s environment, energy, economic growth, and infrastructure priorities. The Energy Division provides technical leadership and field support for energy programs. These programs promote energy sector reforms, climate change mitigation, and the scaling of innovative energy technologies. The Energy Division supports the design, implementation, and evaluation of the Agency’s energy programs totaling approximately $250 million per year. The Energy Division’s annual budget of approximately $8 million per year is used to support program-funded staff and a variety of global energy programs that provide capacity building, technical assistance, technical leadership, and knowledge management for the benefit of counterparts such as developing country ministries, regulatory agencies, utilities, and private sector developers and investors.
Duties and Responsibilities: The Environment Officer serves as an Energy Advisor in the Energy Division, which manages USAID’s Washington, DC-based energy programs and provides technical and management leadership and support to USAID’s energy sector reform agenda implemented at the country-level, with a primary focus on the electricity sector in developing economies in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe and Eurasia, and Latin America and the Caribbean where USAID missions are located.
Specialized Experience: For the FL-03 (GS-13 equivalent) grade level, you must have one year of specialized experience at the FL-04 (GS-12) grade level or equivalent. Specialized experience is defined as:
Five or more years of experience obtained through paid or unpaid work and education that is related to the line of work of this position and has equipped the candidate with the knowledge and competencies to successfully perform the duties of this position, such as:
Experience taking the lead on substantive research with respect to international development projects, programs, and/or activities in a related field;
Expertise in project development and/or project management for energy and infrastructure projects, as well as associated grant and contract activities; and
Experience in strategic planning, analysis, design, implementation, and/or evaluation of energy programs, especially in low and lower-middle income countries;
Excellent communication skills both verbally and written to internal and external stakeholders;
Ability to work across cultures and contribute to diverse teams; and
Ability to travel internationally up to 25 percent of the time.
Conditions of Employment:
Must be a U.S. citizen. Candidates must indicate citizenship on their application. If citizenship is not stated, the application will not be considered; and
Must be eligible to obtain and maintain a Secret-level security clearance.
Required Documents:
A cover letter expressing interest and clearly addressing the stated requirements for the position;
A resume/CV that must include the month, year, and the number of hours worked per week for each position listed;
Official or unofficial transcripts, if applicable; and
While more than a billion people have gained access to electricity since 2010, and prices for clean energy technology have fallen dramatically in recent years, more than 675 million people worldwide still lacked access as of 2021, and many more suffer from poor service quality, including frequent and long power outages.
Today, many developing countries are in the process of creating policy, legal and regulatory frameworks necessary to attract private investment in clean energy, increase energy efficiency, and expand access. USAID works with these countries across all aspects of the energy sector to build strong systems that can power global economic and social development.