Hiring technologists to protect consumers

Senior technologists focus their efforts on the following areas:

• Providing strategic leadership on how to protect consumers from harm.
• Acting as a change agent to introduce technical strategies in all areas of the agency.
• Leading and managing supervisory and investigative efforts in support of the larger technologist program
• Working across government and with external partners to protect consumers

Example duties for each focus area are outlined in the sub-bullets below.

• Providing strategic leadership on how to protect consumers from harm.
  • Develop short- and long-term technical strategies to support the agency's efforts around eliminating algorithmic bias, data security, consumer privacy, emerging technologies, and dark patterns.
  • Works with relevant staff to understand emerging issues and opportunities to improve fairness and equity in consumer financial markets and affect the overall well-being of consumers.
  • Conceptualizes, develops, and leads new technical strategies that could help the agency effectively protect consumers.
  • Identifies emerging issues within their technical area of expertise and recommends potential policy or investigative approaches.
• Acting as a change agent to introduce technical strategies in all areas of the agency.
  • Builds relationships across the agency to jointly define priorities and identify ways that technologists can support all areas of policymaking.
  • Identifies opportunities for collaboration on strategic goals and available expertise to enhance the agency’s analytical and policymaking capabilities.
  • Provides guidance and explanations about technical strategies to management, attorneys, and economists to help them understand key aspects of products or services in an investigation or litigation.
  • Educates staff on developments related to principles and practices of the current marketplace to improve how government serves the public, technical strategies to effectively protect consumers, and how to advance the regulation of emerging technologies.
• Leading and managing supervisory and investigative efforts in support of the larger technologist program
  • Leads, coordinates, and/or facilitates work of cross-functional teams related to their area of technical expertise.
  • Leads technologists and other staff members in cross-functional teams responsible for projects that may inform investigation or litigated matters, using a range of technical or human-centered design methods and involving quantitative and qualitative data collection efforts.
• Working across government and with external partners to protect consumers
  • Recommends and leads outreach efforts with technical experts at state, local, federal, and international government partners to implement a more systematic, government-wide approach to protecting consumers.
  • Leads and coordinates responses to internal and external inquiries related to the impact major policy initiatives or investigative efforts.
  • Attends and speaks at conferences, meetings, and other external events to form industry-wide connections and stay abreast of emerging developments.

You must have one year of the following specialized experience:

• Experience managing technical staff and teams to build out and plan the implementation of technical strategies using iterative/agile product development or data-driven methodologies; AND
• Experience evaluating technological program functions and establishing organizational goals to improve the performance of digital services, technical systems, and products; AND
• Experience writing code, analyzing data, creating, or developing products or services for end users (i.e., working software, machine learning pipelines, personalized data products, user flows and wireframes); AND
• Experience providing advice, views, alternatives, and recommendations to senior management through formal briefings to guide stakeholders through organizational change.

Program technologists focus their efforts on the following areas:

• Keeps a finger on the pulse of the current marketplace to anticipate emerging technologies and how they could be used to harm consumers.
• Collaborating across the agency to embed technical strategies in investigative or policy efforts.
• Conducting and leading supervisory and investigative efforts in support of the larger technologist program
• Working across government and with external partners to protect consumers.

Example duties for each focus area are outlined in the sub-bullets below.

• Keeps a finger on the pulse of the current marketplace to anticipate emerging technologies and how they could be used to harm consumers.
  • Works with Senior Technologists or agency management to identify and develop technical strategies to support the agency's efforts around eliminating algorithmic bias, data security, consumer privacy, emerging technologies, and dark patterns.
  • Leads and implements complex, cross-agency strategic and investigative efforts on emerging issues, as well as investigative and policy efforts to improve fairness and equity in consumer financial markets and affect the overall well-being of consumers.
  • Conceptualizes, develops, and implements new technical strategies that could help the agency effectively protect consumers.
  • Researches, evaluates, and reports on new and emerging developments within their technical area of expertise and works with legal experts on investigatory opportunities, mitigation strategies, and possible remedies.
  • Identifies, analyzes, and summarizes economic, social, and financial data using technical expertise to enhance agency investigative or policymaking efforts.
• Collaborating across the agency to embed technical strategies in investigative or policy efforts.
  • Collaborates with Senior Technologists or agency management to identify emerging issues in their technical area of expertise and make recommendations on potential policy or investigative approaches.
  • Prepares guidance and explanations to management, attorneys, and staff to help them quickly grasp key issues, understand available principles and practices of the current marketplace to improve decisions related to technical strategies that could effectively protect consumers and regulate the use of emerging technologies.
• Conducting and leading supervisory and investigative efforts in support of the larger technologist program
  • Leads and participates in projects with cross-functional teams related to the incumbent’s area of technical expertise.
  • Manages the delivery of projects that may inform investigation or litigated matters, using a range of technical approaches or human-centered design methods and involving quantitative and qualitative data collection efforts.
  • Identifies, measures, and reports key metrics to measure and evaluate program success and failure.
  • May serve on high profile and sensitive cases, task forces, or working groups that cut across organizational or program lines.
• Working across government and with external partners to protect consumers
  • Establishes and maintains contacts with technical experts at state, local, federal, and international government partners to implement a more systematic, government-wide approach to protecting consumers.
  • Responds to internal and external inquiries related to the impact major policy initiatives or investigative efforts.
  • Attends and speaks at conferences, meetings, and other external events to form industry-wide connections and stay abreast of emerging developments.

You must have one year of the following specialized experience:

• Experience planning the work of cross-functional technical teams using iterative/agile product development or data-driven methodologies; AND
• Experience analyzing data, technical systems, digital services, or user needs to assess the effectiveness of program operations in meeting organizational goals; AND
• Experience creating or developing products or services for end users (i.e., working software, machine learning pipelines, personalized data products, user flows and wireframes); AND

Experience sharing views, findings, and recommendations to senior management through formal briefings to gain buy-in and change perspectives.

Technologists focus their efforts on the following areas:

• Implements new technical strategies that protect consumers from harm.
• Collaborates and is embedded across the agency to execute and implement technical strategies in investigative or policy efforts.
• Executes on supervisory and investigative efforts in support of the larger technologist program
• Working across government and with external partners to protect consumers.

Example duties for each focus area are outlined in the sub-bullets below.

• Implements new technical strategies that protect consumers from harm.
  • Works with fellow Technologists to execute technical strategies to support the agency's efforts around eliminating algorithmic bias, data security, consumer privacy, emerging technologies, and dark patterns.
  • Implements cross-agency strategic and investigative efforts on emerging issues, as well as investigative and policy efforts to improve fairness and equity in consumer financial markets and affect the overall well-being of consumers.
  • Develops, recommends, and implements strategies to effectively protect consumers in the digital world and stay on the cutting edge of technology.
  • Uses expertise and experience with latest design and technology trends and best practices to provide oversight and leadership throughout the life cycle of a project.
  • Identifies, analyzes, and summarizes economic, social, and financial data using technical expertise to inform senior officials to develop, modify, or enhance agency investigative or policymaking efforts.
  • Monitors developments in laws, regulations, policies, procedures to stay abreast of policy developments and implications for the agency and the consumers it serves. Provides regular updates on these developments to relevant senior staff and advises on potential improvements resulting from this information.
• Collaborates and is embedded across the agency to execute and implement technical strategies in investigative or policy efforts.
  • Provides guidance and explanations about technical strategies to staff attorneys and economists to help them understand key aspects of products or services that could assist an investigation or litigation.
  • Assists fellow technologists and/or senior leadership to quickly grasp key issues, understand available principles and practices of the digital age to improve how government serves the public and make decisions related to technical strategies that could effectively protect consumers and regulate the use of emerging technologies.
• Executes on supervisory and investigative efforts in support of the larger technologist program
  • Participates in projects related to their area of technical expertise. Works with management to formulate work plans that anticipates future requirements and capabilities for the agency’s technical strategies.
  • Leads projects that may inform investigation or litigated matters, using a range of technical approaches or human-centered design methods and involving quantitative and qualitative data collection efforts.
  • Identifies, measures, and reports key metrics to measure and evaluate program success and failure.
  • Maintains sufficient documentation to verify any analysis included in the materials and to reproduce the analysis, if required.
• Working across government and with external partners to protect consumers
  • Maintains connections with technical experts at state, local, federal, and international government partners to implement a more systematic, government-wide approach to protecting consumers.
  • Attends and speaks at conferences, meetings, and other external events to form industry-wide connections and stay abreast of emerging developments.

You must have one year of the following specialized experience:

• Experience participating on cross-functional, collaborative technical teams using iterative/agile product development or data driven methodologies; AND
• Experience analyzing data, building digital services, or understanding user needs to develop recommendations and improve gaps in a project, product, platform, or service; AND
• Experience creating products or services for end users (i.e., working software, machine learning pipelines, personalized data products, user flows and wireframes); AND
• Experience delivering formal briefings to senior management to articulate views, findings, and recommendations.

If you have technical resources at your agency already, they may feel underutilized and hungry for a challenge. At the CFPB, posting to existing employees and placing detailees from across the agency allowed us to find and reengage existing technical talent by doing 120-day assignments into policy or investigative work.

Other agencies may also have underutilized technical talent. In 2022, the CFPB experimented with posting reimbursable and non-reimbursable details on Open Opportunities , powered by USA Jobs. Open Opportunities focuses on providing existing government employees with experience-based learning assignments at any agency across the federal government. Opportunities offer current federal employees a way to develop and grow their professional skills and experience- all while keeping their current federal job. Opportunities are a great way for agencies to get extra help, learn from federal partners, and develop, engage, and retain employees.

Feel free to use the content from CFPB’s open opportunities posting to invite technical talent to detail at your agency.

The intent of the authority is to bring a cross-fertilization of ideas and expertise into the agency from the private sector. Schedule A subpart R hiring authority is limited to two-year term appointments with the opportunity to extend up to a total of four years.

There are several other hiring authorities worth exploring if you’re looking to surge technical resources into the compliance and policy activities at your agency, including:

The US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) defines Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) agreements as temporary assignments of experts to or from state and local governments, institutions of higher education, tribal governments, and other eligible organizations. These assignments allow civilian employees of Federal agencies to serve with eligible non-Federal organizations for a limited period without loss of employee rights and benefits. Employees of state and local governments, tribal governments, institutions of higher education and other eligible organizations may serve in Federal agencies for similar periods.

An example of an IPA to support technologist work would include adding an academic researcher with expertise in the ethical use social media data temporarily to your agency to inform policy efforts around abusive data practices.

Your agency could qualify for a direct-hire authority (DHA), an appointing (hiring) authority that OPM can give to Federal agencies or establish government-wide for specific occupational series and grades when a critical hiring need or severe shortage of candidates exists.

A DHA allows agencies to hire qualified applicants quickly. It expedites hiring by eliminating rating and ranking. All applicants who meet the minimum qualification requirements will be referred to the hiring manager for consideration and may be selected, A DHA can be used to fill temporary, term, or permanent appointments unless otherwise noted in the individual authority.

When authorized by an appropriation or other statute, an agency may intermittently and/or temporarily appoint a qualified expert or consultant to work at the agency. The expert consultant must meet the definition of expert or consultant. An agency may employ an expert or consultant who works on a full-time basis for a maximum of 2 years - i.e., on an initial appointment not to exceed 1 year and a reappointment not to exceed 1 additional year.

Recently, OPM and the US Digital Service have led efforts to issue governmentwide calls to hire specific technical roles. These hiring efforts are designed to onboard employees with in-demand skills at a faster pace than what would normally happen under the federal hiring system. Examples of recent efforts include:

• Data Scientist
• Customer Experience Strategists
• Digital Corps