SUPERVISORY GENERAL ATTORNEY (District Counsel)
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers See More Job Openings by This EmployerAbout the Position: You will serve as District Counsel.Through direct supervision and staff supervision over the legal functions at the district, provide adequate legal counsel to the District Commander, the Deputy District Commander, Directors, and Office Chiefs within the District. The jurisdictional scope includes the regulatory responsibilities of the Corps and involves civil and military planning, design, construction, and civil works maintenance and operations performed in the District.
Duties- The jurisdictional scope includes the regulatory responsibilities of the Corps and involves civil and military planning, design, construction, and civil works maintenance and operations
- You will review work of subordinates, determine legal sufficiency, conformance to policy and general soundness of legal conclusions.
- Recommend personnel actions, approve leave, approve performance-based awards and maintain excellent employee communications and relations.
- Review and resolve complaints and grievances which cannot be solved by subordinate supervisors.
- Render legal advice, assistance and services on environmental and cultural resource compliance issues pertaining to civil work projects, programs and activities.
- Recommend the proper course of action and provide complete legal analysis of problems to higher authorities when matters are beyond the scope of the Commander's authority.
- $149,550 - $194,417/year
- A Secret security clearance is required.
- To avoid real or apparent conflicts of interest, you will be required to submit recurring Confidential Financial Disclosure Reports (OGE-450).
- Bar Membership: Applicants MUST currently a member in good standing of a bar of a state, territory of the United States, District of Columbia, or Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
The Albuquerque District's Area of Responsibility includes New Mexico, the Navajo Nation, along with part of Colorado and Texas. Seventeen Tribal Nations are also found within the District's Area of Responsibility. The dedicated employees in the District undertake civil works projects with non-Federal sponsors and military construction projects for the three New Mexico Air Force bases, and the White Sands Missile Range located in New Mexico. The District also operates four dams for flood control and water supply along the Rio Grande. More information about the District's missions can be found at www.spa.usace.army.mil.
Who May Apply: US Citizens
In order to qualify, you must meet the education and experience requirements described below. 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). You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience; your transcripts are required as part of your application. Additional information about transcripts is in this document.
The experience described in your resume will be evaluated and screened for the Office of Personnel Management's basic qualifications requirements, and the skills needed to perform the duties of this position as described in this vacancy announcement.
Basic Requirement for Attorneys (GS-0905): Successful completion of a full course of study in a school of law accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA) and have the first professional law degree (LL.B. or J.D).
Professional Legal Experience: Applicant must have three or more years of professional legal experience, acquired after being admitted to the bar, commensurate with the duties and responsibilities of the position. One year of the required professional legal experience must be equivalent to the GS-14 under the General Schedule or other pay systems which includes providing senior-level legal advice on federal contracting matters; conducting legal analysis and recommendations on contract claims, disputes, and bid protests; preparing litigation reports and supporting federal litigation through research, factual development, and coordination with Department of Justice or U.S. Attorneys; delivering authoritative ethics guidance, including reviewing financial disclosures and applying the Joint Ethics Regulation; and supervising attorneys and legal staff by assigning work, reviewing legal products, and offering technical oversight across a geographically dispersed organizations.
Bar Membership: Applicants MUST currently a member in good standing of a bar of a state, territory of the United States, District of Columbia, or Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
NOTE: ALL APPLICANTS SHOULD ADDRESS THE FOLLOWING KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES:
1. Technical Knowledge:
- Experience and/or knowledge in the specialized body of law applicable to civil works authorities, military programs, fiscal law, environmental law, ethics, information law, and general law. This includes extensive experience with and knowledge of Federal, DoD and Department of the Army regulations, guidelines, and policies.
- Experience and mature judgment in handling legal problems including statutory interpretations, preparing legal documents, and reviewing document for legal soundness and accuracy sufficient for accomplishment of difficult, complex and varied legal work relating to complex procurements, litigation, civil works, military construction, regulatory, ethics, fiscal law, and interagency agreements, administrative and international law
- Workload and/or staff direction and management experience. Experience in establishing goals, executing processes, and leading staff to implement and adjust objectives to meet regional mission requirements.
- Ability to advise and communicate effectively with senior leadership at all levels.
- Experience in recruiting, managing, and evaluating attorneys; ability to lead and manage complex legal issues, including reviewing work of legal subject matter experts.
- Credentials as indicated in the résumé and other application materials (e.g., awards, performance ratings, educational achievements).
The documents you are required to submit vary based on whether or not you are eligible for preference in federal employment. A complete description of preference categories and the associated required documents is in the Applicant Checklist for Public Announcements.
IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT REQUIRED DOCUMENTS FOR THIS ATTORNEY POSITION: If you DO NOT provide the required documents listed below for this US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Attorney position, your application will be determined to be an incomplete application package and will not receive further consideration for this position.
As described above, your complete application includes your resume, your responses to the online questionnaire, and documents which prove your eligibility to apply. If you fail to provide these documents, you will be marked as having an incomplete application package and you will not be considered any further.
- A 2-page resume must be submitted and must support the specialized experience described in this announcement.
a. For qualifications determinations your resume must contain hours worked per week and the dates of employment (i.e., HRS per week and month/year to month/year or month/year to present). - Cover Letter, optional
- Transcripts. You MUST submit a copy of your academic transcripts with your application package or you will be rated ineligible. See: Transcripts and Licenses
- Official certificate showing that you are a member in good standing of the bar.
- The official certificate must be dated within three months of the date that the application package is submitted.
- The certificate is required to be submitted by all applicants to include attorneys currently appointed to positions under the qualifying authority of The Judge Advocate GeneraI, (including active duty Army Judge Advocates).
- Sworn Statement:
- A sworn (notarized) statement from you that your fitness to practice law or conduct as an attorney has never been challenged in any jurisdiction to the best of your knowledge, or if either has been challenged, a sworn (notarized) statement concerning the facts and circumstances, together with any explanation that you deem appropriate may be submitted.
- As an alternative to a sworn (notarized) statement, a statement which includes a declaration under penalty of perjury may be submitted in the following format: "I declare (or certify, verify, or state) under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the foregoing is true and correct ... executed on (date) ... (your signature)." (28 U.S.C.1746).
- The statement must be dated within three months of the date that the application package is submitted.
- The statement is required to be submitted by all applicants to include attorneys currently appointed to positions under the qualifying authority of The Judge Advocate General, (including active duty Army Judge Advocates).
- Writing Examples
- Examples of writing skills as demonstrated by legal briefs, memoranda, or letters.
- These examples should total no more than ten pages in length.
- Extracts of selected sections of larger documents are acceptable.
- 1. Resume
- 2. Most recent annual performance appraisal
- 3. Your most recent non-award Notification of Personnel Action (SF-50)
NOTE: Documents submitted as part of the application package, to include supplemental documents, may be shared beyond the Human Resources Office. Some supplemental documents such as military orders and marriage certificates may contain personal information for someone other than you. You may sanitize these documents to remove another person's personal information before you submit your application. You may be asked to provide an un-sanitized version of the documents if you are selected to confirm your eligibility. How to Apply
To apply for this position, you must complete the online questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below.
The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 09/16/2026 to receive consideration.
- To begin, click Apply to access the online application. You will need to be logged into your USAJOBS account to apply. If you do not have a USAJOBS account, you will need to create one before beginning the application (https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13049445).
- Follow the prompts to select your resume and/or other supporting documents to be included with your application package. As a reminder, your resume must be two pages or less and must support the specialized experience described in this announcement. Resumes exceeding two pages will be removed from consideration. For additional information, refer to the 'Required Documents' section.
- You will have the opportunity to upload additional documents to include in your application before it is submitted. Your uploaded documents may take several hours to clear the virus scan process.
- After acknowledging you have reviewed your application package, complete the Include Personal Information section as you deem appropriate and click to continue with the application process.
- You will be taken to the online application which you must complete in order to apply for the position. Complete the online application, verify the required documentation is included with your application package, and submit the application. Your resume selected in USAJOBS will be included, but you must re-select other documents from your USAJOBS account or your application may be incomplete.
- It is your responsibility to verify that your application package (resume, supporting documents, and responses to the questionnaire) is complete, accurate, and submitted by the closing date. Uploaded documents may take up to one hour to clear the virus scan.
- Additional information on how to complete the online application process and submit your online application may be found on the USA Staffing Applicant Resource Center.
To verify the status of your application, log into your USAJOBS account (https://www.usajobs.gov/applicant/profile/dashboard/), all of your applications will appear on the Welcome screen. The Application Status will appear along with the date your application was last updated. For information on what each Application Status means, visit: https://help.usajobs.gov/how-to/application/status.