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Job Details for Chief U.S. Probation Officer

Court Name/Organization:	Minnesota Probation and Pretrial Services
Location:	Minneapolis, MN
Opening and Closing Dates:	10/25/2023 - Open Until Filled
Appointment Type:	Permanent
Classification Level/Grade:	JSP16 - JSP 17
Salary:	$183,484 - $243,300
Announcement Number:	2024-01

Position Description

The U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota is seeking a qualified individual for the position of Chief U.S. Probation Officer. This position is directly responsible for the administration and management of the U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services Office in the District of Minnesota. The District of Minnesota is composed of seven active district judges, seven senior district judges, seven full-time magistrate judges, and one part-time magistrate judge. The Chief U.S. Probation Officer is a Court Unit Executive who operates under the direction of the Chief Judge of the District of Minnesota.

The U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services Office is headquartered in the Diana E. Murphy U.S. Courthouse in Minneapolis. There are field offices in Bemidji, Duluth, Fergus Falls, Rochester, and Saint Paul. The U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services Office serves the District of Minnesota, which encompasses the entire state and includes 87 counties. To find out more about the U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services Office, please visit the website at www.mnp.uscourts.gov.

This vacancy is open until filled, with preference given to applications submitted by Monday, Jan. 29, 2024, at 4:30 p.m. CT.

Representative Duties

• Organizes and manages the Probation and Pretrial Services Office to ensure expeditious handling of investigative work for the courts, other institutions, and parole authorities and to ensure effective supervision of pretrial and presentence defendants, probationers, and persons on supervised release
• Reviews, analyzes, and interprets statutory, Judicial Conference, and Parole Commission requirements for the administration of pretrial, probation, and supervised-release services; promulgates policies, procedures, and guidelines necessary to meet these requirements
• Maintains administrative liaison with the U.S. District Court and promulgates policies, procedures, and guidelines to meet the unique needs of the Court, along with standards to ensure an appropriate level of service delivery. Establishes and maintains cooperative relationships with other local court executives to ensure appropriate level of service delivery to the Court.
• Maintains liaison with the Chief Judge, the other District Judges, and the Magistrate Judges, and makes specific recommendations regarding criminal-justice issues with particular emphasis on matters relating to sentencing practices
• Manages the staff of the office; selects and recommends candidates for appointment as probation officers to the Chief Judge; appoints all non-officer personnel; makes determinations on personnel matters including promotions, salary increases, disciplinary actions, and dismissals; ensures all personnel are carefully selected and adequately trained; ensures performance is systematically evaluated
• Maintains an effective system of communication, enabling awareness of pertinent information at all levels; delegates decision-making responsibility at appropriate levels; provides qualitative and quantitative measures of work performance; assures accountability with minimal interference to service delivery
• Prepares and maintains operating budget and makes estimates of personnel, space allocation, and operating allowance needs; approves requisitions; certifies vouchers for payment; maintains appropriate fiscal controls in all matters pertaining to travel expenses and purchases of services, equipment, and supplies
• Establishes and maintains cooperative relationships with other probation and pretrial services offices to assure that all requests for assistance from other districts are met promptly and effectively
• Establishes and maintains cooperative relationships with all components of the criminal-justice system, including federal, state, and local law-enforcement, correctional, and social-service agencies
• Develops and maintains a public-relations program that explains probation, supervised-release, and other correctional services to the community; assumes responsibility for communication to the news media
• Participates in leadership opportunities outside of the District of Minnesota to support national efforts to improve the administration of justice
• Establishes and administers continuing in-service training programs to ensure high quality service delivery through consistent staff development
• Monitors community developments with special attention to alleviating hazardous office and field incidents
• Uses evidence-based principles to consistently evaluate and improve organizational performance
• Promotes and maintains staff commitment, enthusiasm, positive morale, diversity, equity, and inclusion
• On occasion, may perform the duties of probation or pretrial-services officers or of supervising probation or supervising pretrial-services officers
• Performs related duties as required by the Court

Qualification

Minimum Qualifications

• To qualify for the position of Chief U.S. Probation Officer at JSP 16, a person must have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university and possess three years of progressively responsible specialized experience earned after the bachelor’s degree has been issued
• To qualify for the position of Chief U.S. Probation Officer at JSP 17, a person must, in addition to having three years of progressively responsible specialized experience, possess three years of substantial management experience earned after the bachelor’s degree has been issued
• The three years of specialized experience is mandatory and does not permit any substitutions

Court Preferred Skills
Additional qualifications, skills, and experiences preferred, but not required, include:

• Substantial knowledge of and experience in the operations and management of federal probation and/or pretrial services. Knowledge of federal judiciary strategic direction, policies, and procedures. Knowledge of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, applicable statutes and case law, and the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.
• Demonstrated commitment to and expertise in evidence-based practices and re-entry initiatives, and in the development of organizational practices stemming from these principles to improve offender outcomes and reduce recidivism
• Excellent organizational leadership and management skills, including the ability to coach and develop employees. Experience in leading teams, managing budgets and financial plans, leading large multifaceted projects, evaluating work processes and organizational impact, re-engineering or creating new organizational models, and planning and implementing change.
• Ability to effectively interact with judges, the legal community, and other law-enforcement, corrections, and service-providing agencies
• Highly organized; possesses tact, good judgment, poise, initiative, and a professional demeanor; communicates effectively, both orally and in writing
• A graduate degree in a closely related field from an accredited university

Specialized Experience

Specialized Experience:

• Specialized experience is defined as progressively responsible experience in the investigation, supervision, counseling, and guidance of offenders in community correction or pretrial programs.  
• Experience as a police officer, FBI agent, customs agent, U.S. marshal, or similar position -- other than any criminal investigation experience -- does not meet the requirements of specialized experience.

Crediting Substantial Management Experience: Substantial management experience is high-level administrative experience that provided a thorough understanding of the organizational, procedural, and human aspects of managing an organization. Such experience typically includes financial management, space and facilities management, oversight of the information technology and human resources functions, and long and short-range planning. Possible titles indicative of this experience outside the judiciary include president or vice president in charge of several departments or offices; director or assistant director in charge of several departments or offices; and head manager or owner-operator of a medium to large company. Possible titles within the judiciary include any of the court unit executive or type II second-in-command titles, assistant deputy chief probation officer, or assistant deputy chief pretrial services officer.

Benefits

• The opportunity to serve in a rewarding public service position.
• Accrual of paid vacation and sick leave.
• 11 paid federal holidays.
• Generous health, life, dental, vision, and long-term care insurance plans.
• A defined benefit pension plan.
• Traditional (pre-tax) and Roth (after-tax) retirement savings and investment plans through the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) with employer matching contributions.
• Pre-tax transportation, medical, and childcare reimbursement accounts.
• Transit Subsidy Program.
• On-site fitness center.

Miscellaneous

Important Information for Applicants
Age Requirements for Federal Law Enforcement Retirement Provisions: There is no “maximum entry age” for this position. However, to be included under federal law enforcement retirement provisions, an individual would have to meet “maximum entry age” provisions. First-time appointees to positions covered under law enforcement officer retirement provisions must not have reached their 37th birthday at the time of appointment. For an applicant with previous law enforcement officer (LEO) experience under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) or the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) and either a subsequent break in service or intervening service in a non-LEO position, the maximum entry age is increased by adding the number of years of previous law enforcement experience to 37. For example, for a candidate with five years of creditable previous law enforcement experience, the maximum entry age would be 42. If the selectee is currently in a federal hazardous duty position, mandatory retirement requirements apply. There is no mandatory retirement age for regular federal retirement benefits.

The Chief U.S. Probation Officer serves at the pleasure of the Court, is an “at will” employee, and can be terminated with cause pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §3602(a).

Background Investigation Requirements
This position is a highly sensitive executive position within the Judiciary. First-time appointees must undergo a full OPM background investigation, a medical examination, and drug screening, as conditions of employment. Upon successful completion of the medical examination and drug screening, the appointee may then be appointed provisionally and conditionally, pending a favorable suitability determination by the Court. Additionally, the appointee will be subject to ongoing random drug screening and updated background investigations every five years and, as deemed necessary by the Chief Judge for reasonable cause, may be subject to subsequent fitness-for-duty evaluations. 

Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents seeking U.S. citizenship. Noncitizens must execute an affidavit indicating their intent to apply for citizenship when they become eligible to do so.

Environmental Demands

• Work is performed in an office setting.
• This position requires travel. If an office vehicle is not available, the appointee is expected to use his or her personal vehicle and will be reimbursed for mileage pursuant to policy.

How To Apply

To apply, email one PDF that contains all of the required documents (listed below) to hr-mnprob@mnp.uscourts.gov. The subject line of the email should state “Chief U.S. Probation Officer Vacancy.”  The PDF title should state “(Applicant’s Name) - 2024-01 Chief U.S. Probation Officer.” 

Please include the following in PDF format:

• A letter of interest, not exceeding two pages, that briefly summarizes your relevant qualifications and experiences, as well as your personal characteristics, vision, values, and management philosophy.
• A written summary, not exceeding three pages, that describes the following:
• • Your knowledge and experience in budget management, facilities management, and procurement guidelines;
  • Your experience in human-resources management, including a description of the most challenging experience(s) you have had managing employees;
  • Your experience in policy research and development and data analysis; and
  • Your experience with using information technology to improve the performance of an organization.
• A detailed resume;
• Contact information for three professional references; and
• A completed Application for Judicial Branch Federal Employment, AO78 form, available at https://www.uscourts.gov/forms/human-resources-forms/application-judicial-branch-federal-employment. (Note: Due to the highly sensitive nature of this position, applicants are required to fill out the Optional Background Information section (Questions 18 – 20) on the AO78 form.) 

All application materials must be attached to the email as directed. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Application materials received will be reviewed, and applicants deemed “most qualified” will be invited to participate in a personal interview with a search committee composed of judges of the Court. Applicants who are not selected for an interview will be notified at the conclusion of the recruitment process. Applicants who are invited to interview are responsible for any travel costs. Reimbursement for relocation expenses may be authorized, based on available budget.   

The U.S. District Court requires employees to adhere to the Code of Conduct for Judicial Employees. This position is also subject to mandatory Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) for payroll deposit. 

Employees of the U.S. District Court are not classified under Civil Service. The U.S. District Court reserves the right to modify the conditions of this job announcement, to withdraw this announcement, and to fill the position sooner than the closing date, any of which actions may occur without prior written notice.

The federal Judiciary is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer.