Department of State Headquarters

The Department of State leads U.S. foreign policy, runs embassies and consulates abroad, issues passports and visas, and negotiates with foreign governments. This hub covers announcements from its Washington headquarters, where the civil service bureaus handle regional and functional policy, diplomatic security, consular affairs, arms control and the administration of the department itself. These are mostly civil service positions, which are hired on GS terms; the Foreign Service, with its own pay plan and entry process, posts separately except for the occasional specialist announcement.

Recent listings have included foreign affairs officers and a supervisory foreign affairs officer, program managers, special assistants and staff assistants, supervisory program analysts, an international attorney adviser, a supervisory passport specialist, a security specialist, a supervisory criminal investigator, a supervisory defense controls analyst, an administrative officer, a budget analyst, an office director and a Diplomatic Security Foreign Service special agent.

Applying tip: most State headquarters positions require U.S. citizenship and a security clearance, often Top Secret, and the background investigation adds months to an already long timeline, so apply early and keep other applications moving. The USAJOBS application timeline explains what to expect between closing date and offer.