CJA Financial Specialist bei US District Courts, Northern District of California, CA

About the Department

Whether launching or continuing a career in public service, the U.S. District Court is a great place to work with competitive salaries and benefits, a work schedule that promotes a work-life balance, access to a fitness center, and the opportunity to work with colleagues committed to fulfilling the important mission of administering justice in an efficient and effective manner. This position offers an excellent opportunity to advance a career in Federal court service.

Position Duties

CJA Financial Specialist plays a crucial role in the court's operations by seamlessly combining customer service and case management responsibilities.  This position is responsible for reviewing and processing CJA funding and payment requests for attorney and service provider billings with a focus on ensuring accuracy and adherence to applicable policies, guidelines, and protocols; processing requests for transcripts and travel and providing customer service assistance to CJA counsel and service providers.

Key Responsibilities:

The CJA Financial Specialist is responsible for providing financial support to the Criminal Justice Act (CJA) Unit by preparing, updating and analyzing a variety of accounting records and financial statements, and reports. Perform financial activities and transactions. Maintain required records in accordance with CJA and Clerk’s office policies and internal controls. 

• Works with the Federal Public Defender's Office, the court's CJA panel attorneys, experts, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and Circuit Executives Office, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, and other persons and entities regarding the submission of CJA vouchers for review and payment.
• Reviews funding requests from CJA panel attorneys and serves funding orders.
• Processes travel and transcript requests from CJA panel attorneys.
• Disseminates information regarding voucher submissions and voucher payment status and general information regarding CJA payment policies and procedures to CJA panel attorneys and experts to service providers.
• Facilitates the flow of CJA vouchers and makes recommendations for expeditious processing of CJA vouchers.
• Tracks the status of unpaid vouchers and regularly follows up on voucher submissions and approvals.
• Checks vouchers for completeness and compliance with CJA regulations and guidelines; verifies dates, accuracy and mathematical computations prior to submission to the CJA Supervising Attorney for approval.
• Returns vouchers containing errors to claimants along with instructions for correction.  Provides transmittal information as necessary at various stages of the voucher review and approval process.
• Prepares and provides statistical data and reports as required on case cost information and voucher status tracking.
• Enters voucher information into an automated CJA payment system.

Minimum Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

To qualify at the CL-26 level, three years specialized experience including at least one-year equivalent work at the CL-25 level is required. One year of specialized experience may be substituted by a bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance, business, public administration, or related field from an accredited college or university.

Specialized Experience 

At a minimum, candidates must have a high school diploma or equivalent. Two years progressively responsible clerical, office, or other work that indicates the ability to work independently and to set priorities across multiple assignments, as well as to work cooperatively in a team environment. Knowledge of and experience using SharePoint Online, Microsoft Office, Excel, and Adobe Acrobat. Ability to consistently demonstrate sound ethics and judgment. Ability to communicate effectively (orally and in writing).

Desirable Qualifications

• Prior federal court experience
• A bachelor’s degree.
• Ability to meet and communicate effectively with a variety of people.
• Skill in using applicable automated systems.
• Skillintheuseof10-keycalculator.
• Highly proficient in Microsoft Excel.
• Experience which reflects the applicant’s ability to work under pressure and deal with change.
• Experience with current versions of Outlook, Microsoft Word and Windows.
• Work experience that demonstrates the applicant’s ability to successfully manage multiple competing priorities, work with limited supervision, and skill in dealing with others in person-to-person work relationships.
• Proven analytical reasoning skills.

Other Qualifications

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

The U.S. District Court is part of the federal Judicial branch of government and is independent of the Executive and Legislative branches. The court sets its own employment policies including remote work and performance management, while also valuing employees' individualism and continuing to strive towards a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace.

Compensation will be set based on experience and qualifications pursuant to the policies and guidelines set forth in the Court Personnel System (CPS).
 
 Judicial Branch employees are "at will” employees and are not subject to the employment regulations of competitive service.

Benefits include paid holidays, annual leave, sick time, retirement, health, dental and vision.  For more information about federal court benefits, please visit: www.uscourts.gov/careers/benefits.

INFORMATION FOR APPLICANTS

The Court reserves the right to modify the conditions of this job announcement, or to withdraw the announcement without prior written or other notice.

The successful candidate for this position is subject to a FBI fingerprint check and background investigation (employment will be provisional and contingent upon the satisfactory completion of the required background investigation), will be required to adhere to a code of conduct, and is subject to mandatory direct deposit of federal wages.  The court is not authorized to reimburse travel expenses for interviews or relocations.

Interviewing Non-Citizens and Making Offers of Future Employment: Non-citizens may be interviewed and considered for employment, but employment offers will only be made to individuals who qualify under one of the exceptions in 8 U.S.C. § 1324b(a)(3)(B). In most cases, this means that an offer of employment cannot be made unless the candidate is a lawful permanent resident who is seeking U.S. citizenship as explained below.

Equity-Focused Employer

The United States District Court for the Northern District of California is an Equity focused employer. We value diversity and are committed to equity and inclusion in our workplace. The court encourages applications from all qualified individuals and seek a diverse pool of applicants in terms of race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, age, languages spoken, veteran’s status, disability, religion, and socio-economic circumstance.

Applicants with disabilities:

If you need reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process, please notify the Human Resources Unit of the Clerk's Office at 415-522-2147. Determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

Applicants must submit the following:

1. Cover Letter

2. Resume

3. Three professional references.

To be considered for this position, visit our agency website at https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/uscourtscandto submit the online application, along with the above-listed documents. Please be sure to fully complete your application by providing all work history from the past ten years. Attachments should be submitted as Microsoft Word (DOC) or Adobe Acrobat (PDF) files. Other formats are not acceptable. 

Applications will be considered complete when the online application and all required attachments, in the appropriate format, are received by the Human Resources Unit.