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Drug Testing Technician

Pretrial Services Agency

Washington, DCFull-time$57–71K/yrPosted 2 days ago

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At a glance

Compensation
$57–71K/yr
Location
Washington, DC
Schedule
Full-time
Work Authorization
US work authorization required

Olive lists jobs from US employers, including remote roles you can work from the United States.

Job overview

The Drug Testing Technician works in the Drug Testing and Release Services Unit, monitoring urine sample submissions and maintaining chain-of-custody procedures. The role also involves explaining testing procedures, distributing collection materials, updating records and entering information into PRISM. Applicants must meet a federal law-enforcement age requirement and qualify through education, specialized experience, or a combination of both.

Skills & qualifications

RequiredNice to have

Skills

Drug Testing ProceduresChain of CustodyFollowing InstructionsAttention to DetailWindows-Based SystemsConfidential Information ProtectionCommunicationCustomer Service

Qualifications

Must Be 21+ or Under 37U.S. CitizenshipBachelor's or Specialized ExperienceOne Year Specialized ExperienceSelective Service RegistrationFederal Employment SuitabilityBackground InvestigationPre-Appointment Urinalysis

Full job description

Summary

The Division of Defendant Engagement and System Support is responsible for the full range of PSA's defendant engagement services, including risk assessment, supervision, treatment and compliance monitoring. If you have great people skills and are interested in learning and applying drug testing procedures, then this job is for you! You will be a valued team member in the Drug Testing and Release Services Unit. This announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

Duties

As a Drug Testing Technician, you will: 1. Monitor the submission of urine samples by defendants, offenders or respondents under court and post-sentence orders for drug testing and ensure effective maintenance of chain of custody procedures for samples. 2. Take photographs, verify addresses and update information in automated systems. 3. Explain drug testing procedures and distribute collection materials to individuals. 4. Input information into the Pretrial Real-Time Information System Manager (PRISM). 5. Apply rules and policies on confidentiality and release of protected information. 6. Perform other duties as assigned. Requirements

Bargaining Unit Status and Chapter: Covered, AFGE Local 1456 This is a law enforcement position. This position is covered under the special provision for law enforcement requirement. By law, applicants for such law enforcement positions must be between 21 and 37 years old to be considered for initial appointment (that is, first appointment to a federal law enforcement position). The maximum age for entry on duty in a law enforcement covered position is the date immediately proceeding the applicant's 37th birthday, except for the veterans' preference eligibles. APPLICANTS MUST PROVIDE DATE OF BIRTH!! A candidate appointed at a lower grade level may be promoted up to the full performance level without further competition. Upon starting the position, the selectee will be required to complete a mandatory six-week, onsite training. HOURS: The incumbent of this position will be required to work in shifts or at unusual hours, including nights, weekends and holidays. Conditions of Employment 1. Must be a U.S. Citizen. 2. Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service. 3. Suitable for Federal employment, determined by a background investigation. 4. May be required to successfully complete a probationary period, if not already completed. 5. All applicants are subject to a comprehensive criminal background investigation and required to submit to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. 6. All Federal employees are required to have Federal salary payments made by direct deposit to a financial institution of their choice. 7. Status applicants for promotion must have 52 weeks of service at the next lower grade. 8. Time-in-grade requirements must be met by the close of this announcement. 9. Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Qualifications

To qualify for this position, you must meet the basic professional requirement, or the specialized experience requirement below. Basic professional requirement: 4-year course of study above high school leading to a bachelor's degree with courses related to the occupation. OR; One year of specialized experience related to the duties of the position that was comparable in difficulty and responsibility to the GS/GL-4 grade level. Specialized experience is defined as performing customer service, clerical or administrative support duties, maintaining, updating, and reviewing records, and using computer systems to enter, update, and retrieve information while following established procedures. OR; Combination of education and specialized experience as described above. (To qualify on this basis, you must have completed more than 60 semester hours of undergraduate education. Education beyond 60 semester hours is counted toward this requirement at a rate of 30 semester hours, or equivalent, for 6 months of specialized experience.) NOTE: Your resume must clearly show the specialized experience related to this position. Failure to demonstrate how you possess the experience requirements will result in an "Ineligible" rating.

Education

There is education substitution at this grade level. ARE YOU USING YOUR EDUCATION TO QUALIFY? You MUST provide transcripts or other documentation to support your educational claims. Unless otherwise stated: (1) official or unofficial transcripts are acceptable, or (2) you may submit a list with all of your courses, grades, semester, year, and credit for the course. All materials must be submitted by the closing date of the announcement. PASS/FAIL COURSES: If more than 10 percent of your undergraduate course work (credit hours) was taken on a pass/fail basis, your claim of superior academic achievement must be based upon class standing or membership in an honor society. FOREIGN EDUCATION: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show that the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. For further information, visit:https://www.ed.gov/laws-and-policy/higher-education-laws-and-policy/college-accreditation How You Will Be Evaluated

Your rating will be based on your responses to the job specific information provided in your resume. Your resume must clearly show how you possess the knowledge, skills, and abilities listed below. Failure to demonstrate how you possess the knowledge, skills, and abilities will result in a rating of "Qualified" by the rating panel. 1. Ability to follow written and verbal instructions while maintaining accuracy and attention to detail. 2. Familiarity with Windows-based computer systems and protection of confidential information. 3. Ability to communicate effectively and provide quality customer service to members of an organization and/or the public. Once the application process is completed, your application will be reviewed to ensure you meet the job requirements. You will be evaluated on the extent and quality of your experience, education and training, job- related awards and supervisory appraisal of performance. If you meet the basic qualification requirements, your resume will be forwarded to a panel for rating. Category Rating will be used to evaluate applicants using the following categories to further determine which applicants will be referred to the selecting official for final consideration. Best Qualified: Applicants possessing a background that demonstrates a superior level on all evaluation criteria. Well Qualified: Applicants possessing a background that demonstrates a satisfactory level on evaluation criteria. Qualified: Applicants possessing the specialized experience described above. Other Information

  1. If you are an eligible Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP) applicant as defined by 5 CFR § 330.702, you may apply for special selection over other applicants for this position. The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) provides eligible displaced Federal competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. Click The Employee's Guide to Career Transition for more information on ICTAP eligibility. 2. If you are a current career or career-conditional Federal employee or former Federal employee who has reinstatement eligibility, you must submit a copy of your latest SF-50 "Notification of Personnel Action" and/or a copy of the SF-50 that reflects career or career-conditional tenure, or you will not be considered under the merit promotion process. Also, you should submit your most recent performance appraisal. 3. Veterans' Employment Opportunities Act of 1998: Veterans who are preference eligible or who have been separated from the armed forces under honorable conditions after 3 years or more of continuous active duty service may apply. If you are applying under this provision, please submit a copy of your DD-214 (unedited long version). 4. You can apply for a non-competitive appointment if you meet the basic eligibility requirements and you are eligible for special appointment such as those authorized for the severely disabled; certain Vietnam era and disabled veterans; returned volunteers from the Peace Corps or AmeriCorps Vista , etc. Please indicate the type of special appointment you are seeking, if any, on your application and follow all other instructions for applying shown in this announcement. 5. All qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement. Additional information on the qualification requirements is outlined in the OPM Qualifications Standards Handbook of General Schedule Positions. It is available for your review in our office, in other Federal agency personnel offices, and on OPM's web site at OPM Qualification Standards. 6. In accordance with Executive Order 14170 and the Merit Hiring Plan guidance issued by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, applicants for this position are invited to respond to four essay questions. These questions are designed to provide you with an opportunity to share your commitment to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution, as well as your dedication to public service. While your responses are not required and will not be scored, we encourage you to thoughtfully address each question. Please provide a response of 200 words or less to each question. You will be asked to certify that you are using your own words and did not use a consultant or artificial intelligence (AI) such as a large language model (LLM) like ChatGPT or Copilot. Click here to review the questionshttps://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13101898.

How this job compares

Set against the 448 open Law Enforcement jobs on Olive Jobs, counted November 5, 2026.

Pay
  • This posting$57–71K/yr
  • US median$74–83K/yr162 salary ranges

This range's midpoint, $64K, is 19% below the US median midpoint ($79K) — in the middle half of Law Enforcement salary ranges across the US.

Openings
Olive Jobs lists 19 open Law Enforcement jobs in Washington, D.C. and 448 across the US. Under 1% of them nationwide are listed as remote or flexible.
Hiring the most across the US
Experience
This posting asks for at least 1 year of experience; Law Enforcement postings that state a minimum ask for 1 year at the median (227 postings).
Education
27 of the 448 open Law Enforcement jobs (6%) ask for a bachelor's degree or higher.

Counted across the open, public US postings on Olive Jobs on November 5, 2026. Pay medians are the middle values of the low ends and of the high ends of postings that list both ends of a range in the same cadence (a yearly salary or an hourly rate); a range's midpoint is halfway between its ends. Pay and experience figures resting on fewer than 20 postings are left out.

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