Series 0130

Foreign Affairs

Foreign affairs officers who help develop and carry out U.S. foreign policy, analyze international issues, and work with other governments. Most jobs are with the State Department.

Plain-language description based on the OPM series definition.

0100 Social Science, Psychology, and Welfare Group · General Schedule

See open 0130 jobs on USAJOBS Compare with another series Back to Series Directory

At a glance

Job postings, last 12 months: 271
Open now: 5
Trend (last 3 months vs. 3 before): Steady (+7%)
Demand score: 75/100
Remote opportunity score: 80/100
Veteran opportunity score: 34/100

What these scores mean

Grades and pay

Typical grades

GS-12 to GS-15

Most common promotion potential: GS-14

GS pay plan, used by 87% of this series' postings.

Typical posted salary range

$142,488 to $187,093 per year

Median of the yearly salary ranges in posted announcements.

Who can apply

Share of job postings in the last 12 months, by who the announcement was open to.

Open to the public: 11%
Federal employees and other special groups only: 89%
Listed a veterans hiring path: 25%
Telework eligible (open now): 80%
Fully remote (open now): 0%

Who is hiring and where

Top hiring departments

Department of State (158)
Department of the Air Force (63)
Department of Defense (19)
Department of Energy (14)
Department of Transportation (8)

Top states

District of Columbia (163)
Virginia (50)
Texas (14)
Colorado (6)
Florida (4)

Hiring patterns

Based on job announcements since Mar 2017. How patterns are calculated

When this series usually posts jobs

Postings usually peak in March and are lowest in December.

Typical postings for series 0130 by calendar month, compared with an average month
Month	Compared with an average month
January	About average
February	About average
March	17% above average
April	About average
May	About average
June	About average
July	About average
August	9% above average
September	About average
October	About average
November	About average
December	11% below average

Postings by fiscal year

The federal fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30. Fiscal years 2025 and 2026 include the government-wide hiring freeze that began in January 2025.

Job announcements for series 0130 by fiscal year
Fiscal year	Postings
FY 2018	284
FY 2019	337
FY 2020	460
FY 2021	426
FY 2022	520
FY 2023	682
FY 2024	681
FY 2025	185
FY 2026	230

Postings by month, last 12 months

Job announcements for series 0130 opened each month
Month	Postings
Dec 2025	4
Jan 2026	6
Feb 2026	9
Mar 2026	22
Apr 2026	38
May 2026	32
Jun 2026	27
Jul 2026	30
Aug 2026	24
Sep 2026	34
Oct 2026	37
Nov 2026 (month to date)	8

0185 Social Work 4,756 postings in 12 months
0189 Recreation Aid and Assistant 3,802 postings in 12 months
0101 Social Science 2,569 postings in 12 months
0180 Psychology 2,229 postings in 12 months
0132 Intelligence 1,800 postings in 12 months

About this data

Job numbers come from the USAJOBS API: 244,223 job announcements opened from December 1, 2025 to November 15, 2026, plus 12,260 announcements open on November 15, 2026. Canceled announcements are not counted. Series descriptions summarize the OPM Handbook of Occupational Groups and Families.

These figures describe posted job announcements, not hiring outcomes. Always read the official announcement and its qualification requirements before applying. How the scores are calculated.