It has been months now since the DorobekInsider reported that Jonathan Pettus, the former NASA CIO, decided to step down from that post to return to his job as CIO at at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, where Pettus lives. (He was commuting to DC from Alabama — talk about a killer commute. Pettus really did decide that he wanted to spend time with his family.) And back in January, NASA named Bobby German has been serving as NASA’s acting CIO.

NASA had posted the CIO job and conducted interview, but… apparently that process only lasts for so long.

So just last week, NASA re-posted the job.

There is some speculation about why the re-post. There were a number of candidates — the NASA CIO job is one of the more challenging but one of the more interesting government IT jobs out there. The buzz around NASA is that the job has been re-posted in order to give a new NASA director, most likely former astronaut and retired Marine general Charles Bolden Jr. — an opportunity to have a say in one of the agency’s key posts.

The job posting closes Thursday, June 11, so it will be weeks after that until interviews are conducted and the process works its way through. While I understand that people who applied for the job before don’t have to re-apply, nobody is expecting an appointment until late summer at the earliest.

(We have some recommendations, if we were to be asked.)

From the job posting:

NASA is looking for exceptional leaders for the 21st century! If you are interested in leading dynamic organizations responsible for fulfilling or supporting exciting scientific and aeronautic missions, there may be a place for you on the team. Seize this opportunity to use your current skills, build new ones, and make significant contributions to our nation’s future. As an added benefit, you would be joining an agency ranked as one of the best places in the Federal government to work.

The incumbent serves as Chief Information Officer for NASA with responsibility for leading and managing all information technology strategies and initiatives.

This is a senior level position within the agency, reporting directly to the Administrator. The position requires interaction with Federal and industry senior executives at the highest levels and may be called upon to brief Congressional Officials…

KEY REQUIREMENTS:

* Position subject to pre-employment background investigation
* First time SES appointees are subject to a one-year probationary period.
* A financial disclosure statement is required upon appointment into the SES.

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