How do the Department of Education’s professional categories map to federal job series and pay grades?

1. What the question asks — and what available reporting shows

You asked how ED “professional categories” map to federal job series and pay grades; the Department’s general recruiting guidance points jobseekers to USAJOBS for job-series and pay information but does not, in the materials provided, publish a one‑to‑one conversion table of ED professional categories to specific federal series or GS levels ^{[2] [1]}. In short: current ED-facing pages direct applicants to the federal job posting system rather than offering an internal classification crosswalk in the cited documents ^{[2] [1]}.

2. Where you can find series and grade information for specific ED vacancies

For each open federal position, USAJOBS postings typically list the job series (for example, GS‑0343 for management and program analysis, GS‑0201 for human resources, GS‑1801 for general education series) and the advertised pay range/GS grade; the ED “Working at ED” page tells applicants to use USAJOBS as “your one‑stop” to find federal job series and pay information ^{[2] [1]}. The practical implication: to map a given ED “professional category” to a series/grade today, search USAJOBS for ED vacancies in that category and read the posting’s series/grade fields ^{[1] [2]}.

3. Why a tidy mapping may not exist in the public materials

Federal HR structure uses standardized job series and General Schedule (GS) or other pay systems; agencies (including ED) can label internal career tracks (e.g., “policy analyst,” “program officer,” “administrative support”) differently from the federal series names. The sources show ED directs users to federal postings and that state and local education departments publish their own job frameworks, reinforcing that classification systems vary across jurisdictions and agencies ^{[2] [6] [7]}. Therefore, a universal ED “professional category → job series/grade” table is not represented in the available reporting ^[2].

4. Recent organizational shifts that could affect classification and hiring

Reporting and ED press materials show that ED has been entering interagency agreements (IAAs) with Departments of Labor, Interior, HHS and State to move management of some programs; the administration framed these moves as streamlining but they change which agency posts and classifies positions — and thus which job series and pay systems apply to functions once housed at ED ^{[4] [5] [3]}. If programs transfer administratively, their workforce may be hired or reclassified under a partner agency’s HR structure, complicating any static mapping ^{[4] [5]}.

5. Practical step-by-step approach to build the mapping yourself

Use USAJOBS to assemble the mapping empirically: ^[8] pick the ED “professional category” you care about (e.g., program manager, compliance officer); ^[9] filter USAJOBS by Department = Education and search that job title or keywords; ^[10] record the job series and GS/pay band listed on current postings — USAJOBS is the authoritative source cited by ED for series and pay ^{[1] [2]}. The ED “Working at ED” guidance explicitly points applicants to USAJOBS for these details ^[2].

6. Limitations, caveats and competing perspectives

Limitations: the sources here do not show any ED‑published crosswalk or a public policy document that enumerates every professional category and its standard series/grade inside ED; they also show that program moves via IAAs may shift jobs to other agencies, which in turn use possibly different series or hiring authorities ^{[2] [4] [5]}. Competing perspectives: ED’s announcements present IAAs as efficiency improvements and better stewardship of programs ^[5], while independent reporting frames the moves as part of a broader effort to reduce ED’s footprint and reorganize federal education functions — a change that observers warn could affect how jobs are classified and where hiring occurs ^{[3] [4]}.

7. Bottom line for jobseekers and analysts

There is no single public mapping found in these sources; the authoritative way to determine the federal job series and pay grade tied to an ED role today is to consult the specific USAJOBS vacancy which will list the series and GS/pay band ^{[1] [2]}. Be aware that recent interagency agreements and reorganizations could mean some roles formerly within ED will be posted by partner agencies going forward, altering the series/grade context for similar functions ^{[4] [5]}.