Program Specialist

This position works with data management systems used in Veterans Health Administration. This position is responsible to carry out various assignments of a comprehensive nature designed to assist the Associate Director for Patient Care Services (ADPCS) in directing and evaluating the effectiveness of Nursing Service and staffing using staffing methodology. Work involves developing, analyzing, evaluating, advising on, training, and improving the effectiveness of Nursing Service.

**Qualifications:**
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 03/06/2026. Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade, GS-07, in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: experience working within a clinical service such as nursing, medicine, surgery, and mental health; experience conducting in-depth analysis of professional nursing and/or medical staffing needs for the hospital; maintaining a database/management information system to track information; formulating and implementing long and short-term policies, procedures, and program plans for the attraction and retention of professional nursing and/or medical staff; pulling data from information systems and preparing reports for executives. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successfully completed a Master's or equivalent, or 2 years of progressively higher level education leading to such a degree, or an LL.B or J.D.in a field related to this position that demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of this position. OR, Combination of experience and education: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have a combination of specialized experience and successfully completed graduate education and specialized experience (beyond the first graduate year or 18 semester hours) to meet the total experience requirements. The education portion must include graduate courses that demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position.. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Administration and Management Knowledge Management Problem Solving Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. Physical Requirements: Physical demands required are essentially non-strenuous and include prolonged sitting, occasional extended mobility to various areas of the facility, standing, bending and the may require lifting office items and files not exceeding 25 lbs. Travel if often required and attending functions during other than normal duty hours. This position potentially requires flexibility in schedule and assignments, as this is a 24/7 hospital. Must be poised and articulate in communicating with people of varied educational levels and varied ethnic backgrounds. Willing to work cooperatively as a member of a team in all assignments. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.