Health Physicist (Radiation Safety)

The Health Physicist serves as the Radiation Safety Officer (RSO) for the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center in Charleston, SC. The position functions within the Director's Office, reporting directly to the medical center's Chief of Staff. The RSO advises the Executive Leadership Team and ensures the safe, responsible use of radioactive materials and x-ray equipment, maintaining accountability for both.

**Qualifications:**
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 04/13/2026. 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-13 position, you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-12 level. 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. Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR): Applicants who meet the IOR described below must also meet the specialized experience requirements. To qualify, you must have: A) Degree: Natural science or engineering that included at least 30 semester hours in health physics, engineering, radiological science, chemistry, physics, biology, mathematics, and/or calculus (transcripts required). OR, B) Combination of education and experience: Courses as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or other education; or certification as a health physicist by the American Board of Health Physics, plus appropriate experience and other education that provided an understanding of sciences applicable to health physics comparable to that described in paragraph A (transcripts required). In addition to meeting the IOR above, you must meet the experience as described below: GS-13 Specialized Experience: One (1) year of specialized experience, equivalent the next lower grade level (GS-12), in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: applying radiation safety and health physics knowledge for a limited scope license that consists of radiology, research, nuclear medicine, brachytherapy, and lab services; detecting and measuring the types of ionizing radiations used by a medical center, such as wide energy range of X rays, gamma rays, and beta particles; and managing a facility-wide radiation safety program, ensuring full compliance with VHA directives, NRC license/permit conditions, OSHA requirements, and all applicable federal, state, and local regulations by maintaining current policies, procedures, and training that reflect the latest regulatory and accrediting agency expectations. Preferred Experience: Experience working with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Previous experience serving as a Radiation Safety Officer (RSO). Certified Medical RSO credentials - You may include a copy of your license issued by NRC or an agreement state. 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/.