Veterans Benefits Administration
Supervisory Program Specialist
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Summary
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement:10/18/2026. TIME-IN-GRADE REQUIREMENT: As a current Federal, GS employee you must 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. If you are a current VBA employee requesting a reassignment or change to lower grade via this vacancy announcement, you must currently hold the GS-13 (or higher) and the promotion potential of your current position must be at least GS-13. 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. MINIMUM QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS: You may qualify based on your experience as described below: Specialized Experience: To qualify, applicants must have at least one year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 level or higher. Specialized experience is defined as applying and providing guidance on multiple fields of Human Resources rules, regulations, and procedures including Personnel Management, Recruitment and Staffing, Classification, Employee Benefits and Labor Relations. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Provide advice and guidance in the areas of staffing and recruitment; Defending agency actions in front of 3rd party hearing (EX: Federal Labor Relations Advisory, Merit Systems Principles Board); Experience as the chief negotiator in labor negotiations.); Experience as the chief negotiator in labor negotiations. Volunteer Experience: 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. Full vs. Part-Time Employment: Full-time employment is considered to be at least 35 hours per week. Part-time experience will be credited on a pro-rated basis; when including part-time employment in your resume you must specify the average hours worked per week. Physical Requirements: The work normally involves mental rather than physical exertion. The work is mostly sedentary; however, there may be some walking, standing, and carrying of light items. Selectees are required to serve a one-year supervisory probationary period if not previously completed in a Federal position. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at http://://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.
Major Duties
Plans work to be accomplished by subordinates, sets and adjust short and long-range staffing plans to meet the forecasting mission requirements and changes in critical competencies. Evaluates work performance of subordinates; give advice, counsel, or instructions to employees on both work and administrative matters; interviews candidates for positions in the unit. Hears and resolves complaints from employees, referring group grievances and more serious unresolved complaints to a higher-level supervisor or manager. Provides comprehensive advice on the full range of human resource management functions to the Director, Assistant Directors, Division Chiefs, Managers, Supervisors HR Staff, and employees. Conducts data reviews and analyzes data results, identifying any data trends and making recommendations for updating or creating new processes and procedures to help increase workflow. Researches and responds to a variety of time sensitive information requests (Taskers) from the Director's Office. Recommends selections for subordinate nonsupervisory positions. Finds and implements ways to eliminate or reduce significant bottlenecks and barriers to production and promoting team building. Work Schedule: Full time, Monday through Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm Compressed/Flexible: Available Telework: This position is eligible for situational (ad hoc) telework only. The selectee is required to report to the official duty station each scheduled workday. Telework may be approved only on a case-by-case basis with supervisory approval. Routine or recurring telework is not authorized for this position. Virtual: This is not a remote/virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Supervisory Program Specialist; PD38567A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required Bargaining Unit: No
Requirements
As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you may be required to serve a 1-year supervisory probationary period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider: your performance and conduct; the needs and interests of the Agency; whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the Agency or the Government; and whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service. Upon completion of your 1-year supervisory probationary period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest. Additional Conditions of Employment are as follows: You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 You may be required to serve a 1-year probationary period Subject to background/security investigation Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements I-9 Acceptable Documents. Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
Required Documents
To apply for this position, you must provide a complete Application Package to include the documents detailed below. Failure to submit the required documents may result in your application being considered incomplete and you being deemed ineligible. It is your responsibility to ensure your application package (resume, supporting documents, and responses to the questionnaire) is complete, accurate, and submitted by the closing date. We will not request additional documentation or accept late or missing documents after the announcement has closed. Resume, limited to 2 pages, detailing specialized experience and competencies as they relate to this position. For each position in your resume, you must specify the start and end dates (month/year) and a description of duties. If the position was Federal, you should also indicate the grade level. Resumes containing a general summary of all positions held, not specifying start/end dates, and/or not including documentation supporting Federal grade level(s) are insufficient to determine basic qualifications. Your most recent non-award or general adjustment SF-50. The SF-50 must indicate proof of status and should identify your position title, series, grade, step, salary, tenure and type of service (Competitive or Excepted). Your SF-50 reflecting when you entered your highest grade (e.g. Promotion, Appointment, etc.) in order to verify time-in-grade requirements. Additional Documents accepted: Most recent Performance Appraisal (VA Form 0750) Award SF-50s CTAP documentation - RIF notice, SF-50 showing VA employee, and performance appraisal Please use this checklist to make sure you have included all documents required for your application. You will not be contacted for additional information. SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action (if applicable for Time in Grade and/or Eligibility): Most recent SF-50 if you are a current or former Federal employee. An SF-50 showing 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. An award 50 does not provide sufficient information and will not be accepted for the purpose of verifying time-in-grade. Examples of appropriate SF-50s include: Within grade increases at the highest grade held; or Promotions with an effective date more than one year old; or SF-50 at the highest grade held with an effective date more than one year old.
How to Apply
Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application. To apply and be considered for this position, you must complete all required questionnaires, assessments and submit all required documentation as specified in the How to Apply and Required Documents section. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. (EST) on 10/18/2026 to receive consideration. It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation is submitted prior to the closing date. Please be advised that updates will not be accepted after submission. The application process is as follows: Click the Apply Online button. Answer the questions presented in the application and attach all necessary supporting documentation. Click the Submit Application button prior to 11:59 PM (ET) on the announcement closing date. If you are required to complete any USA Hire Assessments, you will be notified after submitting your application. The notification will be provided in your application submission screen and via email. The notification will include your unique assessment access link to the USA Hire system and the completion deadline. Additionally, in USAJOBS you can click "Track this application" to return to your assessment completion notice. Access USA Hire using your unique assessment link. Access is granted through your USAJOBS login credentials. Review all instructions prior to beginning your assessments. You will have the opportunity to request a testing accommodation before beginning the assessments should you have a disability covered under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended. Set aside about two (2) hours to take the USA Hire Assessments; however, most applicants complete the assessments in less time. If you need to stop the assessments and continue later, you can re-use your unique assessment link. Your responses to the USA Hire Assessments will be reused for one year (in most cases) from the date you complete an assessment. If future applications you submit require completion of the same assessments, your responses will be automatically reused. Visit the USA Hire Applicant Resource Center for practice assessments and assessment preparation resources at https://support-usahire.opm.gov/hc/en-us. To update your application, including supporting documentation: During the announcement open period, return to your USAJOBS account, find your application record, and click Edit my application. This option will no longer be available once the announcement has closed. To view the announcement status or your application status: Visit https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/howto/application/status/. Your application status page is where you can view your application status, USA Hire assessment completion status, and review your notifications sent by the hiring agency regarding your application. Beginning September 27, 2025, Federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in length to comply with the Merit Hiring Plan. Resumes longer than two pages will result in ineligibility for further consideration for the position. USAJOBS will not allow you to upload or build resumes longer than two pages, and you will need to update the resumes in your profile before applying for a job. Resumes should include information relevant to the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies of the position to which you are applying. VA is unable to make assumptions about qualifications if not clearly listed. Resumes must be legible so they can be reviewed for eligibility, minimum qualifications and other position requirements listed in the job announcement. Your resume must be 5MB or less. We recommend saving and uploading your resume as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages. We also accept GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, TXT, PDF, ODT or Word (DOC or DOCX). We do not accept PDF portfolio files. We recommend using a sans-serif font size like Lato, if available. Other widely available options are Calibri, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, Open San Source Sans Pro, Roboto or Noro Sans. Make your page margins 0.5 inches. Consider using 14-point size font for titles and 10-point for the main text in your resume. The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started. Helpful Hints for Creating a Two-Page Resume: Prioritize most relevant and recent experience Use concise, results focused language Align language from the job announcement Focus on demonstrating skills and competencies Remove outdated or unrelated experience Use the USAJOBS resume builder Additional guidance on this new requirement and resume building tools can be found at: USA Jobs Help Center - Resume Page Limit Applicant Guidance on the Two-Page Resume Limit