Research Health Science Specialist

Clarification from the agency

This is open to all US citizen's NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. For more information, refer to Required Documents below.

Duties may include but are not limited to:

• Providing operational support and coordination for the implementation of VA research and quality improvement projects as directed.
• Handling project questions and problem independently in coordination with the PI.
• Managing timelines and deliverables for successful completion of the projects.
• Writing research policies, guidelines and procedures, and other documents, facilitating the compliance with all regulatory and administrative project requirements.
• May be responsible for medical abstraction.

Work Schedule: Intermittent
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized.
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Conditions of employment

• U.S. Citizenship; non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 08/07/2026.

Individual Occupational Requirement: Basic Requirement: All qualified applicants must meet this Basic Requirement for the WOC-Research Health Scientist Specialist, 0601.
This minimum requirement is a Bachelor's or graduate/higher level degree: major study in an academic field related to the medical field, health sciences or allied sciences appropriate to the work of the position. This degree must be from an educational program from an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education(external link) at the time the degree was obtained.

Minimum Qualifications: This Without Compensation position is equivalent to the GS-11. All qualified applicants must meet this Basic Requirement for a Research Health Science Specialist, 0601.
Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-09. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to performing:
1) Expertise in advanced physiological signal processing and non-invasive hemodynamic monitoring, directly supporting the technical objectives of the Smart Cuff research project.
2) Unique ability to bridge biomedical engineering, data analytics, and clinical research for the development and validation of novel patient-monitoring technologies.
3) Critical contributor to the analysis, validation, and interpretation of human-subject physiological data collected through VA-supported research activities.
4) Writes research policies, guidelines and procedures, and other documents to facilitate the compliance with all regulatory and administrative project requirements.
5) Responsible for medical abstraction activities, including identifying and screening eligible candidates and validating appropriate data elements of the project.

OR

Education A master's or equivalent graduate degree.

OR

Combination: Experience and education that equals 100%, when the percentage of experience and education are combined. Only graduate level education in excess of the amount required for the next lower grade level GS 09 may be combined with experience. The education for the GS 9 is 2 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a master's degree.

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: The work is predominantly sedentary. Typically, the employee sits comfortably to do the work. However, there will be some walking, standing, bending and carrying of items of moderate weight such as large binders, banker style file boxes, meeting materials, papers, books or small parts. Hand and eye coordination for delicate testing procedures may be the only special physical demand required to perform the work.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Your application, resume, C.V., and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect consideration for employment.

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.

The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate's abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position.


Placement Policy: The posting of this announcement does not obligate management to fill a vacancy or vacancies by promotion. The position may be filled by reassignment, change to lower grade, transfer, appointment, or reinstatement. Management may use any one or any combination of these methods to fill the position.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

To apply for this position, you must provide a complete Application Package which includes

• Resume
• Transcript

Special Note for Applications: To complete your application, please use the following link https://vacareers.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/Resume.docx to download the standard Clinical Resume Document. This one-page document does not need to be modified and must be uploaded into the two-page restricted 'Resume' document upload field.

Your full resume/CV may be uploaded without page limitation into the 'Other' document upload field.

Next steps