Clarification from the agency

Open to current permanent VA Connecticut Health Care System employees only

Duties include, but may not be limited to the following:

• Oversee training for Veterans as well as the Veteran Orientation program. The Office of the Veteran Experience Officer is designed to ensure that quality health care and administrative services are provided promptly, courteously, and with compassionate understanding of Veterans' needs and the needs of those responsible for their care.
• Prepare documentation to support actions taken.
• Identifies employee developmental needs and provides or arranges for training
  (formal and on-the-job) to maintain and improve job performance.
• Encourages self development.
• Approves master leave schedule assuring adequate coverage for peak workloads and traditional holiday vacation time.
• Demonstrates sensitivity to subordinates' ideas.
• Promotes an environment in which employees are empowered to participate in and contribute to effective mission accomplishment.
• Discharges security responsibilities by ensuring education and compliance with security directives for
  employees with access to classified or sensitive material.
• Applies Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)/Equal Opportunity Treatment (EOT)
  principles and requirements to all personnel management actions and decisions, and
  ensures all personnel are treated in a manner free of discrimination.
• Takes positive action to implement affirmative action/EEO initiatives identified in the installation
  Affirmative Employment Plan.
• Takes action to prevent or correct situations that may give rise to complaints of discrimination and/or sexual harassment.
• Provides leadership at the executive level and has full responsibility for the comprehensive monitoring of the planning, coordination, and implementation of patient centered care, patient experience, and employee experience activities, committees and councils and other programs across the health care system.
• Provides leadership with authoritative and objectively based information for making decisions on the programmatic aspects of the patient centered care and the patient experience and creates an organizational operations and management structure for the healthcare system to follow.
• Oversees and assumes executive primary responsibility of ensuring system redesign projects throughout the organization are executed and completed in a timely, consistent, and comprehensive manner.
• Develops and implements organizational assessments, management reports and feedback mechanisms to monitor and measure systems improvement activities in all areas and at all organizational levels within the healthcare system.
• Assures that data systems are in place to effectively measure progress and efforts across the system as it relates to customer service.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00am to 4:30pm
Compressed/Flexible: Not Available
Telework: Ad-hoc is available
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Supervisory Program Specialist/PD04090-0
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized

• This position is not a Bargaining Unit position.
• May be required to attend conference at other facilities or other VA sites on occasion.
• Current Federal employees must submit copies of their most recent SF-50, (Notice of Personnel Action). The SF-50 must identify the position title, series, grade, step, tenure and type of service (Competitive or Excepted). In some cases, more than one SF-50 may be required to show a higher grade previously held.
• This position is in the Competitive Service.
• Time-in-Grade Restriction: 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. The grade may have been in any occupation but must have been held in the Federal service.
• Interchange Agreements with Other Merit System: Employees who occupy medical or medical-related positions and were appointed under 38 U.S.C. 4701(1) or (3) [formerly 38 U.S.C. 4104 (1) and (3)] must be serving in a full-time position without time limit and have served continuously for at least one year in this other merit system to be eligible to convert to the Title 5 System. Some exceptions to this rule may apply if you have previously acquired tenure under a Title 5 appointment.
• Veterans' preference does not apply for other current permanent Federal agency employees

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• You may be required to serve a probationary period.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process.
• Must pass pre-employment physical examination.
• 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, 01/22/2026.

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-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11. 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.

You may qualify based on your experience as described below:

GS-12 Grade Requirements

• Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-11 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Participating in top management discussions, decision making, policy setting and sharing responsibility for overall fulfillment of the Health Care System's mission. Hearing and resolving employee complaints and refers serious unresolved complaints to higher level management. Initiating action to correct performance or conduct problems. Effecting minor disciplinary measures such as warnings and reprimands and recommends action in more serious disciplinary matters. Preparing documentation to support actions taken. Identifying employee developmental needs and provides or arranges for training (formal and on-the-job) to maintain and improve job performance. Providing leadership at the executive level and has full responsibility for the comprehensive monitoring of the planning, coordination, and implementation of patient centered care, patient experience, and employee experience activities, committees and councils and other programs across the health care system

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:

• Administration and Management
• Information Management
• Interpersonal Skills

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 includes walking, standing, bending, carrying of light items, and occasionally assisting with a wheelchair. In some instances, relationships with patients and caregivers can become intense and the incumbent is constantly exposed to high levels of stress and anxiety. This position demands emotional stability, as the incumbent is deeply involved with many challenging, seriously ill, and/or dying patients and their caregivers.

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/.

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 WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE.

Narrative responses are not required at this time. If you are referred for consideration, you may be asked to submit additional job related information, which may include, but not limited to; responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities; completion of a work sample, and/or contact for an interview. Your resume and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating or consideration for employment.

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.

For more information on the "Who may apply" eligibility requirements, please refer to the OHRM Status Candidates and Other Candidate Definitions document.

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.

Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.

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

• Resume
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action

NOTE: Effective 9/29/2025 all submitted applications must contain resumes limited to two-pages in length and anything longer is prohibited. Only the first two-pages will be considered for qualification purposes for this announcement.

The following documents are accepted, and may be required if applicable to your eligibility and/or qualifications for this position. Please make sure you have included other documents required for your application, such as a copy of your transcript (if using education to qualify), SF-50's (current/former Federal employees), documentation to support Veterans Preference claims, or ICTAP/CTAP documentation (for displaced Federal employees). You will not be contacted for additional information.

• Cover Letter
• Other (1)
• Other (2)
• Resume
• Separation Notice (RIF)
• SF-15
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action
• Transcript

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
• Award 50's do not provide sufficient information and will not be accepted for the purpose of verifying time-in-grade.
• Examples of appropriate SF-50's include:
  • Within grade increases at the highest grade held; or
  • Promotions with an effective date more than one year old; or
  • SF-50's at the highest grade held with an effective date more than one year old.

Veterans' preference does not apply for internal or other current permanent Federal agency employees.

Next steps