Clarification from the agency

Open to current, permanent employees of the Veterans Crisis Line (VCL) including Title 38 and Hybrid Title 38 employees covered by VA/OPM Interchange Agreements and those eligible under CTAP. This does not include temporary, term, or intermittent appointments. All others will be disqualified and not receive consideration.

Major duties include but are not limited to:

• Assigns work to subordinates based on priorities, selective consideration of the difficulty and requirements of assignments, and the capabilities of employees.
• Provides advice, counsel, or instruction to employees on both work and administrative matters; interview candidates for positions in the unit.
• Hears and resolves group grievances or serious employee complaints.
• Makes decisions on nonroutine, costly, or controversial training needs and training requests related to employees of the unit.
• Finds and implements ways to promote team building, and improve business practices.
• Oversees operational pilots and data collection, as needed, under the guidance and direction of the Analytics Department.
• Navigates a variety of specialized software applications, utilizes the data and information within those applications to provide effective service, and efficiently and accurately document team work appropriately within those applications.
• Ensures implementation of and adherence to VCL, and other applicable policies and procedures.

Supervisory Probationary Period: Applicants selected for this position may be required to serve a one-year supervisory probationary period. Failure to successfully complete the supervisory probationary period will result in the employee being reassigned to a position in the agency of no lower grade and pay than the one the employee left to accept the supervisory or managerial position.

Work Schedule: To Be Determined, will work evenings or overnights as well as weekends.
Compressed/Flexible Work Schedule: Available
Remote: This is remote position. Selectees will work 100% of the time in a non-VA-owned space outside of the local commuting area of a parent station. The employee's workspace must be suitable for conducting business and as such, remote employees are expected to provide a secure, distraction-free home-based worksite with reliable high speed internet connectivity. The employee will be required to travel to the closest VA Medical Center or VA Outpatient Clinic for issuance of equipment, and as needed for technical support. Selectees will be required to self-certify that their remote workplace meets all safety, privacy, and internet speed requirements.
Position Description/PD#: Supervisory Social Science Program Specialist/PD052300
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required
This is not a bargaining unit position

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
• 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 (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP)

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period or 2-year trial 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 probationary period or trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 01/13/2026.

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. 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:

Individual Occupational Requirement:
In order to meet the basic requirement of the Supervisory Social Science Program Specialist (workflow Coordinator), 0101 series, you must possess one of the following:

1. Degree in behavioral or social science; or related disciplines appropriate to the position.
or
2. Combination of education and experience that provided the applicant with knowledge of one or more of the behavioral or social sciences equivalent to a major in the field.
or
3. Four years of appropriate experience that demonstrated that the applicant has acquired knowledge of one or more of the behavioral or social sciences equivalent to a major in the field.

If you meet the IOR above, you may qualify based on your experience as described below:

GS-13 Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-12 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. In order to meet the minimum qualifications for this position, you must meet 4/6 of the following examples of specialized experience:

• Assigning work to subordinates based on priorities, consideration of the difficulty and requirements of the assignment, and the capabilities of the employee.
• Conducting analysis of program data, requirements and impact to identify problem areas and resolve issues.
• Conducting crisis risk assessments to ensure the provision of emergency crisis interventions of complex and high-risk populations.,
• Evaluating subordinate supervisors and serving as the reviewing official on evaluations of nonsupervisory employees rated by subordinate supervisors.
• Reviewing the daily schedule of staff to ensure coverage of incoming call volume. Maintaining overage, overtime and staffing shortages.
• Providing technical and clinical expertise to mitigate issues encountered in VCL day-to-day operations.

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

1. Leadership
2. Human Capital Management
3. Planning and Evaluating
4. Organizational Performance Analysis
5. Technical Competence
6. Organizational Awareness
7. Communication

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: Work is performed while sitting at a desk, at conferences, briefings, meetings, in classrooms and the equivalent. The work is primarily sedentary but may require prolonged standing in front of groups. Must work multiple projects simultaneously and handle occasional high levels of stress and conflicting priorities. Work also involves travel and may include prolonged standing, walking, and transport of instructional supplies and/or equipment in excess of 30 lbs.

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.

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

• Resume
  • Federal positions must include series and grade. All positions must include starting and ending dates of employment (month and year) and full-time or part-time status (include hours worked per week). Duties you performed must be listed under each individual job title to match your experiences with the positions held.
• Most recent SF-50 (Current Federal Employees must provide an SF50 dated 1-12-2025 or later; WG employees must provide one dated within 1 year of the closing date)
  • ATTENTION: You may need to submit more than one SF-50 if we cannot verify you meet time-in-grade (TIG) by your most recent SF-50. For example, if your most recent SF-50 is a General Adjustment, we need your most recent SF-50 dated 1/14/24 and another SF-50 to verify TIG. Examples of SF-50s for TIG verification include your last within-grade increase or promotion to highest grade held. Promotion shows when you started the grade level and a within-grade increase verifies you were at that grade level for at least one year. Failure to provide your most recent SF-50 dated 1/14/2024 or later and other SF-50s to verify TIG will result in you being disqualified. We cannot verify time-in-grade based only on the grade and step you are currently on. Award 50's do not provide sufficient information and will not be accepted for the purpose of verifying time-in-grade.
• If you are a current or former Federal employee applying for a higher grade and your SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you meet the one year time-in-grade requirement so you will need to provide an SF-50 which clearly demonstrates you meet the time-in-grade requirements. 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
• Transcript(s) if applicable
• CTAP/ICTAP documentation if applicable

Next steps