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Program Specialist

Department of Veterans Affairs
Veterans Health Administration
VISN 23 Office of Research and Development (ORD)

Summary

The incumbent serves as the Program Analyst in the Research and Development (R&D) office at the Iowa City VA Health Care System (ICVAHCS). The R&D office has the responsibility for planning, developing, and directing the administrative activities of a very large and complex R&D Program with an annual budget of over $20 million in all areas of research (biomedical, clinical, rehabilitation and health services).

Overview

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Accepting applications
Open & closing dates
02/19/2026 to 02/24/2026
Salary
$61,722 to - $80,243 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 9
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Iowa City, IA
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
No
Travel Required
Not required
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
None
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Other
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Trust determination process
Financial disclosure
No
Bargaining unit status
No
Announcement number
CARX-12879808-26-ZH
Control number
858149400

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

This announcement is open to current federal employees serving under career or career-conditional competitive service appointments, former federal employees with reinstatement eligibility, persons eligible for non-competitive appointment under special appointment authorities, persons eligible under the Interchange Agreements; 30% or more disabled Veterans; Veterans Employment Opportunity Act (VEOA) eligibles, and Veterans Recruitment Appointments (VRA) eligibles.

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Duties

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This is a non-bargaining unit position.

VA offers a comprehensive total rewards package: VA Total Rewards
Work Schedule:
Monday - Friday 8:00 A.M. - 4:30 P.M.
Telework: This position is not eligible for telework.
Duty Location Status: Will work from a VA owned or leased space
Position Description/PD#: Program Specialist/PD504590
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required

This recruitment is for one position with the VISN 23 VHA Office of Research and Development (ORD). Location is in Iowa City, IA.

Duties & Responsibilities:
1) Personnel Administrative Duties:

  • Assessing, coordinating, and managing staffing needs for biomedical, clinical, and rehabilitation research programs.
  • Collaborating with approximately 35 principal investigators to ensure their staffing needs are met.
  • Writing position descriptions and developing KSAs (knowledge, skills, and abilities).
  • Working with Human Resources for recruitment.
  • Ensuring staffing needs align with budget constraints.
  • Completing all 52's (requests or approvals for hiring, extensions, and resignations).
  • Collaborating with supervisors and principal investigators to determine performance standards.
  • Ensuring completion of mid-point evaluations and performance appraisals annually for all employees.
Intergovernmental Personnel Agreements (IPA):
  • Completing documentation required for IPA's with the affiliate university.
  • Collecting salary information from the University of Iowa.
  • Preparing documents for signature and ensuring availability of adequate funding.
Without Compensation (WOC) Employees:
  • Coordinating and processing approximately 200 WOC employees.
  • Ensuring timely processing of WOC paperwork through Human Resources.
  • Keeping track of appointment renewals and training status for WOC employees.
  • Ensuring completion of the close-out process before appointment term ends.
  • Providing monthly reports to the Associate Chief of Staff for Research on WOC appointment status.
PIV System:
  • Ensuring all employees (VA, IPA, WOC) have current PIV cards.
  • Managing and sponsoring employees within the PIV system.
  • Notifying VA police of access levels for each employee.
  • Monitoring and ensuring timely renewal of PIV cards.
Information Technology and User Access Manager:
  • Serving as ADPAC and providing user account support (set-up, configuration, troubleshooting).
  • Investigating and resolving workstation issues.
  • Training users on research computer applications and proper usage.
  • Collaborating with the Office of Information Technology (OI&T) for non-standardized software implementations, updates, and troubleshooting.
  • Entering help desk tickets for escalated issues.
  • Setting up shared team folders and coordinating CPRS training for human subjects research.
  • Providing guidance on accessing VA sensitive information.
Records Management
  • Functioning as the official records custodian, subject matter expert, and records liaison.
  • Managing records information life cycle including collection, maintenance, release, amendment, and disposition.
  • Implementing the records management program within the R&D service.
  • Maintaining an accurate inventory of records.
  • Providing staff training on records filing and disposition.
  • Conducting regular internal records reviews.
  • Ensuring no federal records are removed by departing employees.
  • Entering records inventory for storage items into the local Records Management Access Database.
  • Advising on maintenance and/or disposition of unscheduled records.
  • Providing guidance on disposing or storing records upon the completion of the facility's mission and function.
Policy Development:
  • Ensuring all policies and standard operating procedures (SOPs) are up-to-date and comply with federal regulations.
  • Covering a wide range of topics: human subjects, animal research, safety, research misconduct, etc.
  • Understanding relevant federal regulations from AAHRPP, AAALAC, ORD, ORO, OLAW, and OHRP.
  • Training and informing personnel on regulation changes.
Animal, Safety and Human Subjects Research:
  • Ensuring individuals involved in these research areas receive necessary training and meet set requirements.
  • Managing credentialing and background checks.
  • Ensuring updated scopes of practice for all personnel.
  • Monitoring and updating training status.
  • Providing monthly reports to the Associate Chief of Staff for Research on training and scopes of practice.
Media Development:
  • Maintaining and updating the ICVAHCS Research and Development Service website.
  • Highlighting ongoing research and providing public information related to the research program.
  • Developing and maintaining a monthly newsletter for research personnel.
  • Including information on research policies, activities, funded investigators, and other relevant topics.
  • Other duties as assigned.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
  • To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job.
  • Physical Requirements: The work requires long periods of time working and keyboarding at a computer workstation. It may involve some walking, standing, bending, or carrying of light items.
  • 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, 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, 02/24/2026.

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-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-08. 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 as described below:

  • Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-08) in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to:
    • Applied experience in identifying issues regarding administrative practices and procedures and making recommendations to resolve these issues.
    • Perform a variety of human resources related activities (for example, coordination and management of staffing needs, assisting in the recruitment process).
    • Provide assistance with policy development and records management.
    • Due diligence in ensuring policies and standard operating procedures are compliant with regulations.
    • Experience developing, writing, and presenting reports.

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/.

Education

There is no educational substitution at this grade level.

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Additional information

Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.

Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Requests: If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a RA in your online application. Requests for RA for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for RA are made on a case-by-case basis. If you meet the minimum qualifications of the position, after notification of the adjudication of your request, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, based on your adjudication decision. You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments if you received the link after the close of the announcement. To determine if you need a RA, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments.

Receiving Service Credit for Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. VA may offer newly-appointed Federal employee's credit for their job-related non-federal experience or active duty uniformed military service. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed.

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified for this vacancy. To be well-qualified: applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are proficient in most of the required competencies of the job. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/.

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

How you will be evaluated

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

Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), your responses on the application questionnaire, and your responses to all assessments required for this position. You will be assessed on the following Competencies for this position:

  • Attention to Detail
  • Customer Service
  • Decision Making
  • Flexibility
  • Integrity/Honesty
  • Interpersonal Skills
  • Learning
  • Reading Comprehension
  • Reasoning
  • Self-Management
  • Stress Tolerance
  • Teamwork


Your experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hours worked per week. 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. IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration. Cheating on the online assessment may also result in your removal from consideration.

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.

During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions.

Special Employment Consideration: VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply, including those eligible for hiring under 5 CFR 213.3102(u), Schedule A, Appointment of persons with disabilities [i.e., intellectual disabilities, severe physical disabilities, or psychiatric disabilities], and/or Disabled veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more. Contact the Agency Contact for information on how to apply under this appointment authority via the Selective Placement Coordinator.

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