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Secretary (Lead Staff Assistant)

Department of Veterans Affairs
Veterans Health Administration
Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 17

Summary

Staff assistants acts as liaison and handles communication with many individuals, organizations and groups to assure coordination of services and ongoing communication with key internal and external stakeholders. Interface is also provided with consumers, academic affiliations, Veterans service organizations, Headquarters staff offices, Congressional members, Veterans Affairs committee staff and others influencing the VISN.

Overview

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Accepting applications
Open & closing dates
02/27/2026 to 03/03/2026
Salary
$67,100 to - $87,235 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 9
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Arlington, TX
1 vacancy
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy. (Ad-Hoc telework)
Travel Required
Not required
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
None
Job family (Series)
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
CAZM-12899757-26-KLI
Control number
859383800

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Duties

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Administrative Support
Serves as Lead Staff Assistant to multiply VISN employees and to VISN Executive Leadership Team (ELT) providing a wide range of administrative support. Serve as Lead to other front office staff members and the ELT. Based on knowledge of the Leadership member's views, preferences, and policies, provides accurate and timely advice on procedures, reports, requirements, and other matters necessary to implement the office policies, directives, and instructions. Facilitates the performance of the Leadership member's work by relaying information and requests to officials within and outside the organization.

Receives, screens and manages office calls, email, visitors, and correspondence. Maintains the Leadership members' calendars and supports the ELT. When necessary to decline invitations to meetings, etc., arranges for representation by a subordinate official if required. Makes sure the ELT members (or representatives) have back-up information regarding appointments and briefs them on information she/he should know regarding the appointment and/or meeting. Schedules appointments on own initiative based on personal knowledge of Leadership member's workload and current issues of importance. Reviews incoming correspondence, determines necessary action, routes and tracks items, and follows up on requests that can be handled personally.

Correspondence Control, Action Items, Suspense Monitoring
The incumbent manages all incoming executive correspondence to determine the nature of the problem and/or request for data and assign the appropriate office that has the staff responsibility regarding the concerns addressed by the correspondence.

The incumbent will evaluate correspondence, action items and suspense items to ensure that they are timely, complete, and appropriate for the VISN Director's concurrence or approval. The incumbent will monitor correspondence, action items and suspense items trends for responsible facilities, and monitor the effectiveness of correspondence and suspense procedure,

Payroll and Travel
Performs a variety of clerical and technical work that results in the bi-weekly or monthly determination of pay for civilian employees, incumbents examine human resources actions, pay changes, and employee requests to ensure accuracy of data submitted to payroll which serve as a basis for pay and leave computation and affect the disbursement of pay.

Office Management and Communication
Incumbent serves as Lead Office Manager for the Network Director's office and ensure practices and procedures used by other office staff are consistent. As Network continues to grow, coordination and communication with department heads from site to VISN and to VHA level must be adhered to provide seamless onboarding of employees. Incumbent manages communication Develops and implements orientation and for incoming employees new to VISN office.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 7:30am - 4:00pm OR 8:00am - 4:30pm
Telework: Available for Ad-Hoc
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Secretary (Lead Staff Assistant)/PD003970
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

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.
  • Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
  • Physical Requirements: The work required does not inherently include any physical requirements essential for successful job performance that could not otherwise be performed with accommodation or workplace adjustment. A pre-placement physical examination is not required.
  • 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, 03/03/2026.

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-09 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to:
  • receives, screens and manages office calls, email, visitors, and correspondence; maintains calendars and supports executive members; coordinates arrangements for meetings and conferences at the Executive level; develops work processes and systems for tracking and controlling a wide variety of correspondence requiring action or follow-up; develops, implements, and maintains various automated databases, spreadsheets, and graphics in support of office activities and operations; managing all incoming executive correspondence to determine the nature of the problem and/or request for data and assign the appropriate office that has the staff responsibility regarding the concerns addressed by the correspondence; performing preliminary research and in determining procedures needed for collection, analysis and evaluation of a variety of administrative data used by the office.
You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:
  • Clerical
  • Quality Management
  • Budget Administration
  • Administration and Management
  • Communication
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/.

Physical Requirements: The work is primarily sedentary however some duties may require standing, walking, bending and carrying light weight objects. The incumbent will typically work in a well-lighted office environment. Use of phone, computer equipment and software typical to a business environment will be required.

Education

There is no educational substitution at this grade level.

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:

  • Accountability
  • 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.

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