Serve as the first line supervisor and manage the day-to-day operations of a staff of investigators in the conduct of administrative investigations and related activities. The incumbent supervises the case management and technical advice on matters referred to OAWP for investigation. The incumbent develops general investigative strategies and tactics to resolve complex investigative issues.

The incumbent will from time-to-time investigate matters related to conduct, performance, attendance, whistleblower disclosure and retaliation. The incumbent will provide various functions for accomplishment of OAWP's primary mission, including but not limited to the following:

• Investigates allegations of misconduct, retaliation, or poor performance involving individuals in a senior executive position, individuals employed in a confidential, policy- making, policy-determining, or policy-advocating position in the Department, or a supervisory employee, if the allegation involves retaliation against an employee for making a whistleblower disclosure.
• Receives referred disclosures from the Office of Special Counsel (OSC), Medical Inspector of the Department, the Inspector General of the Department, or such other person with investigatory authority, OAWP Triage, and conducts investigation as appropriate.
• Responsible for personally conducting high priority/sensitive fact finding or investigations that require the exercise of tact, diplomacy, utilization of extensive experience, and various human resource skills as directed by the Director and provides overall guidance and technical oversight of cases.
• Makes recommendations in relation to the assignment, evaluation, and approval of the Director's investigative plan encompassing all aspects of the investigative process including appropriate investigative techniques and procedures and coordinates for collaborative expertise effort. Develops, reviews, approves, coordinates and distributes detailed reports as appropriate. May be required to participate in individual and/or group interviews to gather information and data.
• Performs the full range of supervisory functions for a staff of investigators to include directly supervising, developing performance plans, and rating the performance of their assigned staff. Assigns work based on priorities, difficulty of assignments, workload, and the capabilities of the employees. Provides leadership, mentorship, training, and administrative oversight. Identifies developmental and training needs of employees, provides and/or arranges for needed developmental training.
• Provides, as needed, presentations, briefings, case updates, and/or reports to the Director and Senior OAWP leadership.
• Maintains lines of communication between field personnel and the Director. Prepares written communication on behalf of the Director in relation to operational procedures; maintains a training program, conduct of investigative procedures and techniques. Assists in the oversight of the overall integrity of the data input into OAWP's electronic official system of records and helps ensure that the entries are accurate and timely reported.
• Responsible for the development and/or editing of written reports, setting forth all facts and circumstances, with a view towards substantially affecting Investigations program planning; and organizational improvements.
• Advises/briefs the Director on highly complex and sensitive investigations. Communicates changes to subordinate staff. Ensures division employees readily adapt to changes and guidance is proliferated through conduct of investigations.
• Responsible for maintaining and monitoring the case management system in SharePoint or similar case management systems for receipt and accountability of information regarding alleged misconduct or impropriety by senior leaders.
• Coordinates cases as needed with internal staff and Administrations and external offices such as Office of Special Counsel (OSC), Office of Inspector General (OIG), Merit Systems Protection Boards (MSPB), Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and others as requested.
• Administers the proper opening and closing of administrative investigations. Ensures that sufficient information exists to warrant opening the investigative file.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Conditions of employment

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
• 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
• 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 identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.

• 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.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 05/18/2026.

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-14 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-13. 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 some former Federal employees applying for reinstatement, as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. See the Required Document section below for more information regarding the SF-50s needed to verify time-in-grade.


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-13 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Oversight of case management and provision of technical guidance on complex investigations involving senior leader misconduct and/or whistleblower retaliation; application of general investigative standards and principles to resolve sensitive and multifaceted issues; leadership in planning, prioritizing, and conducting investigative work to meet mission-critical deadlines under tight time constraints; drafting clear, logical, and analytically sound written reports of investigation and correspondence; conducting reviews of investigative reports and providing constructive feedback to enhance quality and consistency of work products; maintenance of strict confidentiality; briefing senior leadership on high-impact cases; and establishment and maintenance of professional relationships with internal and external stakeholders to support investigative objectives.
• The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal/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 found well qualified, applicants must meet the following qualifications: At least five years of experience leading and supervising administrative investigative teams focused on high profile, complex, senior leader misconduct and whistleblower retaliation cases, to include among other duties case management, assignments, prioritizing of cases, and writing and revision of well-reasoned, factually sound and evidence-based reports of investigation; a track record of meeting or beating deadlines without compromising investigative integrity, and consistently using performance metrics to drive continuous investigation improvement; at least three years of supervisory experience conducting personnel actions, including holding employees accountable to performance standards; experience coordinating investigations with investigative attorneys; substantive experience driving procedural, technological, and cultural team or organizational change; significant experience using e-discovery tools such as Relativity; ability to coordinate across internal departments, external agencies, and key stakeholders to foster communication and advance organizational goals; use of data analytics to track case progression, case management, and data accuracy and integrity; and exceptional ability to prioritize competing deadlines, utilize tracking systems, and consistently meet or exceed milestones.

• Conflict Management
• Influencing/Negotiating
• Interpersonal Skills
• Leadership
• Manages Resources
• Partnering
• Performance Management
• Planning and Evaluating
• Reasoning
• Technical Competence
• Written 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: Resume must include job title and employer name, number of hours worked per week, start and end dates (including month and year), list of duties and responsibilities for each position held. In addition, if the experience was a federal position, you must list series and grade for each position held. Failure to include this information may result in an ineligible rating. A full year of work is considered to be 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 primarily sedentary, although some slight physical effort may be required. Travel may be required.

For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at http://://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.

You will be evaluated based on how well you meet the qualifications listed in this vacancy announcement. Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials, your responses on the application questionnaire, and your responses to all assessments required for this position. Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration. Cheating on an assessment may also result in your removal from consideration.

Supervisory Situational Judgement Test. Applicants will be required to complete a Supervisory Situational Judgment Test (SSJT) as part of the assessment process for this position. The SSJT evaluates judgment, decision-making, and leadership competencies associated with effective supervision in a Federal work environment. Assessment results may be used as part of the evaluation, ranking and referral process. This is not a timed test, however, the assessment is expected to take approximately 45 minutes or less to complete.

Job Knowledge Test: A portion of your assessment is a Job Knowledge Test that will occur during the application.You will be evaluated based on how well you meet the qualifications listed in this vacancy announcement. Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials and the five responses you provide on the application questionnaire. You will be assessed on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics):

• Conflict Management
• Influencing/Negotiating
• Interpersonal Skills
• Leadership
• Manages Resources
• Partnering
• Performance Management
• Planning and Evaluating
• Reasoning
• Technical Competence
• Written Communication

Area of Consideration: Eligible applicants will be reviewed and referred in the following order:

• All CTAP eligible applicants that are found well qualified
• All current, permanent VA Employees in the Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection
• All other current, permanent VA employees
• All other applicants (if status)

Applicant Count: This announcement will remain open until the closing date, 05/18/2026, or when the applicant count is reached, whichever is earlier. The applicant count is the point at which the first 300 applications are received. All applications submitted that day up to 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on the date the applicant count is reached will be accepted and considered.