Clarification from the agency

NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. For more information, refer to Required Documents below.

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Duties are as listed but are not limited to:

• Engineers, administers, and sustains dedicated on-premises and virtual servers supporting special purpose healthcare systems, including temperature monitoring, pharmaceutical storage compliance, laboratory environments, blood banks, operating rooms, and data centers.
• Designs high-availability and fault-tolerant architectures ensuring continuous monitoring and alerting to
  protect medications, biologics, vaccines, and patient-critical assets.
• Integrates special purpose servers with enterprise network services (Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, VLANs, firewall rules, NAC, and secure remote access) in compliance with VA and federal cyber security standards.
• Performs advanced troubleshooting of complex, multi-layer system failures involving network hardware, virtual environments, databases, sensors, and application interfaces.
• Serves as the technical lead for TempTrak system infrastructure, ensuring reliable connectivity between sensors, gateways, application servers, and alerting mechanisms.
• Configures and maintains secure network pathways to support real-time monitoring, alert escalation, historical data retention, and regulatory reporting.
• Coordinates system upgrades, patches, firmware updates, and server lifecycle management to minimize downtime and maintain continuous compliance with Joint Commission, FDA, CDC, and VHA requirements.
• Provides expert consultation to Pharmacy, Laboratory, Engineering, Logistics, Biomedical Engineering, and Patient Safety stakeholders regarding system capabilities, limitations, and risk mitigation strategies.
• Implements and maintains Defense-in-Depth strategies for special purpose servers, including segmentation, access controls, encryption, logging, and monitoring.
• Ensures systems comply with VA cybersecurity policies, NIST, FISMA, and Authority to Operate (ATO) requirements.
• Participates in vulnerability management, incident response, and remediation activities specific to clinical monitoring platforms.
• Develops and maintains documentation, diagrams, and SOPs required for audits, inspections, and accreditation surveys.
• Designs and supports enterprise network solutions that integrate special purpose systems without degrading performance or security of the broader hospital network.
• Leads network changes impacting clinical infrastructure, including firewall changes, routing updates, switch configurations, and wireless connectivity required for monitoring devices.
• Collaborates with regional and national OIT teams to align local implementations with enterprise architecture standards.
• Acts as the subject matter expert (SME) for special purpose systems during construction, renovation, equipment replacement, and system expansion projects.
• Leads or supports multidisciplinary teams during system outages, environmental excursions, or emergent risk scenarios.
• Provides mentoring and technical guidance to lower-graded engineers and IT staff.
• Communicates complex technical information to clinical and executive leadership in a clear, actionable manner.

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 0800-1630
Telework: Not Available
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 41192-F
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

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.
• Must posses or be able to obtain a valid state issued Driver's License
• 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.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• Complete all application requirements detailed in the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.

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

Qualifications

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.
Basic Requirements:

• US Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
• Education: (1) Bachelor's degree or higher in Engineering or Architecture. To be acceptable, the curriculum must be from a school with at least one curriculum accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Engineering Accreditation Commission (excludes engineering technology) or National Council of Architectural Registration Boards curriculum. Exp of acceptable engineering and architectural degrees include, but are not limited to: Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Biomed Engineering, Civil Engineering, Architecture and Architectural Engineering. Titles may vary; OR
  • (2) Evidence of passing the Fundamentals of Engineering Examination with a bachelor's degree. Evidence can be in the form of an Engineering in Training certificate issued from any State, the District of Columbia, Guam or Puerto Rico, or test results from the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) identifying a passing score; OR
  • (3) Evidence of current professional registration or licensure as a Professional Engineer or Architect. Evidence of current professional registration or licensure can be from any State, the District of Columbia, Guam or Puerto Rico.

May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qual Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria): All individuals employed in VHA in this occupational series or in another occupational series performing the duties as described in the qualification standard on the effective date of this qualification standard, are considered to have met all the qualification requirements for the grade held including positive education that is part of the basic requirements of the occupation. For employees who do not meet all the basic requirements of this standard, but met the qualifications applicable to the position at the time they were appointed to the position, the following provisions apply:
(1) Employees may be reassigned, promoted up to and including the full performance (journey) level or changed to lower grade within the occupation, but may not be promoted beyond the journeyman level or placed in supervisory or managerial positions.
(2) Employees in an occupation that requires a licensure/certification/registration only at higher grade levels must meet the licensure/certification/registration requirement before they can be promoted to those higher grade levels.
(3) Employees who are appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of the qualification standard may not have their temporary appointment extended or be reappointed, on a temporary or permanent basis until they fully meet the basic requirements of the standard.
(4) Employees who are converted to title 38 hybrid status under this provision and subsequently leave the occupation lose protected status and must meet the full VA qualification standard requirements in effect at the time of reentry to the occupation.
(5) Employees initially grandfathered into this occupation, who subsequently obtain additional education and/or licensure/registration that meet all the basic requirements of this qualification standard must maintain the required credentials as a condition of employment in the occupation.

Grade Determinations GS-12:In addition to the basic requirements outlined in paragraph 3, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates.

• Experience. One year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade GS-11.

1. Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs). In addition to meeting the experience requirements for this grade level, the candidate must fully demonstrate the following KSAs:

• (a) Knowledge of mechanical, electrical, structural, civil and other engineering/architectural principles, practices and their applications in the healthcare environment.
• (b) Knowledge of healthcare industry standards and related regulatory agency and organization (including, but not limited to The Joint Commission (TJC), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA), etc.) regulations, requirements, guides, policies, procedures, directives, standards and general medical program requirements as they relate to healthcare engineering.
• (c) Knowledge of construction standards, methods, practices and techniques, materials and equipment to determine compliance with engineering regulations and standards.
• (d) Skill in researching and analyzing information, conditions, human factors and projections to make sound engineering and business recommendations and decisions to proactively identify problems and develop innovative solutions within the context of applicable rules, regulations and procedures.
• (e) Ability to plan and execute complex, multi-faceted projects and inspections while prioritizing resources against approved scopes of work, contract documents and budgets.
• (f) Ability to organize and lead multi-disciplinary task forces with members from different departments and divisions, as well as design and construction firms.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12.

Physical Requirements: Primarily sedentary, although some physical effort may be required, e.g., walking, standing, climbing ladders, stooping, kneeling, and carrying light items such as manuals or briefcases, or driving or traveling by motor vehicle.

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 MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Your application, resume, C.V., and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect consideration for employment.

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.

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.

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.