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Supervisory Program Specialist

Department of Veterans Affairs
Veterans Benefits Administration
Veterans Benefits Administration

Summary

This position is located in the Veterans Benefits Administration, Regional Offices, Office of the Director. The incumbent serves as a Supervisory Program Specialist responsible for a wide range of duties that support the overall operations of the Regional office. The incumbent is the key advisor to the Director and the Division Chiefs on all human resources issues and coordinates directly with the HR Center.


Overview

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Accepting applications
Posted this week · Apply by 07/02/26
Due by 11:59 p.m. ET on July 2, 2026
This job will close when we have received 100 applications which may be sooner than the closing date. Learn more
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Work site options
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Remote job
No
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Salary
$112,556 - $146,325 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 13
Promotion potential
None
Pay scale and grade determines the salary of the job.
Work schedule
Full-time
Travel Required
25% or less - You may be expected to travel for this position.
Appointment type
Permanent
Supervisory status
Yes
Federal service type
This job is in the Competitive Service
Represented by a union
No
Drug test
No
Security clearance
Other
Position sensitivity and risk
Moderate Risk (MR)
Jobs require a background check and some require a security clearance. The type depends on the job.
Background check type
Financial disclosure required
No
Some jobs require financial disclosure to identify conflicts of interests.
Announcement number
316-26-MM-12978053 (NBU)
Control number
873815400

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

This vacancy is open ONLY to current, permanent employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs and current/former VA employees who are CTAP eligible.

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Duties

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Typical duties include, but are not limited to:

  • Plans work to be accomplished by subordinates, sets and adjust short- and long-range staffing plans to meet the forecasted mission requirements and changes in critical competencies.
  • Evaluates work performance of subordinates; gives advice, counsel, or instruction to employees on both work and administrative matters; interviews candidates for positions in the unit.
  • Recommends appointment, promotion, or reassignment to such positions.
  • Hears and resolves complaints from employees, referring group grievances and more serious unresolved complaints to a higher-level supervisor or manager.
  • Effects minor disciplinary measures, such as warnings and reprimands, proposing other action in more serious cases; identifies developmental and training needs of employees, providing or arranging for needed development and training.
  • Develops performance standards.
  • Recommends selections for subordinate nonsupervisory positions. Finds and implements ways to eliminate or reduce significant bottlenecks and barriers to production, promote team building.
  • Provides management advisory services in counseling, advising management on developing and maintaining the proper balance between organization strategic plans and goals and human resource development programs.
  • Conducting systemic studies to develop management interests.
  • Collaborates with the staff/managers to develop and implement policies, procedures, and guidelines which institute processes for work to run as effectively and efficiently as possible.
  • Implementations may require recommendations for changes in established process and procedures which help workflow of applicable sections.
  • Conducts data reviews and analyzes data results, identifying any data trends and making recommendations for updating or creating new processes and procedures to help increase workflow.
  • Provides comprehensive advice on the full range of human resource management functions to the Director, Assistant Directors, Division Chiefs, Managers, Supervisors HR Staff, and employees.
  • Pro-actively briefs senior management regarding key human resources trends, risks, threats, and other significant issues ensure HR action taken conform with the laws and regulation governing federal civilian personnel and negotiated labor management agreements.
  • Identifies problems and develops workable solutions.
  • Researches and responds to a variety of time sensitive information requests (Taskers) from the Director's Office.
  • Researches pressing issues to provide sound, well informed recommendations to management.
  • Maintain appropriate internal controls.
Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00 am - 4:30 pm
Compressed/Flexible: Not Available
Telework: Available
Virtual: This is not a virtual position
Position Description/PD#: Supervisory Program Specialist GS-13: PD 38567A
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required
Bargaining Unit: No

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you may be required to serve a 1-year probationary period or trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness & 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.

Additional Conditions of Employment are as follows:
  • 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 or trial 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 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.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement: 07/02/2026.

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.
  • 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.

If you are a current VBA employee requesting a reassignment or change to lower grade via this vacancy announcement, you must currently hold the GS-13 (or higher) and the promotion potential of your current position must be at least GS-13.
  • Specialized Experience: One (1) year of Specialized Experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level (GS-12). Specialized experience is defined as: experience applying and providing guidance on multiple fields of Human Resources rules, regulations, and procedures including Personnel Management, Recruitment and Staffing, Classification, Employee Benefits and Labor Relations.
Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to:
  • Provide advice and guidance in the areas of staffing and recruitment
  • Defending agency actions in front of a 3rd party hearing (FLRA, MSPB)
  • Experience as the chief negotiator in labor negotiations
Volunteer Experience: 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.

Full vs. Part-Time Employment: Full-time employment is considered to be at least 35 hours per week. Part-time experience will be credited on a pro-rated basis; when including part-time employment in your resume you must specify the average hours worked per week.

Physical Requirements:The work is primarily sedentary. Some walking is required for the tasks concerned.

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/.

For more information on the "Who may apply" eligibility requirements, please refer to the OHRM Status Candidates and Other Candidate Definitions document.

Education

There is no educational substitution at this grade level.

Additional information

VA supports the use of telework as a way to help attract and retain talented individuals in public service, increase worker productivity, and better prepare the agency to operate during emergencies. This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process.

The 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 (have a final rating of 85 or more) for this vacancy. Information about 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/.

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.

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

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.

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 (TJO). Please visit the Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP), https://www.va.gov/EMPLOYEE/docs/The-Fair-Chance-to-Compete-Act.pdf

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 https://appsupport-usastaffing.opm.gov/hc/en-us/sections/45063131363475-Reasonable-Accommodation-In%E2%80%A6

If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement.

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.

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 (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 (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics):

Problem Solving: Identifies and analyzes problems; uses sound reasoning to arrive at conclusions; finds alternative solutions to complex problems; distinguishes between relevant and irrelevant information to make logical judgements.

Flexibility: Is open to change and new information; adapts behavior and work methods in response to new information, changing conditions, or unexpected obstacles; effectively deals with pressure and ambiguity.

Leadership: Inspires, motivates and guides others toward goal accomplishment; coaches, mentors, and challenges subordinates; adapts leadership styles to a variety of situations; models high standards of honesty, integrity, trust, openness, and respect for the individual by applying these values to daily behaviors.

Human Resources Management: Empowers people by sharing power and authority; develops lower levels of leadership by pushing authority downward and outward throughout the organization; shares rewards for achievement with employees; ensures that staff are appropriately selected, utilized, appraised, and developed, and that they are treated in a fair and equitable manner.

Oral Communication: Expresses information (for example, ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (for example, technical, sensitive, controversial); makes clear and convincing oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately.

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.
To preview the application questionnaire, click the following link: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12978053

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.

Veterans Benefits Administration

OUR MISSION: To fulfill President Lincoln's promise "To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan" - by serving and honoring the men and women who are America's Veterans. How would you like to become a part of a team providing compassionate care to Veterans?

The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) provides a variety of benefits and services to service members, veterans and their families. The VBA has been undergoing a major transformation that is people-centric, results-oriented and forward-looking, and which includes integration of solutions that will ensure total lifelong engagement with service members, veterans and their families.

The VA has adopted Core Values and Characteristics that apply universally across the Department. The five Core Values define "who we are," our culture, and how we care for Veterans, their families and other beneficiaries. The Values are Integrity, Commitment, Advocacy, Respect and Excellence ("I CARE").

As a VA professional, your opportunities are endless. With many openings in the multiple functions of VA, you will have a wide range of opportunities and leadership positions at your fingertips.

Agency contact information

Marraine Melton
Phone
601-364-7240
Email
marraine.melton@va.gov
Address
Atlanta Regional Benefit Office
1700 Clairmont Rd
Decatur, GA 30033
US

Visit our careers page

Learn more about what it's like to work at Veterans Benefits Administration, what the agency does, and about the types of careers this agency offers.

http://www.va.gov/jobs

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