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Lead Human Resources Specialist (Employee Benefits)

Department of Veterans Affairs
Veterans Health Administration
South Central VA Healthcare Network

Summary

The purpose of this position is to serve as a Lead HR Specialist employee that provides services, support, and advice in the areas of Federal Leave and Work life/Employee benefits in support all VHA medical centers. This position promotes organizational efforts to support a balance between work and personal life that fosters employee engagement and productivity by providing Work life and employee benefits services to VHA employees and supervisory/managerial staff.

Overview

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Accepting applications
Posted yesterday · Apply by 06/30/26
Due by 11:59 p.m. ET on June 30, 2026
Location
1 vacancy in the following locations:
Work site options
Telework eligible
Yes—Ad-Hoc as determined by the agency policy.
Remote job
No
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Salary
$89,508 - $116,362 per year

The salary range listed is based on the Rest of the US (RUS) pay scale. Salary will be determined after selection.

Pay scale & grade
GS 12
Promotion potential
None
Pay scale and grade determines the salary of the job.
Work schedule
Full-time
Travel Required
Not required
Appointment type
Temporary promotion - Not to Exceed 1 Year
Occupations and job series
Supervisory status
No
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
Noncritical-Sensitive (NCS)/Moderate Risk
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
CAZN-12990709-26-KW
Control number
874060700

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Duties

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NOTE: This is a temporary promotion opportunity NTE 1 year.

Major duties include but are not limited to:

  • Ensures the VISN's and Shared Service Section's strategic plan, mission, vision and values are communicated to the team and integrated into the team's strategies, goals, objectives, work plans and work products and services.
  • Monitors workflow, reviewing completed work to ensure the supervisor's instructions on work priorities, methods, deadlines and quality have been met. Reports to supervisor on team and individual accomplishments, progress in mastering tasks and work processes, and training needs of team members.
  • Administers and providing advisory services on federal leave programs, workplace flexibilities, tour of duty, group life insurance, health benefits, and the Thrift Savings Plan programs.
  • Serves as the specialist on leave and benefits issues, including general information about retirement benefits, resolution of health benefits issues, and advises on insurance coverage options.
  • Resolves problems in the administration of Work life/Employee benefits programs.
  • Develops Work life/benefit's program information materials (in both electronic and print formats) for employees, including fact sheets, brochures, booklets, designed to increase program awareness, participation, and employee satisfaction.
  • Consults with leadership stakeholders, including local, regional and national leadership in support of the human capital acquisition and in furtherance of employee engagement and productivity.
  • Researches and resolves Work life Benefits problems, including correcting employee records as
    necessary.
  • Directs former employees and family members to appropriate retirement counseling service
    organizations.
  • Provides innovative Work life/Employee benefits solutions to their Community of Practice (COP) for
    purpose of improving VHA HR services.

Work Schedule: Work Schedule will be negotiated upon selection, subject to change based on the needs of the facility.
Telework: This position may be authorized for Ad-Hoc telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Lead Human Resources Specialist (Employee Benefits)/PD99899S
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

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 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)
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, 06/30/2026.

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-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11. 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 and/or education as described below:

Criteria 1- Graduate Degree and Specialized Experience:
Successful completion of a graduate level degree or higher and three years of progressive specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-09 grade level. Such experience may be gained in administrative, professional, technical, or other responsible work positions in the public (i.e., Government or military) or private sector. NOTE: You must still meet the Time-In-Grade requirement of having served 52 weeks at the GS-11 grade level, and a copy of your unofficial transcript is required. 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. Qualifying specialized experience includes:

  • Serving as the policy and regulatory specialist for Work life/Employee benefits programs.
  • Preparing communications on current and future requirements related to employee benefits.
  • Meeting with employees to explain benefit programs.
  • Processing leave requests for special leave programs.
~OR~

Criteria 2- Specialized Experience:
You must have at least one (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 grade level in federal service that demonstrates HR management knowledge, concepts and principles and the performance of work in one or more of the HR specialty areas. Such experience may be gained in administrative, professional, technical, or other responsible work positions in the public (i.e., Government or military) or private sector. NOTE: 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. Qualifying specialized experience includes:
  • Serving as a technical expert and journeyman level specialist for employee benefits to include but not limited to Federal Employee Health Benefits, Federal Employee Group Life Insurance, Federal Employee Retirement System and Thrift Savings Plan.
  • Providing advisory and consultation for both federal leave and work life/employee benefit programs.
  • Researching and resolving the more complex employee benefit inquiries and issues.
  • Providing training to team members on leave and work life/employee benefit programs.
  • Mentoring and training new HR employee benefit employees.
  • Participating on teams to help improve and/or streamline programs and services.
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

Qualifying education for the GS-0201 series includes courses and programs in HR, HR development, HR management, business, business management/administration, industrial relations, labor relations, industrial psychology, organizational psychology, organizational development, management, organizational behavior, pre-law/law, legal studies, health care management/administration, public administration, public policy, human services, leadership and/or humanities.

A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

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.

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

TheCareer 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 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
  • Influencing/Negotiating
  • 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.

Veterans Health Administration

OUR MISSION: To fulfill President Lincoln's promise "To care for those who have served in our nation's military and for their families, caregivers, and survivors" - 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 whole health care to Veterans?

Agency contact information

Katilyn Williams
Phone
(901) 558-2974
Email
katilyn.williams@va.gov
Address
VHA VISN 16 Human Resources
715 S. PEAR ORCHARD ROAD
PLAZA 1
RIDGELAND, MS 39157-4807
US

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