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Decision Review Officer

Department of Veterans Affairs
Veterans Benefits Administration
San Juan Regional Office (RO)

Summary

This position is located in the Department of Veterans Affairs, San Juan Regional Office (RO), Military Sexual Trauma (MST) Operations Center, which is a remote Veterans Service Center. The Rating Quality Review Specialist is an integral part of the Veterans Service Center's quality assurance program, and is a key technical adviser to the decision review Officers (DROs) and Rating Veterans Service Representatives (RVSRs), in the Regional Office.

Overview

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Accepting applications
Posted today · Apply by 07/14/26
Due by 11:59 p.m. ET on July 14, 2026
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Work site options
Telework eligible
Not applicable, this is a remote position.
Remote job
Yes
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Salary
$106,437 - $138,370 per year

Salary noted is based on the "Rest of US" Pay table; salary may be adjusted based on the location of the selectee.

Pay scale & grade
GS 13
Promotion potential
13
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
Occupations and job series
Supervisory status
No
Federal service type
This job is in the Competitive Service
Represented by a union
Yes
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
355 -26-CR-12996677-BU
Control number
875369300

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

This vacancy announcement is open ONLY to current, permanent Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) employees 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: Performs individual quality reviews to determine the rating quality level of individual DROs and RVSRs for purposes of individual performance standards in accordance with an established monthly schedule.

  1. Performs individual quality reviews to determine the rating quality level of individual DROs and RVSRs for purposes of individual performance standards in accordance with an established monthly schedule.
  2. Conducts focused "in-process reviews" for cases to determine the accuracy of claims action taken. (Such reviews are for station-level feedback and improvement only, not used for individual performance standard purposes.)
  3. Responsible for sharing rating quality trend information with management on an ongoing basis and with the DROs and RVSRs during training sessions.
  4. Reviews products or activities for quality of performance and enters the results into the on-line STAR checklists.
  5. Evaluates and identifies deficiencies of all elements of a claim from evidence development, income and dependency issues, to award processing and authorization. Provides an explanation of errors and includes comments where attention is warranted.
  6. Prepares STAR data reports and provides to personnel in the regional office who are authorized to request and receive such reports. - Develops various quality assurance processes with emphasis on work procedures and techniques that address unique work conditions and practices.
  7. Ensures all program requirements imposed by Compensation Service and/or the Pension and Fiduciary Service and the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims are met or implemented.
  8. Prepares documentation to support unfavorable finding in order to provide justification for error decisions and indicate required actions. - Conducts statistical analysis of quality reviews to identify trends, significant problems areas and processes requiring improvement.
  9. Relays quality trend information with management on an ongoing basis for use in operations, decision making, and planning

Promotion Potential: None.
Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00 am - 4:30 pm
Compressed/Flexible: Not Available
Remote: Yes
Position Description/PD#: Decision Review Officer GS-13 (37138A)
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required
Bargaining Unit: Yes

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:07/14/2026.

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.
  • 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.
NOTE: All current or former Federal employees must provide a copy of their SF-50 (you may need to submit more than one), "Notice of Personnel Action" that indicates proof of status and time-in-grade eligibility. The SF-50 must include your position, title, series, grade, step, tenure (1 or 2), and type of service (Competitive or Excepted).

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.
  • Specialized Experience: One (1) year of Specialized Experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level (12). Specialized Experience is defined as work that involves functioning in either a capacity performing training, analyst or information systems duties of a claims management process. The experience should be substantive and relevant and may have been gained in the federal, military, or private sector.

Examples of specialized experience include, but are not limited to:
  1. conducting reviews to analyze the quality of completed rated cases,
  2. conducting evaluations and reviews on a quantitative or qualitative basis of claims development programs and operations to determine the effectiveness in meeting established goals and objectives;
  3. preparing or conducting training activities;
  4. identifying knowledge/skill gaps and plan training strategies;
  5. providing and implementing data for one or more information management systems accurately and timely or providing technical guidance and direction to staff in the daily operation and maintenance of claims management systems.

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 normally involves mental rather than physical exertion. The work is mostly sedentary.

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/.

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.

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

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


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):

  • Attention to Detail
  • Customer Service
  • Decision Making
  • Flexibility
  • Influencing/Negotiating
  • Integrity/Honesty
  • Interpersonal Skills
  • Learning
  • Reasoning
  • Self-Management
  • Stress Tolerance
  • Teamwork

Additional Competencies that you may be assessed on:

  1. Research - Read and interpret federal compensation and pension laws, regulations, policies, and procedures in order to analyze and evaluate the accuracy of claims decisions.
  2. Technical Competence - Knowledge of veteran-based state and federal laws (dependency status, social services programs, Medicaid, special income-based programs), to include legal opinions from (1) the court of Appeals for Veterans' Claims (CAVC) and (2) state and federal courts having a relationship to VA programs.
  3. Training - Utilize training techniques and claims processing knowledge in order to provide authoritative consultation and troubleshooting services and carry out extremely complex and precedent setting training administration.
  4. Attention to Detail - Accurately reviews, compiles, and analyzes information and data.
  5. Oral Communication - Communicates orally to conduct one-on-one training & feedback as well as group presentations and training sessions.
  6. Written Communication - Communicates in writing to prepare correspondence and reports as well as convey feedback and other information to management and lower-graded employees.


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/12996677

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

Crystal Russell
Phone
601-364-7271
Email
crystal.russell4@va.gov
Address
San Juan Regional Benefit Office
50 Carr 165
Guaynabo, PR 00968-8024
US

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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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