Clarification from the agency

This vacancy is open ONLY to current permanent employees of the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), and those eligible for priority consideration under the Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP).

Specific duties include:

• Formulates quality and oversight measures for Veterans and survivors claims process. Audits agency programs to ensure compliance with P&F Service policy and procedural directives. Conducts site visits and targeted audits to ensure Regional Offices are compliant with policy and procedures for all aspects of P&F Service programs.
• Conducts regular risk analysis and recommends strong internal controls over business processes to ensure desired outcomes in line with policy and procedures. Provides quality oversight and routine audits of all automation activities to ensure automation processes and payments are compliant with established policy and procedures regulated by the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).
• Plans, prioritizes, and participates in workgroups and special projects that impact modernization efforts aimed toward designing electronic processing systems for field personnel.
• Assists field stations with instructions for implementing policy, procedures or training.
• Serves as an advisor and consultant on precedent determinations involving decisions on individual cases and national issues regarding technical, regulatory, procedural, and operational aspects of the Pension and Fiduciary programs.
• Formulates, determines, and influences the Agency policies governing the Pension and Fiduciary programs. Works in close cooperation with the Office of General Counsel and other business line elements of VBA to draft legislation and policy guidance for Pension and Fiduciary programs.
• Develops, delivers, and provides comprehensive training programs for field employees. Assesses quality of training programs and ensures compliance with mandatory training requirements. Evaluates and determines the training needs of field employees and recommends courses of action in response to oversight activities, claim audits, and site visits.
• Prepares PowerPoint and similar material and gives oral presentations to various audiences within P&F Service, VBA senior management, department level executives and outside agencies.
• Prepares clear and concise documents. Assists in developing and updating procedural guidance for distribution to field offices. Drafts Training Letters, writes briefing papers, drafts system requirements, and answers Congressional and external stakeholder inquiries.
• Researches Veteran-specific issues and prepares all necessary administrative materials, correspondence, and justifications detailing reasons for decisions.
• Undertakes long and short-range research and studies program activities within the P&F Service to support the organization's business goals and objectives. Gathers relevant data, analyzes it critically, and makes recommendations based on findings using available information resources such as Internet tools, manuals, and other reference material.
• Serves as project manager for major initiatives and special assignments. Monitors and tracks progress on internal and external audit findings and investigates operational issues such as recurring errors, excessive time lags, and system shortcomings.
• Leads in-house efforts and participates actively as a team member or sub-group leader on project teams involving participants outside of VBA.

Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level. The grade progression for this position is GS-11, GS-12, GS-13.

Work Schedule: Full time, Monday through Friday
Compressed/Flexible: Not Available
Telework: This position is eligible for situational (ad hoc) telework only. The selectee is required to report to the official duty station each scheduled workday. Telework may be approved only on a case-by-case basis with supervisory approval. Routine or recurring telework is not authorized for this position.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Management and Program Analyst; 39826A, 39825A, 39824A
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required

Conditions of employment

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary 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.

• 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

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.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement:07/21/2026.

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-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-9 level.
• For a GS-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11 level.
• For a GS-13 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-12 level.

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.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENT: You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below:

GS-11 Grade Level:

• Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to GS-09 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience for this position is defined as demonstrated experience in:
  • Veterans Pension, Survivor, and Fiduciary programs.
  • Processing claims and/or conducting quality reviews of VBA's Pension Survivor, and Fiduciary programs.
  • Manage and prioritize multiple assignments concurrently and to execute delivery efficiently and effectively.
• Education Substitution: GS-11: A Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree orLL.M., if related. Education must be related to the position being filled.
• Combining Education and Experience: Combinations of successfully completed post-high school education and experience may be used to meet total qualification requirements for the grade levels specified in the table, and may be computed by first determining the applicant's total qualifying experience as a percentage of the experience required for the grade level; then determining the applicant's education as a percentage of the education required for the grade level; and then adding the two percentages. The total percentages must equal at least 100 percent to qualify an applicant for that grade level. Only graduate education in excess of the amount required for the next lower grade level may be used to qualify applicants for positions at grade GS-11.

GS-12 Grade Level:

• Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to GS-11 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience for this position is defined as demonstrated experience in two of the four areas below:
  • Veterans Pension, Survivor, and Fiduciary programs.
  • Processing claims and/or conducting quality reviews of VBA's Pension Survivor, and Fiduciary programs.
  • Providing oversight and management techniques to evaluate internal controls and assess risk of Veterans benefits and programs, developing strategies to mitigate risk and improve the administration of the programs.
  • Researching and applying agency laws and policies to formulate and recommend instructions, directives, guidelines, policies, plans or procedures to administer or carry out functions which support operations delivery or supporting delivery of benefits or services to Veterans.

GS-13 Grade Level:

• Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to GS-12 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience for this position is defined as demonstrated experience in three of the four areas below:
  • Veterans Pension, Survivor, and Fiduciary programs.
  • Processing claims and/or conducting quality reviews of VBA's Pension Survivor, and Fiduciary programs.
  • Providing oversight and management techniques to evaluate internal controls and assess risk of Veterans benefits and programs, developing strategies to mitigate risk and improve the administration of the programs.
  • Researching and applying agency laws and policies to formulate and recommend instructions, directives, guidelines, policies, plans or procedures to administer or carry out functions which support operations delivery or supporting delivery of benefits or services to Veterans.

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 sedentary. Some work may require walking and standing in conjunction with travel to attend meetings and conferences away from the work site. Work may require carrying light items such as papers, books, or small parts. The work does not require any special physical effort.

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.

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 an interview. 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):

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

• Project Management: Applies principles, methods, or tools for developing, scheduling, coordinating, monitoring, evaluating, and managing projects and resources, including technical performance.
• Analytics and Technique: Knowledge of analytical practices, theories and techniques to gather/assemble and analyze facts, draw conclusions and devise solution.
• Oral Communication: Ability to communicate orally; including the ability to interpret complex and/or technical information and concepts and communicate them to a wide variety of audiences with different backgrounds, education, and skill levels.
• Written Communication: Write material to include policies and portrayal of statistical data in a clear, concise, organized and convincing manner to internal and external contacts.

The USA Hire Assessments includes a cut score based on the minimum level of required proficiency in these critical general competencies. You must meet or exceed the cut score to be considered. You will not be considered for the position if you score below the cut score or fail to complete the assessment.

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.