Clarification from the agency

Open to all US Citizens and current permanent Federal employees of other agencies. NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. For more information, refer to Required Documents below.

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A Supervisory Audiologist in this position serves as a Service Chief; responsible for all professional, management and administrative aspects of the service or organizational entity; broad and overall responsibility for a service-level organizational unit and has full responsibility for clinical practice, program management, education, human resource management and supervision for the service.

Duties may include, but are not limited to:

• Autonomously manages substantive parts of specialized, complex, professional services that significantly impact Veterans' care; provides leadership with objective, independent assessments and recommendations for policy, operational and administrative issues and initiatives requiring decision and action.
• Monitors work performance to ensure that requirements are satisfied; interprets and processes a wide variety of data related to program planning and specialized needs of the Veterans, the service, and the medical center; and ensures policies or issues have been fully coordinated, vetted, and staffed.
• Advises executive leadership on implications, key issues, and relationships to interest groups (both internal and external) and recommends courses of action; coordinates and negotiates resolutions to complex problems.
• Assures compliance with accrediting agencies and regulatory requirements and corrective action is initiated as needed.
• Responsible for professional and administrative management of an assigned area, including budget execution.
• Maintains interdepartmental relationships with other services to accomplish medical center goals.
• May prepare special reports and responses, Congressional responses, briefing papers, issue briefs, and decision papers for the medical center leadership.
• Develops policies and procedures and may develop performance standards, position descriptions, and functional statements.
• Monitors the clinical performance of staff, conduct performance appraisals, and perform other clinical and administrative responsibilities to ensure that the mission of the service and the medical center has been satisfied.
• May set training objectives for staff and delegate responsibilities to subordinate sections.
• Other duties as assigned.

• This position is in the excepted service.
• This position is NOT a Bargaining Unit position.
• Current and former Federal employees must submit copies of their most recent SF-50, (Notice of Personnel Action). The SF-50 must identify the position title, series, grade, step, tenure and type of service (Competitive or Excepted). In some cases, more than one SF-50 may be required to show a higher grade previously held.
• Narrative responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) may be required from the selectee in order to proceed with the appointment.
• This position is covered by locality-based comparability pay.
• The incumbent may be required to travel to other VA Boston campuses and CBOC's.
• Incomplete applications will not be considered.

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.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• May be subject to satisfactory completion of our credentialing 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 (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.

• 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.

Qualifications

Basic Requirements:

• United States Citizenship: Be a citizen of the United States (U.S.). Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7407(a).
• English Language Proficiency: Audiologist candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English as required by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).
• Education:
  • Doctor of Audiology (AUD) from an audiology program recognized by the Accreditation Commission for Audiology Education (ACAE) or Council on Academic Accreditation (CAA) of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). HR office staff and management officials may verify a program's accreditation from ACAE at acaeaccred.org and CAA at caa.asha.org. OR
  • Other doctoral degree in hearing science or a directly related field from an institution accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. NOTE: Effective January 1, 2007, the CAA in Audiology and Speech- Language Pathology of ASHA accredits only doctoral degree or AUD programs in audiology.
• Licensure: Individuals must hold a full, current, and unrestricted license to practice audiology at the doctoral level in a United States state, territory, commonwealth, or the District of Columbia.
  • The Under Secretary of Health, or designee, may appoint a candidate without a license who will be assigned to a research, academic, or administrative position with no patient care responsibilities. In such instances, HR office staff can only appoint these candidates in exceptional circumstances where their credentials demonstrate high professional attainment or expertise in the specialty area.
  • All audiologists who perform compensation and pension examinations perform direct patient care duties and must possess a full, current, and unrestricted license to practice audiology and must meet the experience requirements under Section 2. D. See 38 C.F.R. § 4.85.
  • Failure to Obtain Licensure: In all cases, the graduate audiologists must actively pursue obtaining the required licensure from the date of their appointment. HR office staff will provide unlicensed audiologists with written requirements to obtain licensure, the date by which the license must be acquired and the consequences for not becoming licensed by the deadline. Written notices must be provided prior to the entrance on duty date. Failure to obtain the required credentials by the prescribed date will result in termination of employment.
  • Loss of Credential: Management officials, in collaboration with HR Office staff must immediately relieve employees who fail to maintain the required licensure of the duties and responsibilities associated with this occupation which may also result in separation from employment.
  • HR Office staff must appoint audiologists according to the provisions in VA Handbook, Part II, Chapter 3, Section B, paragraph 16, who have, or have ever had, their licensure revoked, suspended, denied, restricted, limited or issued/placed in a probationary status.
• Foreign Education: To be creditable, education completed outside the U.S. must have been submitted to a private organization specializing in the interpretation of foreign educational credentials. Such education must have been deemed at least equivalent to that gained in conventional U.S. programs.

1. Skill in promoting collaboration to accomplish goals.
2. Skill in translating management goals and objectives into efficient service operations.
3. Skill in balancing operational resources to ensure appropriate delivery of service operations.
4. Ability to supervise staff.
5. Ability to effectively interact and collaborate with local, VISN, and/or national leadership.
6. Ability to establish and monitor productivity standards, production, and performance priorities to achieve management goals and objectives.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Area of Consideration - Eligible applications will be reviewed and referred in the following order:
1. Current permanent Federal employees of other agencies.
2. All other applicants based on Veterans' Preference.

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.