Clarification from the agency

This vacancy announcement is open to current employees permanently assigned to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and all U.S. citizens. NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. For more information, refer to Required Documents below.

Videos

The purpose of this position is to serve as a Supervisory Social Worker (Outpatient Subspecialty/Social Work Navigator) at the VA Boston Healthcare Systems, Jamaica Plain Location. In the Supervisory role, the incumbent ensures high-quality, coordinated psychosocial and care navigation services for Veterans with complex specialty care needs, providing direct clinical and administrative supervision for up to five (5) GS 9 - GS 12 Social Worker. In the Social Work Navigator role, the incumbent provides a complex array of services, both clinical and administrative, for non-VA Boston Veteran's receiving specialty surgical care at VA Boston.

Duties include, but are not limited to:

• Provides clinical and administrative supervision to Social Work staff, including support for independent licensure and performance management.
• Oversees staffing and workload distribution, setting priorities and monitoring service delivery and documentation quality.
• Collaborates with interdisciplinary teams across multiple services to resolve complex psychosocial issues and support integrated care.
• Prepares reports, supports program evaluation, and contributes to continuous quality improvement efforts.
• Coordinates staff training needs, organizes onboarding, and provides consultation on population-specific needs.
• Monitors Social Work services within assigned clinics, including consults, care coordination, productivity, and performance measures.
• Conducts targeted outreach throughout the VISN to assess needs and clinic capacity and strengthen Veteran access to specialty and surgical care.
• Provides individualized care planning and case management throughout the peri-procedural continuum to ensure all psychosocial and practical needs are met.
• Develops and supports data-driven quality improvement processes to evaluate program effectiveness.
• Identifies gaps in services and works with teams to develop solutions that best meet Veterans' needs.

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Telework: Ad-Hoc only.
Compressed/Flexible:Not Available.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position
Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases. When setting pay, a higher step rate of the appropriate grade may be determined after consideration of higher or unique qualifications or special needs of the VA (Above Minimum Rate of the Grade).
Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year).
Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment, up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child.
Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment, full time employees with a total family income below $144,000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66.
Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA.
Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement).
Functional Statement #: 523-F05819
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required
EDRP: Not Authorized.
Brochure: Total-Rewards-of-an-Allied-Health-VA-Career-Brochure.pdf
Social Work: vacareers.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/Total-Rewards-of-a-Social-Worker-Career-Flyer.pdf

Notifications:

• This position is in the Excepted Service.
• This position is not a Bargaining Unit position.
• This position is covered by a special rate.
• 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.
• Due to a critical staffing shortage, 38 U.S.C. § 7412 waives the requirement to apply Veterans' preference for this job announcement.
• Narrative responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) may be required from the selectee in order to proceed with the appointment.

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.
• 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.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1 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 trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

Basic Requirements:

• United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
• Education. Have a master's degree in social work from a school of social work fully accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). Graduates of schools of social work that are in candidacy status do not meet this requirement until the School of Social Work is fully accredited. A doctoral degree in social work may not be substituted for the master's degree in social work. Verification of the degree can be made by going to http://www.cswe.org/Accreditation to verify that the social work degree meets the accreditation standards for a masters of social work.
• Licensure. Persons hired or reassigned to social worker positions in the GS-0185 series in VHA must be licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work at the master's degree level. Current state requirements may be found by going to http://vaww.va.gov/OHRM/T38Hybrid/.
• Physical Requirements. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Services.
• English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).

May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria).

Grade Determinations:

GS-12 Experience and Education. One year of experience equivalent to the GS-11 grade level. Experience must demonstrate possession of advanced practice skills and judgment, demonstrating progressively more professional competency. Candidate may have certification or other post-master's degree training from a nationally recognized professional organization or university that includes a defined curriculum/course of study and internship, or equivalent supervised professional experience.

Licensure/Certification. Individuals assigned as social worker must be licensed or certified at the advanced practice level, and must be able to provide supervision for licensure.

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs:

• Ability to independently organize work, set priorities, and meet multiple deadlines.
• Knowledge of supervisory duties which includes clinical supervision, consultation, negotiation with other departments and quality improvement.
• Ability to ensure provision of clinical social work services.
• Ability to provide staff training and development.
• Skill in interpersonal relationships in dealing with employees, team leaders, and managers.

Preferred Experience: .

1. Expertise in care planning, case management, and navigating complex medical and psychosocial systems for diverse patient populations.
2. Proven ability to supervise, mentor, and evaluate social work staff, including those pursuing independent licensure. Experience with performance management and corrective actions.
3. Experience in developing, implementing, and evaluating social work programs, including continuous quality improvement and outcome measurement.
4. Ability to collect, analyze, and report program performance data; track trends; and use technology to improve program functioning.
5. Experience conducting targeted outreach across complex healthcare systems to assess clinic capacity, build referral pathways, and increase patient access to specialty or surgical services, ideally within VA or similar integrated care environments.

References: VA HANDBOOK 5005/120 PART II APPENDIX G39

The full performance level of this vacancy is a GS-12. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-12.

Physical Requirements: Able to sit at a desk working at a computer, engage in light to moderate physical activity including sitting, walking, bending, and carrying supplies. Applicants must be able to perform primarily light and sedentary duties with occasionally moderate physical demands, exercise patience, and control emotions, with reasonable accommodation if necessary, without endangering the health and safety of the applicant or others.

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 VA employees of the facility.

2. All other VA employees.

3. All other applicants.

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.