Clarification from the agency

ALL US CITIZENS DIRECT HIRE AUTHORITY: This position is being filled using Direct-Hire Authority (5 CFR 337.205) for this occupation.

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• Maintain mastery technical knowledge of IT infrastructure engineering policies processes, best practices and requirements as they relate to networking technologies and an integrated healthcare and benefits delivery systems environment.
• Possess a comprehensive knowledge of IT infrastructure, including hardware, software, operating systems and peripherals in the VA IT environment and in industry.
• Possess mastery of the principles and methods of capital investment analysis or business case analysis, including return on investment analysis; the business value of information; and capital planning regulations and policies as applied to VA's business requirements.
• Possess knowledge enabling the use of judgment and discretion in interpreting legislation and interpreting and/or revising existing policy, regulatory guidelines or requirements related to infrastructure engineering and specifically networking technologies.
• Demonstrate mastery of, and skill in applying pertinent VA policies, operating procedures, and information flow; and of prevailing IT practices in government agencies and the private sector sufficient to evaluate and recommend adoption of new or enhanced approached to deliver IT services; and mastery knowledge of and skill in applying VA enterprise architecture, including applications, databases, and platforms sufficient to work with other departments to establish priorities for IT investments and build business cases.

• 651 - Research and Development Specialist
• 752 - Cyber Policy & Strategy Planner

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.
• 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.
• 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. 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 dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for 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.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/02/2026.

You may qualify based on your experience as described below:

• Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-13 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Experienced in network engineering, implementation, and support of network infrastructure architecture, policies, and procedures to ensure the reliable and secure operation of enterprise applications, systems, and networks, including cloud-based environments. Proficient in configuring and supporting firewalls, routing, switching, wireless, VXLAN, IPv6, and IPv4 technologies, applying zero trust security principles to strengthen network protection. Conducts security risk and vulnerability assessments, builds, tests, and recommends improvements to network design based on zero trust concepts, and develops and documents security baselines and configuration standards. Advises colleagues and management on emerging IT security and privacy network technologies, and assists in developing threat models and security requirements for zero trust network architectures.

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/.

Beginning September 27, 2025, Federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in length to comply with the Merit Hiring Plan. Resumes longer than two pages will result in ineligibility for further consideration for the position. USAJOBS will not allow you to upload or build resumes longer than two pages, and you will need to update the resumes in your profile before applying for a job. Resumes should include information relevant to the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies of the position to which you are applying. VA is unable to make assumptions about qualifications if not clearly listed.

Resumes must be legible so they can be reviewed for eligibility, minimum qualifications and other position requirements listed in the job announcement.

Your resume must be 5MB or less. We recommend saving and uploading your resume as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages. We also accept GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, TXT, PDF, ODT or Word (DOC or DOCX). We do not accept PDF portfolio files. We recommend using a sans-serif font size like Lato, if available. Other widely available options are Calibri, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, Open San Source Sans Pro, Roboto or Noro Sans. Make your page margins 0.5 inches. Consider using 14-point size font for titles and 10-point for the main text in your resume. The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started.

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