Clarification from the agency

This vacancy announcement is open to current employees permanently assigned to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs within VISN 1 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.

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This Supervisory Social Worker position is in Social Work Services at the VA Boston Healthcare Systems, located at the Plymouth location. This position is a full-time at 40 hours per week.

The purpose of this position is to serve as a Supervisory Social Worker within the Primary Care Social Work team as a fully licensed clinical social worker assigned to VHABHS outpatient primary care clinics, including women's health, CBOC's and telehealth. The incumbent will split their time between providing Primary Care Social Work services to Veterans assigned to the Plymouth CBOC and serving as the direct supervisor for 6 GS 9/11 Primary Care Social Workers.

Duties include, but are not limited to:

• Supervises Primary Care Social Workers and ensures consistent, high-quality psychosocial care across clinics.
• Manages performance evaluations, hiring, onboarding, workload distribution, and priority setting across sites.
• Ensures compliance with documentation standards, mandated screenings, and performance measures.
• Collaborates with interdisciplinary partners to support coordinated and integrated care delivery.
• Leads quality improvement initiatives and identifies service gaps to strengthen access and workflow.
• Provides PACT Social Work support at the Plymouth Outpatient Clinic, conducting psychosocial assessments, developing care plans, responding to crises, coordinating referrals, and addressing surge demands or staffing shortages.
• Offers counseling and support to Veterans and caregivers, maintains timely documentation, and actively participates in interdisciplinary meetings regardless of coverage location.

Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional
Work Schedule: Monday- Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Compressed/Flexible:Not authorized.
Recruitment/Relocation Incentives (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized.
Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not authorized.
EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive. Contact Karen Chapman at karen.chapman@va.gov, the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more
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). Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior [work experience] or military service experience.
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)
Telework: Ad-Hoc Only.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 523-F08529
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized.
PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not Authorized.

NOTIFICATIONS:

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

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

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 the CSWE website to verify if that social work degree meets the accreditation standards for a master of social work.
• Licensure: Individuals assigned as Social Work must be licensed or certified at the advanced practice level, and must be able to provide supervision for licensure.
• English Language Proficiency: Social workers must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, Part II, chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3j

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 Supervisory Social Worker

(1) Education and Experience. One year of experience equivalent to the GS-11 grade level. Experience must demonstrate possession of advanced practice skills in a specialty area or in administration demonstrating progressively more professional competency and judgment. 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.

(2) Licensure/Certification. Individuals assigned as Supervisory Social Workers must be licensed or certified at the advanced practice level, and must be able to provide supervision for licensure.

(3) 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.

References: VA Handbook 5005/120, Part II, Appendix G39 - Social Worker Qualification Standard

Preferred Experience:

• Experience providing clinical and administrative supervision.
• Background in Primary Care or medical setting, working with interdisciplinary teams.
• Proven ability to manage performance measures, consult timeliness, and documentation and coding quality.
• Experience conducting program evaluation or quality-improvement initiatives.
• Skill in developing or updating workflows, SOPs, or processes.
• Comfort managing emergent coverage needs, backlogs, and staffing gaps.
• Demonstrated ability to provide clinical consultation for complex psychosocial needs, ethical dilemmas, and system barriers.

Physical Requirements: The incumbent must be able in overall good health, 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.