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IT Specialist

Department of Veterans Affairs
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology
Office of Information & Technology (OIT) End User Services (EUS)

Summary

This position is located in the Department of Veteran Affairs' Enterprise Command Operations (ECO), End User Services (EUS), Office of Information and Technology (OIT). Serving as an IT Specialist responsible for the full range of duties within their assigned roles in the Enterprise Command Center to provide event management services for addressing IT operational events in order to maintain the interoperability of production systems and services.

Overview

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Accepting applications
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Work site options
Telework eligible
Yes—Up to 25% travel may be required, as needed, for this position.
Remote job
No
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Salary
$63,457 - $99,816 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 9 - 11
Promotion potential
11
Pay scale and grade determines the salary of the job.
Work schedule
Full-time
Travel Required
25% or less - You may be expected to travel for this position.
Appointment type
Permanent
Occupations and job series
Supervisory status
No
Federal service type
This job is in the Competitive Service
Represented by a union
Yes
Drug test
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Position sensitivity and risk
High Risk (HR)
Jobs require a background check and some require a security clearance. The type depends on the job.
Background check type
Financial disclosure required
No
Some jobs require financial disclosure to identify conflicts of interests.
Announcement number
26-DE-MC-13046761-BU
Control number
884493500

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

This job is open to the Public and CTAP/ICTAP eligibles. 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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Duties

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Major Duties: GS-2210-9

  • Serves as a team member on ad hoc and/or standing work groups in a virtual environment accountable to the division chief. Creates and maintains documentation on networks, systems, applications and databases to include historical and trending information. Develops and manages customer service performance requirements. Works with customers to test applications to assure software and systems quality and functionality.
  • Participates in networks, systems, applications and databases designs to ensure implementation of appropriate monitoring systems. Assesses security events to determine impact and implements corrective actions.
  • Documents systems administration standard operating procedures. Researches, evaluates and provides feedback on problematic trends and patterns in customer support requirements. Maintains problem tracking and resolution databases. Participates in the planning, execution, operation and maintenance of IT systems and infrastructures to insure systems can be properly monitored. Consults with customers to identify any specify requirements and/or actions required for various events.
  • Monitoring of events to identify Incidents and provide to the appropriate support organization. Participates in the restoration processes (Critical, High-Level Incident) for service outages, bringing information available from monitoring tools. Contributes monitoring timeline/event information for Problem Management, for inclusion in any Post Incident Review (PIR) Monitoring of all scheduled/unscheduled maintenance to determine if system that are monitored have returned to their normal state of operations.

***Additional duties required, within scope of the position descriptions.***

Major Duties: GS-2210-11

  • Monitors network, system, applications and database performance for changes that could cause a degradation or loss of the IT system or application. This is accomplished by monitoring various system performance factors in the networks, systems, applications and databases workloads. Monitors assigned networks, systems, applications, databases using various reporting programs. Serves as a team lead or team member on ad hoc and/or standing work groups in a virtual environment accountable to the division chief.
  • Creates and maintains documentation on networks, systems, applications and databases to include historical and trending information. Develops and manages customer service performance requirements. Works with customers to test applications to assure software and systems quality and functionality. Participates in networks, systems, applications and databases designs to ensure implementation of appropriate monitoring systems.
  • Consults with customers to identify any specify requirements and/or actions required for various events. Monitoring of events to identify Incidents and provide to the appropriate support organization. Participates in the restoration processes (Critical, High-Level Incident) for service outages, bringing information available from monitoring tools. Contributes monitoring timeline/event information for Problem Management, for inclusion in any Post Incident Review (PIR) Monitoring of all scheduled/unscheduled maintenance to determine if system that are monitored have returned to their normal state of operations.
***Additional duties required, within scope of the position descriptions.***

This position is primarily aligned to the following NICE Cybersecurity Workforce Framework work roles of Cybersecurity Code: 411.
For more information about these work roles, where they fit within the larger Cyber Workforce, and how they can support your unique career journey, please visit the Cyber Career Pathways tool on the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Careers and Studies website: https://niccs.us-cert.gov/workforce-development/cyber-career-pathways

Position Description/PD#:
IT Specialist/PD18635A
Bargaining Unit: Yes
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized.
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized.
Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required.
Travel Required: Up to 25%. Occasional travel may be required as needed for this position.
Work Schedule: Tuesday-Saturday; 2:30PM to 11:00PM CST. (Tour of duty may be subject to change based on organizational needs).
Compressed/Flexible: May be available/authorized, at Manager's discretion as determined by the Agency Policy.
Telework: (AdHoc) Authorized at Manager's discretion.
Virtual/Remote: This is NOT a virtual NOR a remote position.

Physical Demands: This position is sedentary working at a keyboard and monitor. Walking, standing, bending, or occasional lifting of boxes or IT equipment weighing up to 50lbs may be required.

Working Conditions: Work is performed in a typical computer operations environment. Rooms are well-lighted, air-conditioned office spaces with moderate noise from common office equipment. Computer equipment on the operations floor involves the use of high voltage electricity.

Requirements

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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.
  • Selectee is subject to background/suitability investigation.
  • Selected applicant will be required to complete an online onboarding process.
  • This position is subject to pre-employment and random drug testing.
  • Complete the initial online assessment and USAHire Assessment, if required.
  • To be considered for this position, applicants must complete all required steps in the 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.
  • As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you may 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.

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/18/2026.

***You must meet the Minimum Qualification Requirements -AND- Specialized Experience to qualify for this series as described below.****

Minimum Qualification Requirements

Basic Requirements Experience: Experience must be IT related; the experience may be demonstrated by paid or unpaid experience and/or completion of specific, intensive training (for example, IT certification), as appropriate. For all positions individuals must have IT-related experience demonstrating each of the five competencies listed below. The employing agency is responsible for identifying the specific level of proficiency required for each competency at each grade level based on the requirements of the position being filled.

To qualify for this position, you must have information technology-related experience demonstrating all of the four competencies listed below. Ensure that this experience is clearly described in your resume:

  1. Attention to Detail - Is thorough when performing work and conscientious about attending to detail.
  2. Customer Service - Works with clients and customers (that is, any individuals who use or receive the services or products that your work unit produces, including the general public, individuals who work in the agency, other agencies, or organizations outside the Government) to assess their needs, provide information or assistance, resolve their problems, or satisfy their expectations; knows about available products and services; is committed to providing quality products and services.
  3. Oral Communication - Expresses information (for example, ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (for example, technical, sensitive, controversial); makes clear and convincing oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately.
  4. Problem Solving - Identifies problems; determines accuracy and relevance of information; uses sound judgment to generate and evaluate alternatives, and to make recommendations.
-AND-

Specialized Experience for GS-2210-9/11: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular competencies/knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position and is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled. Such experience is typically gained in the IT field or through the performance of work where the primary concern is IT.

Specialized experience for this GS-2210-9/11 position is defined as: Experience leading and coordinating enterprise-level IT incident management operations in a 24/7 environment, including monitoring, triaging, and resolving major system outages affecting multiple users or locations. Demonstrated ability to analyze complex IT systems (networks, applications, servers), direct cross-functional technical teams, and restore services within defined service level agreements. Experience communicating incident status and impacts to stakeholders and senior leadership, developing reports and root cause analyses, and applying ITIL-based processes for incident, problem, and change management. Experience supporting policy implementation, process improvement, and operational planning for IT service delivery.

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; religious; 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.

Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment.

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/.

Education

EDUCATIONAL SUBSTITUTION: There is no educational substitution for this position at the offered grade level(s).

Additional information

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

This is not a remote position.

OIT has multiple worksites at various duty locations, and the individual(s) selected may be assigned to any federal government work site. This announcement will NOT be used for changing duty locations.

If selected you will be required to report to the following location: VA Austin Information Technology Center 1615 Woodward Street Austin, TX 78741

Receiving Service Credit or Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. VA may offer newly-appointed Federal employee's credit for their job-related non-federal experience or active duty uniformed military service. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed.

Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

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
  • Integrity/Honesty
  • Interpersonal Skills
  • Learning
  • Reading Comprehension
  • Reasoning
  • Self-Management
  • Stress Tolerance
  • Teamwork


The USA Hire Assessment 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.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE.

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. In order to be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process.

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 include your name, contact phone number and contact email address,and 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.

During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions.

Placement Policy: The posting of this announcement does not obligate management to fill a vacancy or vacancies by promotion. The position may be filled by reassignment, change to lower grade, transfer, appointment, or reinstatement. Management may use any one or any combination of these methods to fill the position. It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

Veterans' Preference: Since the Direct-Hire Recruitment Authority is being used, traditional Veterans' Preference rules do not apply. Qualified veterans will, however, be given full consideration for this position.

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology

OUR MISSION: To fulfill President Lincoln's promise "To care for those who have served in our nation's military and for their families, caregivers, and survivors" - by serving and honoring the men and women who are America's Veterans. How would you like to become a part of a team providing compassionate whole health care to Veterans?

The Office of Information and Technology (OIT) thrives on diversity. We recruit, develop, and sustain a 16,000+ team of employees and contractors who use their talents and backgrounds to deliver technologies and services that improve the Veteran experience. With Fortune 500 executives, lifelong public servants, government leaders, and service members transitioning out of the military - we have built a team whose primary motivation is to serve. That motivation drives us to identify improvement areas, become change agents, and transform OIT into a lean, agile, Veteran-focused enterprise.

OIT Mission: The mission of the Office of Information and Technology (OIT) is to collaborate with our business partners to create the best experience for all Veterans.

OIT Vision: To become a world-class organization that provides a seamless, unified Veteran experience through the delivery of state-of-the-art technology.

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

Agency contact information

Recruitment Team One D
Email
vaoitopshr-randpteam1d@va.gov
Address
DAS for Information Technology - 103
810 Vermont Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20240
US

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