Skip to main content
U.S. flag

Health System Specialist

Department of Veterans Affairs
Veterans Health Administration
Veterans Health Administration-Deputy Executive Medical Center Director
This job announcement has closed

Summary

The incumbent is based at the VA Puget Sound Healthcare System and serves as the Strategic Planner for the Healthcare System.

Overview

Help
Reviewing applications
Open & closing dates
06/24/2025 to 07/07/2025
This job will close when we have received 100 applications which may be sooner than the closing date. Learn more
Salary
$118,446 to - $153,982 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 13
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Seattle, WA
1 vacancy
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
Not required
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
None
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Other
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Trust determination process
Financial disclosure
No
Bargaining unit status
Yes
Announcement number
CBSV-12752696-25-DC
Control number
839332900

Videos

Duties

Help

Duties to include, but not limited to:

  • Recommends and participates in developing strategies for implementing major strategic operations.
  • Participates in the development and documentation of long-range, mid-range, and short-range planning efforts.
  • Makes recommendations on strategic planning efforts that can be implemented within existing resource levels and advises on the impact of efforts that require additional resources.
  • Designs and conducts a wide variety of comprehensive qualitative and quantitative analyses of substantive administrative and managerial operations, function, and processes related to long-range strategic planning.
  • Identifies and proposes solutions to management problems.
  • Provides advisory services to management on strategic planning methods, and prepares recommendations, which impact the way in which strategic planning is carried out.
  • Develops broad themes and directs proceeding of high-level conferences where work and decisions have a major impact on VA Puget Sound.
  • Presents results in written and/or oral form.
  • Develops policy covering mission-oriented and administrative programs, activities, or functions.
  • Briefs senior executives on project status and will interface with leadership to ensure effective and seamless project integration.
  • Liaison for VISN and National Strategic Planning and manages Advisory Boards, Committees, Symposia, and Conferences.
  • Represents the interests of VA Puget Sound Health Care System as an active participant in regional and local strategic planning.
  • Identifies and collects necessary data including legislative and program data and interviews with senior management, program officials, employees and supervisors.
  • Plans and/or accomplishes special projects for VA Puget Sound.
  • Leads, conducts or participates in complex projects, studies and reviews - particular those with wide or significant effect.
  • Directs work required to plan and organize the implementation of strategic plans that arise.
  • Conducts special projects or studies to analyze, evaluate, and provide recommendations on strategic planning of administrative programs or issues.
  • Engages senior leadership in all aspects of planning, including the development of goals, objectives and performance measures.
  • Assists with Senior Executive Council, annual management retreat as well as other ad hoc projects and planning initiatives.
  • Tracks and monitors a multitude of ongoing projects.
  • Prepares and contributes to reports and other presentations on strategic planning and evaluation.
  • Determines measurements for success, and determines how best to utilize results.
  • Analyzes policies and directives that have direct impact on strategic planning.
  • Assembles and assesses information gathered; formulates findings, conclusions and recommendations.
  • Identifies short and long-term planning parameters required to adequately accommodate existing and future healthcare demand.
  • Analyzes a wide variety of health care system management issues and completes qualitative and quantitative studies including financial reports and cost effectiveness analysis.
  • Selects qualitative and/or quantitative methodologies appropriate to the subject under examination.
Work Schedule: Monday- Friday 8:00am-4:30pm
Telework: This position may be authorized for AD-HOC telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process.
Position Description/PD#: Health System Specialist/PD405530
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not Authorized

Requirements

Help

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
  • 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.
  • Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP)

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement, 07/07/2025.

Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-13 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-12. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment.

Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR): An IOR is a basic requirement that must be met in order to qualify for the 0671 occupational series: All applicants, regardless of grade level must meet minimum education or specialized experience requirements. For this occupation, the education must be accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education at the time the degree was obtained.

You may qualify based on your experience as described below:

General Experience: I possess a bachelor's or graduate/higher level degree with a major in hospital administration, public health administration, or related fields such as business or public administration with course work in health care administration. (Transcripts Required)

Specialized Experience: I possess progressively responsible analytical or administrative, or clinical management or supervisory experience in the health care field. This work may have been performed in an operating health care facility or a higher organizational echelon with advisory or directional authority over such facilities. Work must have involved a close working relationship with facility managers and analysis and/or coordination of administrative, clinical, or other service activities, and provided knowledge of the following: Missions, organizations, programs, and requirements of health care delivery systems; Regulations and standards of various regulatory and credentialing groups; and Government-wide, agency, and facility systems and requirements in various administrative areas such as budget, personnel, and procurement.

Special Provision for Inservice Placement: I have successfully completed an agency-sponsored on-the-job training program which included a formal individualized training plan. Such a training program must have been conducted in an operating health care system and included: Assignments providing a knowledge of basic health system administration philosophies, practices, and procedures, and basic government administrative policies and requirements; Practical assignments providing an opportunity to apply health system administration skills and principles (as the individual progresses, work assignments must be characteristic of the grade level to which he or she is assigned); and Oversight by an experienced health system administrator with periodic evaluation of the individual's progress and appropriate adjustment of the training program. (Training Documentation Required)

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-12 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: knowledge of a wide range of strategic planning techniques, methods, and processes sufficient to coordinate strategic planning; thorough knowledge of Government-wide, Agency and facility procedures and requirements in various administrative areas such as budget, personnel, and procurement; ability to apply administrative laws, policies, regulations, and precedents applicable to the administration of one or more important public programs as it relates to strategic planning for a large multi-mission VA healthcare facility; ability to recognize and analyze problems and effectively present both written and oral recommendations; identifies short and long-term planning parameters required to adequately accommodate existing and future healthcare demand.
You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:
  • Communication
  • Organizational Stewardship
  • Stakeholder Management
  • Strategic Thinking


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.

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.

Physical Requirements: Work is mainly sedentary. There is some light lifting of books and files. No special physical demands. Traveling off station to various meetings is necessary and working some overtime hours may be necessary.

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

A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Additional information

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. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. 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.

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

If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement.

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.

How you will be evaluated

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

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

Resume Reminder Instructions

Your resume must be submitted in English and include the following information for each job listed:

  • Job title Duties (be as detailed as possible)
  • Month & year start/end dates (e.g. June 2007 to April 2008)
  • Full-time or part-time status (include hours worked per week)
  • Series and Grade, if applicable, for all Federal positions you have held
  • Please be aware that your answers will be verified against information provided on your resume. Be sure that your resume clearly supports your responses to all of the questions by addressing your work experience in detail.
Recommended:Even though we do not require a specific resume format, your resume must be clear so that we are able to fully evaluate your qualifications. To ensure you receive appropriate consideration, please list the duties you performed under each individual job title. If we are unable to match your experiences with the positions held, you may lose consideration for this vacancy. We cannot make assumptions regarding your qualifications. Do not include a photograph or video of yourself, or any sensitive information (age, date of birth, marital status, protected health information, religious affiliation, social security number, etc.) on your resume or cover letter. We will not access web pages or encrypted, and digitally signed documents linked on your resume or cover

Narrative responses are not required at this time. If you are referred for consideration, you may be asked to submit additional job related information, which may include, but not limited to; responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities; completion of a work sample, and/or contact for an interview. Your resume and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating or consideration for employment.

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.

For more information on the "Who may apply" eligibility requirements, please refer to the OHRM Status Candidates and Other Candidate Definitions document.

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 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.

Your session is about to expire!

Your USAJOBS session will expire due to inactivity in 8 minutes. Any unsaved data will be lost if you allow the session to expire. Click the button below to continue your session.