Administrative Officer

Summary

The incumbent of this position is a non-supervisory staff person assigned to the Office of the Chief for Environmental Management Service (EMS), at the Cincinnati VA Medical Center. The incumbent functions as an administrative official with responsibilities that reach into all aspects of the service.

Duties

• Major Duties and Responsibilities: Personnel Administration and Management Work- The incumbent is responsible for developing, implementing and maintaining a formal, comprehensive administrative program encompassing all functions and programs for which Environmental Management Service has responsibility. The program must meet all regulatory requirements, including JCAHO, OSHA, EPA and quality standards developed by VACO Environmental Management. Directs the personnel management program for the office, including matters involving recruitment, promotions, awards, position classification, training development, training record tracking, disciplinary actions, etc. Shares oversight responsibility with the Chief and Assistant Chief of EMS for performance appraisal and merit pay programs. Ensures that the office adheres to reporting requirements at all levels. Develops status reports or response materials for the Chief of EMS for higher level attention, review or signature as needed. Directs development of all personnel documentation and of personnel actions. Provide expert advice to managers on office human resource needs. Budgeting/Financial Management Work- Works with the Chief and Assistant Chief of EMS to provide for the budgeting and financial management planning for the service. This includes budget formulation, justification, and execution; financial management; and financial reporting. Provides advice to management and program personnel on budgetary and finance issues. Maintains awareness of and information about the overall status of financial resources for the service in order to react to changing situations with timely recommendations. Participates with managers in reviewing office needs, plans, and goals to develop budget data and justification for review and approval. Prepares budget package for submission to the budget office and responds to all questions from that office. Procurement/Contracting- Completes training and certification as a LEVEL II Contracting Officer's Representative (COR). Manages procurement and contracting for the service. Manages contracting and procurement on behalf of EMS for large, complex procurements. Administrative Management- Provides for the overall administrative management for the service. Develops and advises on administrative requirements for a large, complex service. Actively participates in developing and implementing administrative management policies. Develops and manages the service's records management plan and ensures compliance with records management criteria. Advises on and recommends courses of action pertaining to administrative issues. Administrative management duties include the creation and records management of electronic databases and filing systems as well as traditional paper files. Work Schedule: 7:30 am to 4:00 pm, Monday through Friday Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Administrative Officer/PD080220 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/11/2026. 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-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-09. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. NOTE: 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. Interchange Agreement: Applicants must be eligible under the VA Interchange Agreement, having served continuously for at least one year in the other merit system under this interchange agreement. For more information regarding the VA Interchange Agreement please visit: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-authorities/competitive-hiring/. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-09 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 to identify, consider, and resolve issues or problems of a procedural or factual nature; conditions are readily observable; and written guidelines cover methods and procedures. Knowledge to apply analytical and evaluative methods and techniques to issues or studies concerning the efficiency and effectiveness of program operations and knowledge of pertinent laws, regulations, policies, and precedents, major issues, program goals and objectives; develop new or modified work methods. Mastery of a wide range of qualitative and /or quantitative methods, comprehensive knowledge of law, policy, regulation, and precedents applicable to the administration of one or more important public programs, and knowledge of relationships with other programs. Work requires the ability to design and conduct comprehensive management studies, prepare recommendations for legislation and plan, organize and direct team study work. Thorough knowledge of Program Management and Administration, Budgeting/Financial Management, Resource Utilization, Program Evaluation and Implementation in order to perform analytical and evaluative studies for the improvement of management operations, Assignments require skill in conducting detailed analyses of Quality Assessment, systematic reviews, and resource management programs. Incumbent must, also, have a working knowledge of the Environment of Care and its subsections as it relates to the administrative and quality assurance support programs. High skill level requirement in cleaning standards, product selection, dilution ratios, and disinfectant application; and the use of germicidal agents designed with kill claims, dwell times, their associated efficacy reports and knowing the manufacturers recommended use to achieve its intended purpose.. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M., if related to the work of the position. (Transcripts must be submitted). OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond the first-year graduate level education. (Transcripts must be submitted). 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. 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/.

Requirements

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. Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 Physical Requirements: The work that is primarily sedentary, although some slight physical effort may be required. With assignments that regularly involve long periods of standing, bending, and stooping to observe and study work operations in an industrial, storage, or comparable work area. The work is primarily sedentary, although some slight physical effort may be required. A pre-placement physical examination is not required. 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) As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period 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 probationary period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

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/.

How to apply

Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application. To apply for this position, you must complete the initial online application, to include the initial online questionnaire and submission of the required documentation specified in the How to Apply and Required Documents section. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on the closing date of the announcement to receive consideration. To preview the application questionnaire, click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13053746. The application process is as follows: To begin, click Apply Online to create a USA JOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USA JOBS resume and/or other supporting documents. Answer the questions presented in the application and attach all necessary supporting documentation. Click the Submit Application button prior to 11:59 PM (ET) on the announcement closing date, 09/11/2026. If you are required to complete any USA Hire Assessments, you will be notified after submitting your application. The notification will be provided in your application submission screen and via email. The notification will include your unique assessment access link to the USA Hire system and the completion deadline. Additionally, in USAJOBS you can click "Track this application" to return to your assessment completion notice. Access USA Hire using your unique assessment link. Access is granted through your USAJOBS login credentials. Review all instructions prior to beginning your assessments. You will have the opportunity to request a testing accommodation before beginning the assessments should you have a disability covered under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended. Set aside at least 3 hours to take the USA Hire Assessments; however, most applicants complete the assessments in less time. If you need to stop the assessments and continue later, you can re-use your unique assessment link. NOTE: Your responses to the USA Hire Assessments will be reused for one year (in most cases) from the date you complete an assessment. If future applications you submit require completion of the same assessments, your responses will be automatically reused. Visit the USA Hire Applicant Resource Center for practice assessments and assessment preparation resources at https://support-usahire.opm.gov/hc/en-us. To update your application, including supporting documentation: During the announcement open period, return to your USAJOBS account, find your application record, and click Edit my application. This option will no longer be available once the announcement has closed. To view the announcement status or your application status: https://help.usajobs.gov/how-to. Your application status page is where you can view your application status, USA Hire assessment completion status, and review your notifications sent by the hiring agency regarding your application. 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. Helpful Hints for Creating a Two-Page Resume: Prioritize most relevant and recent experience Use concise, results focused language Align language from the job announcement Focus on demonstrating skills and competencies Remove outdated or unrelated experience Use the USAJOBS resume builder Additional guidance on this new requirement and resume building tools can be found at https://help.usajobs.gov/faq/application/documents/resume/page-limit