Surgical Technician

Summary

The Surgical Technician (ST) is a member of the surgical team and provides assistance to the surgeon and other team members during surgical procedures. The Surgical Technician participates with the surgical team members in planning and implementing complex procedures under the general supervision of the Chief of Surgery and Surgical team. "This is an open continuous announcement. Qualified applicants will be reviewed every two weeks."

Duties

• DIRECT HIRE AUTHORITY: This position is being filled using Direct-Hire Authority (5 CFR 337.205) for this occupation. Major duties include but not limited to: Responsible for handling instruments, supplies, and equipment during a variety of surgical procedures performed in all surgical sub-specialties/procedures; includes general surgery, urological surgery, vascular surgery, ENT surgery, orthopedic/podiatry surgery and ophthalmological surgery. Sets-up sterile field with required items for each procedure. Participates in official time out with surgical team and ensures correct site, correct procedure, correct laterality, correct patient, position, and all testing results are in place; verifies sterility and dates of implants per Veterans' Health Administration (VHA) Directive. Plans and discusses each procedure with surgical professionals and assures that all supplies and equipment are available prior to the surgical procedure. Observes and responds promptly to each state of surgical procedure and anticipates needs of the surgeon. Utilizes universal precautions and follows all infection control policies and procedures. Assists team members with care of the patient. Handles all specimens appropriately. Training Assists in training residents, medical students, nursing students, operating room technology students and new Operating Room (OR) staff in the operation of equipment, sterile technique, handling of instruments, and OR procedures. Other OR/Surgical Duties Performs non-technical maintenance of equipment. Maintains safe/clean work environment. Provides patient information to Registered Nurse (RN)/Anesthesia Team for inclusion in patient's plan of care; supports healthcare team through reinforcement of patient education; organizes/prioritizes patient care activities. Assists in answering telephones and relaying messages. Adheres to Veterans' Administration (VA) nursing policies, procedures, and standards; delivers care to patients in respectful, non-judgmental manner; maintains patient privacy/confidentiality; sets limits within the surgical team (ST)/patient relationship. Recognizes changes in patient condition including emergencies, perioperatively and takes appropriate actions in response to patient emergent situation. Recognizes potentially hazardous situations e.g. frayed cords, water on floor, and takes corrective action. Reports unsafe equipment and working conditions to appropriate individuals. Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday; 7:30am-4:00pm (includes an on-call status and some weekends and holidays) Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Surgical Technician/PD12902A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Physical Requirements and Work Environment: Duties regularly require manual assistance in lifting, and positioning patients, most of which are in stages of unconsciousness. There are extensive periods of regular and recurring standing, walking, bending, lifting, pushing, reaching, and prolonged stretching to provide easy accessibility of instruments and supplies for the Surgeon. Incumbent must be dexterous in passing instruments to surgeons without compromising principles of aseptic technique and in a manner requiring little or no effort from the surgeon. Duties are performed in the operating rooms (ORs) which require special OR attire with regular and recurring exposure to toxic and noxious gases such as methylmethracrylate, peroxyacetic acid, exposure to x-rays, exposure to blood and body fluids which are often infectious, and laser beams requiring special safety precautions. Appropriate scrub attire is required to provide an aseptic environment. The incumbent is often required to wear protective attire such as eye wear, hoods during total joint replacements, appropriate laser glasses when working with lasers and must frequently wear a lead apron as protection from radiation during various procedures. The operating room can be an exceptionally stressful work environment. Good mental and emotional health is required to function at an optimum level.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/30/2026. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: English Language Proficiency Requirement: In accordance with 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), No person shall serve in direct patient care positions unless they are proficient in basic written and spoken English. You must be proficient in basic written and spoken English in order to perform the duties of this position. Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR). This position has a minimum qualification entry requirement: Positions in this series range widely in type and include support duties to medical or health personnel such as audiologists, speech pathologists, medical officers, and optometrists. Therefore, technician experience is experience that requires application of the knowledge, methods, and techniques of the position to be filled. AND, Specialized Experience:You must have one year of specialized experience at the next lower grade level GS-6 that equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics in or related to the work of this position. Examples of specialized experience include but are not limited to: providing assistance to a surgical team during surgical procedures; utilizing knowledge of highly technical medical instruments, human anatomy and aseptic technique to prepare and protect the sterile field during surgery; functioning as primary scrub person handling instruments, supplies, and equipment during all surgical procedures; preparing, organizing, and maintaining highly complex sterile surgical set-up; observing and responding to each state of a surgical procedure to anticipate the needs of the surgeon; handling specimens appropriately, cleaning and decontaminating instruments before and after procedures. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have Successfully completed one (1) full year of graduate education (or 18 semester hours) or an internship in course matter that must include courses directly related to the work of the Surgical Technician position such as anatomy and physiology, surgical technology, aseptic techniques, etc. This education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university. OR, Combination: You must have a combination of successfully completed graduate level education and specialized experience, as described above, which meet the total experience requirements for this grade level. The education portion must include graduate courses directly related to the work of the Surgical Technician position. Equivalent combination of successfully completed some graduate level education and specialized experience, as described above, which meet the total experience requirements for this grade level. The education portion must include graduate courses directly related to the work of the Surgical Technician position such as anatomy and physiology, surgical technology, aseptic techniques, etc. This education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university. Preferred Experience: Completion of a Surgical Technologist program preferred but not mandatory. 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. All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA. Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 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 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 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/13048761. 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, 09/30/2026. 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.