Health Science Specialist - Medical Research

Summary

This position is located in Medical Research Service, health services and clinical research at the Veterans Affairs Healthcare System in Greater Los Angeles, CA.

Duties

• ***THIS IS NOT A VIRTUAL POSITION, YOU MUST LIVE WITHIN OR BE WILLING TO RELOCATE WITHIN A COMMUTABLE DISTANCE OF THE DUTY LOCATION*** The mission of this position is to develop and test innovative care models and health systems interventions which markedly improve the effectiveness and value of health care, while advancing scientific methods for accelerating multi-level adoption, implementation, spread and sustainability of practiced-based evidence. Duties will include, but may not be limited to the following: Provides operational, leadership and coordination for the implementation of research and quality improvement projects, according to the principals set forth by the principal investigators, research and other affiliates/stakeholders. Handles project questions and problems; manages timelines and deliverables for successful completion of the project, writes research policies, guidelines and procedures, and other documents. Monitors the activities of research sites to maximize achievement of scientific aims of projects, including issues of accuracy data and accrual of project participants. Serves as the key liaison for communication among the various elements and centers of the projects and through this mechanism, optimize and troubleshoot efforts to achieve study goals. Facilitates compliance with all regulatory and administrative requirements. Works closely with principal investigators and the project sites to develop and implement procedures for data collection and management, to identify Information Technology (IT) needs to coordinate scientific management. Works with IT for data access, management and storage requirements. Identifies problems and negotiates corrective action concerning programmatic issues. Serves as the Contracting Officer Representative (COR) for the timely executive of all study-related contracts. Manage contracts for logistics, services and personnel. Coordinates the acquisition of and approves requests supplies, equipment, and services. Oversees equipment inventories; prepares purchase orders for supplies and non-expendable property (e.g., personal computers, hardware/software) and other specialized equipment for research services. Exercises authorizations for obligation and expenditure of funds. Assists with the budgeting and financial management of research fiscal resources including appropriations, grants and contracts and gift accounts. Maintains budget control records and assure funds are used in accordance with the operating budget; ensures funds are allocated and spent timely according to operating plan. Ensures expenditures are properly authorized and documented; monitors balance and status of projects and recommends/provides justification for reprogramming of funds as needed and initiating necessary action. Supervises/Leads research and support staff; plans work to personnel, sets priorities, prepares schedules for timely completion of work. Evaluates work performance; effects minor disciplinary measures; provides advise, counsel or instructions to improve employee coordination, communications and quality of work. Identifies and arranges for personnel development and training needs. Perform other duties, as necessary. Work Schedule: Full-Time, Monday-Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm Telework: This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. NOTE: This is a TERM appointment (not-to-exceed 4 years). Term appointments are non-status, nonpermanent appointments of limited duration (more than 1 year but not more than 4). Term employees are eligible to earn leave and generally have the same benefits as permanent employees including health and life insurance, within-grade increases and Federal Employees Retirement System and Thrift Savings Plan coverage. Term appointments may be extended without further competition (up to the 4 year maximum). The appointment to a Term position does not confer eligibility for promotion or reassignment to other positions or the ability to be non-competitively converted to permanent employment. Recruitment & Relocation Incentives: Not authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved

Qualifications

To qualify for this Health Science Specialist - Research GS-11 grade position, you must have the following qualifications: SELECTIVE PLACEMENT FACTOR (SCREEN-OUT) - A Selective Placement Factor (SPF) has been identified for this position. Selective Placement Factors (SPF) are a prerequisite to appointment and represent minimum requirements for the position. Applicants who do not meet the SPF are ineligible for further consideration. The SPF for this position is: Experience within a Medical Research organization. AND BASIC EDUCATION REQUIREMENT (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED): Bachelor's or graduate/higher level degree with a major study in an academic field related to the medical field, health sciences or allied sciences appropriate to the work of the position. This degree must be from an educational program from an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education (external link) at the time the degree was obtained. IN ADDITION to the SPF and Basic Education, applicant(s) must meet at least one of the following minimum qualification requirements to qualify. SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: Requires one full year of specialized experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled. To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the next lower grade level (GS-9) in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience includes: providing operational coordination and support for planning, development and implementation of health services research and quality improvement projects; developing procedures for data collection, monitoring activities of the research sites to maximize achievement of scientific project aims, including issues of data accuracy; managing the budgeting and financial management of research fiscal resources including appropriations, grants and contracts; overseeing inventories, preparing purchase orders and procurement of supplies and equipment. (NOTE: Resume(s) must clearly demonstrate the required experience to receive credit. We will not make assumptions regarding experience. Please see the duties section of the announcement for detailed information.) OR SUBSTITUTION OF EDUCATION FOR EXPERIENCE (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED): Successfully completed 3 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree. Only education that provided the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work is creditable. OR COMBINATION OF EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED): Equivalent combinations of successfully completed graduate level education (in excess of 2 years; excess of Master's degree) and specialized experience may be used to meet total experience requirements. 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 is primarily sedentary, although some slight physical effort may require periodic walking, standing, bending, carrying light items (e.g., files, instructional material books; manuals). No special physical requirements are 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) - See "Required Documents" below for details. 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, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Education

IMPORTANT: 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 assessment and submission of the required documentation specified in the Required Documents section above. 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 questionnaire, click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13054853. 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, 09/16/2026. After submitting the online application, you will be notified whether or not you are required to take additional online assessments through the USA Hire Competency Based Assessment system. This message will be delivered to you via email notification. The email may be routed to your "Spam" or "Junk" folder. IMPORTANT: If you are asked to take the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be presented with a unique URL to access the USA Hire system. Access to USA Hire is granted through your USAJOBS login credentials. Be sure to review all instructions prior to beginning your USA Hire Assessments. Click here for Computer System Requirements. 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 at a later time, you can re-use the URL sent to you via email and also found in your USAJOBS account under the "Track my application" link for the corresponding application. 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 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.