Supervisory Program Specialist

Summary

This position is with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), in the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), Office of the Under Secretary for Benefits (OUSB). The Executive Management Officer to the Under Secretary for Benefits serves as an executive assistant and administrative advisor to the Under Secretary for Benefits (USB), performing special and analytical assignments independently and accomplishing highly complex projects for the OUSB.

Duties

• Specific duties include: - Represents and acts on behalf of the Under Secretary for Benefits (USB) in official and unofficial capacities, engaging with public and private officials and providing high-level advisory and consultative services. - Participates in complex, high-level negotiations involving processes, procedures, legislation, and VA- or Congressional-level guidance. - Serves as liaison between the OUSB and VA/VBA senior leaders, uses judgment to prevent or resolve complex issues. - Analyzes issues, goals, and initiatives, providing options and advising senior leadership on potential outcomes during planning and the formulation of processes. - Develops, modifies, and ensures nationwide implementation of administrative procedures, processes, and management techniques. - Participates in major management planning, process development, and decision-making sessions; evaluates draft procedures, organizational changes, and legislation for enterprise impact. - Reviews organizational proposals, prepares briefings, recommends actions, and ensures efficient office operations through proactive management and problem resolution. - Coordinates, reviews, and evaluates the effectiveness of administrative and operational processes across the OUSB and enterprise; serves on committees and manages speeches, briefings, and proceedings. - Supervises a team of administrative professionals; assigns tasks and ensures deliverables are prepared correctly and timely. Conducts hiring, performance management, discipline, employee development, and approval of travel, leave, and work schedules. - Conducts review of executive-level correspondence, such as briefing materials, congressional responses; responses to media queries; decision memos and white papers. Promotion Potential: None Work Schedule: Full time, Monday through Friday 8am - 4:30pm Compressed/Flexible: Compressed Not Available Telework: This position is eligible for situational (ad hoc) telework only. The selectee is required to report to the official duty station each scheduled workday. Telework may be approved only on a case-by-case basis with supervisory approval. Routine or recurring telework is not authorized for this position. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Supervisory Program Specialist; PD380390 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required This is not a bargaining unit position

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement:09/21/2026. TIME-IN-GRADE REQUIREMENT: As a current Federal, GS employee you must meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-15 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-14 level. If you are a current VBA employee requesting reassignment or change to lower grade via this vacancy announcement, you must currently hold the GS- 14 or higher and the promotion potential of your current position must be at least GS-15. 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. MINIMUM QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENT: You may qualify based on your experience as described below: GS-15 Grade Level: Specialized Experience: Includes, performing high-level program analysis and management, and executive advisory functions. Experience demonstrates the ability to provide guidance to senior executives; lead enterprise-wide initiatives; and evaluate the impact of legislation, process changes, and organizational proposals on agency operations. Specialized experience may be demonstrated by serving as a principal advisor to senior leadership; developing and implementing nationwide administrative or operational procedures; coordinating complex negotiations involving internal and external stakeholders; and/or ensuring the effective operation of an executive office. Volunteer Experience: 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. Full vs. Part-Time Employment: Full-time employment is considered to be at least 35 hours per week. Part-time experience will be credited on a pro-rated basis; when including part-time employment in your resume you must specify the average hours worked per week. Physical Requirements: Work is primarily sedentary, although some slight physical effort may be required. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

Requirements

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, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest. Additional Conditions of Employment are as follows: 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 or trial period Selectees are required to serve a one-year supervisory probationary period if not previously completed in a Federal position. 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 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.

Education

There is no education substitution for the GS-15 grade level.

How to apply

Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application. To apply and be considered for this position, you must complete all required questionnaires, assessments and submit all required documentation as specified in the How to Apply and Required Documents section. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. (EST) on 09/21/2026 to receive consideration. It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation is submitted prior to the closing date. 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 and complete the occupational questionnaire. Click Submit My Answers to submit your application package. Click here for instructions on viewing your application status. 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. 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: USA Jobs Help Center - Resume Page Limit Applicant Guidance on the Two-Page Resume Limit