Summary

The primary purpose of the Health Science Specialist - Operations Director position within the VHA Veterans Rural Health Resources Center (VRHRC) is to provide scientific leadership, advice, and subject-matter expertise in tasks, projects, and assignments related to rural health policy development, analysis, decision making, and implementation activities on a national scale.

This position is located in Iowa City, Iowa.

Duties

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***THIS IS NOT A VIRTUAL POSITION, YOU MUST LIVE WITHIN OR BE WILLING TO RELOCATE WITHIN A COMMUTABLE DISTANCE OF THE DUTY LOCATION***

Duties include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Serve as regional rural health expert
• Oversee and conduct policy-oriented studies and analysis
• Evaluate programs and practices of effective rural health care delivery systems
• Design, develop, and implement special practices to enhance rural access to care, studies to increase understanding of issues affecting rural Veterans and their families, and disseminate best practices
• Leads and coordinates technical, professional, and administrative teams and workgroups to conduct comprehensive studies on health care in rural settings
• Develops long- and short-range policies or plans pertaining to program functions
• Utilize knowledge of clinical systems, programs, and practices and how these principles relate to the unique characteristics and needs of a particular health care delivery system and communities served
• Serve on strategic planning committees and meet with key stakeholders
• Perform direct and consultative project management services to a wide range of customers
• Perform research and quality improvement project design, measurement, analysis, monitoring, and evaluation
• Maintain working understanding of budget processes
• Provide technical and administrative supervision
• Perform all other duties as assigned

Work Schedule: Monday through Friday, 8:00am to 4:30pm

Recruitment & Relocation Incentives: Not Authorized

Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

• 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. This position requires the application, assessment, and questionnaire to be fully completed. The assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job.
• 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) - 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.

Qualifications

BASIC EDUCATION REQUIREMENT (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED): Requires a 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 at the time the degree was obtained.

AND

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: Requires at least one year of specialized experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA's) to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the position to be filled. To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the next lower grade level (GS-13) in the Federal service. Specialized experience includes providing scientific leadership, advice, and subject-matter expertise in tasks, projects, and assignments related to health care access and services; developing, implementing, and disseminating programs and projects to improve the understanding of health services challenges and access to care; leading research, technical, professional, and administrative teams to conduct comprehensive studies; utilizing quantitative/qualitative studies including project design, measurement, analysis, monitoring, evaluation, and policy recommendation pertaining to health care access and services; and performing tasks such as planning/assigning work to be accomplished, evaluating work performance, developing performance standards, giving advice and counsel, etc.

NOTE: Resume must clearly support the required experience. We will not make assumptions regarding experience. Please see the announcement duties section for details.

Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), your responses on the application questionnaire, and your responses to all assessments required for this position. You will be assessed on the following Competencies for this position:

• Conflict Management
• Influencing/Negotiating
• Manages Resources
• Partnering
• Planning and Evaluating

Supervisory Situational Judgment Test. Applicants will be required to complete a Supervisory Situational Judgment Test (SSJT) as part of the assessment process for this position. The SSJT evaluates judgment and decision-making skills that align with relevant competencies, organizational values, and best practices. Assessment results may be used as part of the evaluation, ranking and referral process. This is not a timed test, however, the assessment is expected to take approximately 45 minutes or less to complete. The assessment for this application does not include a cut score for a minimum level of required proficiency in these critical general competencies. However, you must answer each item in the assessment.

IMPORTANT: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. All experience listed on your resume must include the month and year start/end dates. 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.

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; religious; 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.

Physical Requirements: The work is sedentary. Typically, the employee may sit comfortably to perform portions of the work. However, there is periodic walking, standing, bending, carrying of light items such as medical records, instructional material, books and manuals. No special physical demands are required to perform the work. The employee may be asked to travel to various meetings, conferences, or to the field to support program development, execution, and evaluation; Office of Rural Health (ORH) strategic planning; professional development and training; partnership development; or to otherwise represent ORH.

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

IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application due to basic education requirement.

There is no educational substitution at this grade level.

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 for 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.

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

Benefits

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A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

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Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.