Summary

The incumbent serves as a Senior Insurance Specialist with the Program Administration Division, including, but not limited to, the Policy and Procedures staff in the Insurance Service, Philadelphia, PA, dealing with both the Veterans Affairs (VA) - administered and supervised insurance programs.

Duties

Help

Specific duties include:

• Formulates and recommends program policy, directives, procedures, and standards to implement legislative and regulatory provisions a governing the Insurance program on a nationwide basis.
• Designs and conducts studies and surveys, analyzes operating areas, and makes policy and procedural recommendations regarding various aspects of the Insurance programs including metric targets and other performance indicators.
• Confers with officials within the Department and from other federal agencies as well as with the primary insurer and other organizations regarding changes in Department policy or sensitive issues of wide-ranging impact.
• Acts as team leader of lower graded specialists in conducting studies, surveys, analysis, or other short and long-term projects in all aspects of the administered and supervised programs.
• Replies to a variety of executive level, program-oriented inquiries and requests which require in-depth research or data analysis including letters received by the Assistant Director, the Director, the Under Secretary for Benefits, the Secretary, Members of Congress and the President.
• Conducts validations and reliability studies of Statistical Quality Control (SQC) programs to ensure compliance with prescribed reporting requirements.

Work Schedule: Full time, Monday through Friday

Compressed/Flexible: Available (6:00am - 6:00pm)

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#: Insurance Specialist; PD41407A

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized

Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required

Requirements

Help

Conditions of employment

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
• 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.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement:08/29/2026.

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-13 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-12 level.
• If you are a current VBA employee outside of the commuting area seeking reassignment or change to lower grade via this vacancy announcement, you must currently hold the GS-13 (or higher) and the promotion potential of your current position must be at least None.

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.

Examples of appropriate SF-50s to include which show TIG requirements have been met include:

• Within grade increases (WGI) at the highest grade held; or
• Promotions with an effective date that occurred more than one year from the closing date of the job opportunity announcement; or
• Most recent appointment.

NOTE: Do not submit Award or General Adjustment SF-50s, as they do not provide sufficient information and will not be accepted for the purpose of verifying TIG.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENT: You may qualify based on your experience as described below:

GS-13 Grade Level:

Specialized Experience: You must have at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-12 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience is defined as having:

• Knowledge and understanding of rules based benefits or services/programs with regards to laws, policies and procedures.
• Knowledge of research, statistical and analytical methods which are necessary to design and conduct complex management studies.

Such experience may have been gained in federal or private sectors and is to be substantive and relevant to the position being filled.

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: The work is sedentary.

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/.

Education

There is no education substitution for a GS-13.

Additional information

The Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting your current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified (have a final rating of 85 or more) for this vacancy. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/.

Placement Policy: The posting of this announcement does not obligate management to fill a vacancy or vacancies by promotion. The position may be filled by reassignment, change to lower grade, transfer, appointment, or reinstatement. Management may use any one or any combination of these methods to fill the position.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

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

Help

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.

Review our benefits

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.