Management and Program Analyst (Product Owner)

Summary

This position is located in the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) Education Service. The Service has department-wide responsibility for activities relating to administering VA educational assistance programs to Veterans, Service members, National Guard and Reserve members, and eligible dependents for their military service to the Nation.

Duties

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Specific duties include:

• The incumbent serves as a Product Owner, supporting the Release and Configuration Management Lead under the Digital GI Bill (DGIB) Program Lead.
• The incumbent serves as a Subject Matter Expert (SME), responsible for acting as the voice of the customer to ensure the product meets stakeholder needs and customer expectations.
• The incumbent will oversee development work and prioritize the work to be delivered in the product backlog and each program increment.
• The incumbent will also be responsible for requirements management on the DGIB program to ensure proper controls are in place to increase efficiency and drive successful DGIB program releases and implementations. The incumbent should have familiarity with Agile and SAF methodologies.
• The incumbent is responsible for Business Operations analysis, planning the human aspects of the transition from legacy systems to vendor operations to ensure claims processing productivity and accuracy is not negatively impacted.
• The incumbent will work closely with the Release and Configuration Management Lead and impacted stakeholders to define new business processes.
• The incumbent is responsible for DGIB Program requirements management, including defining, designing, and conducting business processes, workflows, and business processes.
• The incumbent will also document/define the AS-IS and TO-BE workflows, as required, for the DGIB Program.
• The incumbent will identify potential process improvement opportunities, and directly link them to business outcomes.
• The incumbent will liaise with Product Management, Product Owners, business stakeholders, and other cross-functional teams to define, groom, and prioritize user stories in the requirements backlog.
• The incumbent will act as the voice of the customer and define acceptance criteria to ensure the product meets stakeholder needs and customer expectations.
• The incumbent will prioritize requirements to be delivered through program increments and user stories, setting goals, and making refinements as needed to reflect user feedback.
• The incumbent participates in development meetings and provides guidance to developers. The incumbent will also serve as a SME, advising the managed services vendor and assisting with release planning and inputs to the product roadmap.

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. The grade progression for this position is GS-11, GS-12, GS-13.

Work Schedule: Full time, Monday through Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm

Compressed/Flexible: Available

Virtual: This is a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Management & Program Analyst (Product Owner); 11 41451A/12 41450A/13 41449A

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized

Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

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
• 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:11/18/2026.

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-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-09 level.
• For a GS-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11 level.
• For a GS-13 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-12 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-11 or higher and the promotion potential of your current position must be at least GS-13.

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 and/or education as described below:

GS - 11 Grade Level:

• Specialized Experience: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include but are not limited to experience in products. Assist in researching and analyzing external products. Assist in identifying problems; determines accuracy and relevance of information; uses sound judgment to generate and evaluate alternatives, and to make recommendations. Assist in analyzing (i.e., review and evaluate), comprehend and apply decisions derived from a variety of data or complex information.
• Education Substitution: GS-11: A Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree. Education must be related to the position being filled.
• Combining Education and Experience: Combinations of successfully completed post-high school education and experience may be used to meet total qualification requirements for the grade levels specified in the table, and may be computed by first determining the applicant's total qualifying experience as a percentage of the experience required for the grade level; then determining the applicant's education as a percentage of the education required for the grade level; and then adding the two percentages. The total percentages must equal at least 100 percent to qualify an applicant for the grade level. Only graduate education in excess of the amount required for the next lower grade level may be used to qualify applicants for positions at grade GS-11.

GS-12 Grade Level:

• Specialized Experience: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include but are not limited to experience in products. Experience in analyzing (i.e., review and evaluate), comprehend and apply decisions derived from a variety of data or complex information.

GS-13 Grade Level:

• Specialized Experience: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include but are not limited to experience in products. Experience in researching and analyzing external products. Experience in analyzing (i.e., review and evaluate), comprehend and apply decisions derived from a variety of data or complex information. Experience in identifying problems; determines accuracy and relevance of information; uses sound judgment to generate and evaluate alternatives, and to make recommendations.

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 primarily sedentary, although some physical effort may be required to perform the duties of the position. The incumbent may sit to do much of the work and extensive use of a computer is required. Some standing, walking, bending, and light lifting 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/.

Education

GS-11: 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://www.ed.gov/about/initiatives/international-affairs/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications.

You may submit unofficial transcripts when applying. However, if you are selected for the position, you will be required to provide an official transcript or a statement from the institution (e.g., from the registrar, dean, or other appropriate official) or equivalent documentation prior to the start date.

GS-12: No education substitution

GS-13: No education substitution

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.

Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.

Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer (TJO). Please visit the Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP), https://www.va.gov/EMPLOYEE/documents/The-Fair-Chance-to-Compete-Act.pdf