Program Analyst

Summary

This position is located in the Veteran Readiness and Employment (VR&E) Service, Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), Department of Veterans Affairs. The incumbent serves as a Program Analyst within the Systems Management & Analysis Division & is responsible for leading the planning, coordination, automation, & deployment readiness activities supporting the VR&E Information Technology Portfolio, including enterprise case management capabilities & supporting information technology solutions.

Duties

Specific duties include:

• Lead release, configuration, and deployment management activities for the VR&E IT portfolio within a DevSecOps framework.

• Plan, coordinate, and oversee secure, automated software releases using CI/CD pipelines and modern deployment patterns.

• Maintain integrated release schedules and coordinate activities across business stakeholders, OIT, cybersecurity, contractors, and governance bodies.

• Facilitate release planning ceremonies, readiness reviews, go/no-go decisions, and post-implementation assessments using DevSecOps performance metrics.

• Manage configuration governance through CCB/CAB meetings and maintain CM processes and tools to ensure alignment with approved baselines.

• Assess proposed changes for operational and security impacts and guide release sequencing to minimize risks.

• Lead deployment readiness activities, including plans, rollback procedures, validation steps, communications, and automated verification.

• Develop and execute comprehensive testing strategies, including automated functional, security, performance, and UAT testing within CI/CD workflows.

• Coordinate compliance, cybersecurity, and ATO-related documentation, ensuring releases align with VA, federal, and NIST requirements.

• Provide executive leadership with release dashboards, risk analyses, performance metrics, stakeholder updates, and recommendations to improve DevSecOps operations and IT portfolio governance.

Promotion Potential: This position is at the full performance level.

Work Schedule: Full time, Monday through Friday

Compressed/Flexible: Not Available

Telework: Available, 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#: Program Analyst; 422920

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized

Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Conditions of employment

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you may 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.

• 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 period
• Subject to background/security investigation
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process

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.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement:11/06/2026.

TIME-IN-GRADE REQUIREMENT: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements.

• For a GS-13 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-12 level.

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.

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

GS-13 Grade Level:

• Specialized Experience: Applicants must have at least one year of specialized experience at the GS 12 level that demonstrates:
• Experience planning, coordinating, and overseeing implementation of system or program updates, ensuring changes are delivered in a controlled, timely, and organized manner and aligned with organizational requirements and stakeholder needs.
• Experience developing and executing testing strategies for new or updated systems, including creating test plans, coordinating stakeholders involved in validation activities, documenting results, tracking issues, and recommending readiness for implementation.
• Experience applying organizational policies, federal requirements, and compliance standards to evaluate the readiness, risks, and operational impacts associated with system changes or program improvements.
• Experience analyzing system performance, operational data, or program outcomes to identify trends, risks, or improvement opportunities and preparing reports, briefings, or recommendations that inform leadership decisions.
• Experience coordinating with technical staff, business owners, and leadership to support effective implementation of system or process changes, resolve issues, align priorities, and ensure stakeholders understand upcoming operational impacts.
• Education Substitution: There is no education substitution at this grade level.

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 and is typically performed in an office or telework environment, 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/.

Education

This job does not have an education qualification requirement.

Additional information

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), va.gov/EMPLOYEE/docs/The-Fair-Chance-to-Compete-Act.pdf for more 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 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.

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.

For more information on the "Who may apply" eligibility requirements, please refer to the OHRM Status Candidates and Other Candidate Definitions document.

If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement.

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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.