Supv Program Specialist, VHA CFO Chief of Staff

Summary

The Chief of Staff (CoS) serves as the principal administrative and managerial authority within VHA Finance, directing the operations, staff coordination, workflow governance, and executive support functions that enable the VHA CFO and DCFO to lead VHA's financial management enterprise. The position functions as the chief of internal operations, integrating the activities of VHA Finance; directing high-priority projects and special initiatives on behalf of the DCFO.

Duties

Major Duties

Duties include, but are not limited to:

• Develops and directs recommendations concerning organizational governance, management processes, resource coordination, internal management controls, and operational performance that influence the administration and execution of VHA Finance programs and operations enterprise-wide.
• Serves as senior liaison to Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Department of the Treasury, Office of Inspector General (OIG), Government Accountability Office (GAO), and Congressional inquiries, briefings, legislative reports, and national visibility
  correspondence with enterprise level implications.
• Independently plans, designs, and carries out VHA Finance's management support program and managerial decisions are accepted as authoritative, with review centered on attainment of program goals, efficiency, and alignment with the VHA CFO and DCFO's priorities.
• Serves as the reviewing official on performance appraisals prepared by GS-14 supervisory analysts, ensures consistency and equity of performance standards across the staff, and adjudicates grievances elevated from the first level.
• Directs VHA Finance's correspondence, tasking, and suspense-control systems, establishing standards and procedures for routing, staffing, quality review, and timely completion of executive correspondence, data calls, congressional and oversight taskings, and decision packages flowing to and from the VHA CFO and DCFO.
• Plans, coordinates, and governs the administrative aspects of the DCFO's governance forums, workgroups, and leadership meetings, including agenda development, readahead preparation, action-item tracking, and follow-through to completion.
• Directs and personally conducts VHA Finance's management analysis and organizational study program, applying analytical and evaluative methods to assess and improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity of the administrative operations of VHA Finance.

Work Schedule: Monday to Friday, 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM

Compressed/Flexible: Available

Return to Office (RTO): RTO mandates are in effect and selectees will be required to report to in person work unless they have an approved exemption.

Telework: Available - as determined by agency

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: PD005240

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized

Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Requirements

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. In addition to the application and questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the 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
• 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.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you may be required to serve a one year probationary period or two year trial 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 one year probationary period or two year trial period your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

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

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 by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-15 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-14. 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. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to some former Federal employees applying for reinstatement, as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. See the Required Document section below for more information regarding the SF-50s needed to verify time-in-grade.

You may qualify based on your experience as described below:

GS-15 Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-14 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to:

• Mastery of a broad range of administrative and management principles, concepts, practices, methods, and techniques sufficient to direct and integrate the executive and administrative operations of VHA Finance.
• Resolve complex and unprecedented organizational and operational issues.
• Comprehensive knowledge of VHA Finance's mission and financial management environment-including financial policies, priorities, systems, internal controls, reporting requirements, and organizational decisions-as well as the range of administrative laws, executive orders, regulations, policies, precedents, and standards applicable to the administration of an important public program.
• Demonstrates mastery of a wide range of qualitative and quantitative analytical methods for the assessment and improvement of complex management processes and systems, including organizational design and analysis, workflow and workload distribution analysis, staffing and span-of-control analysis, process mapping, management surveys, and the development of performance criteria and milestones.

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.

Note: Resume must include job title and employer name, number of hours worked per week, start and end dates (including month and year), list of duties and responsibilities for each position held. In addition, if the experience was a federal position, you must list the grade for each position held. Failure to include this information may result in an ineligible rating. A full year of work is considered to be 40 hours of work per week. 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.

Physical Requirements: The work is primarily sedentary; some walking, standing, bending, and carrying small items may be required. Occasional travel for national meetings, conferences, or site visits 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/.

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 for this vacancy. To be found well qualified, applicants must meet the following qualifications:

• Led cross-agency initiatives with VACO, VISNs, and VAMCs to resolve competing priorities, synchronize mission-critical organizational activities and develop management control.
• Served as principal advisor conducting management analysis and organizational studies on financial policy, audit strategy, acquisition priorities to improve VHA Finance administrative efficiency and effectiveness.
• Directed and integrated VHA executive and administrative operations to include finance, exercising delegated authority to resolve complex and often unprecedented organizational issues.

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/.

Local Commuting Area: The local commuting area for this position is defined as a radius of 50 miles from Richmond, VA. This includes all locations that fall within a 50-mile driving distance from 1201 Broad Rock Boulevard, Richmond, VA 23223.

Education

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: Recognition of Foreign Qualifications | International Affairs Office.

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. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration (HRA) at The Fair Chance Act.

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.

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

Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Requests: If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a RA in your online application. Requests for RA for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for RA are made on a case-by-case basis. If you meet the minimum qualifications of the position, after notification of the adjudication of your request, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, based on your adjudication decision. You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments if you received the link after the close of the announcement. To determine if you need a RA, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments here:

https://appsupport.usastaffing.gov/hc/en-us/sections/[redacted]2-Reasonable-Accommodation-Information

Expand Hide additional information

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate abou