Benefits Specialist

Full Job Description

You will serve as a Benefits Specialist for the Small Business Administration (SBA), Office of Capital Access (OCA), People Operations Disaster Division (PODD).

The employee serves as a Human Resources Specialist providing HR advisory in all areas of benefits administration to a Center or equivalent Center level office or to subdivisions of a Center.

Additional selections may be made from this announcement if identical vacancies occur within 180 days from the closing date.

Experience: To receive credit, you must indicate the month and year as well as the average hours worked per week for each employer.

Average work hours must be stated on the resume to quantify each period of work experience or that experience will not be credited toward meeting the specialized experience requirement.

You must address the specific specialized experience required for each grade level of this position on your resume or application or you will be rated "Ineligible" for that grade level.

For GS-11 - Applicants must meet one of the following to qualify for the GS-11 level: One full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and complexity to the GS-09 level in the Federal service that has equipped you with the particular knowledge, skill, and ability to perform successfully in this position.

In addition, this specialized experience must demonstrate the following: Providing advisory guidance and assistance to employees to execute a variety of employee benefits programs to include health and life benefits and insurance programs, Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) program, health benefits open season, flexible spending accounts, temporary continuation of health insurance (TCC), etc.; and Responding to a variety of benefits and retirement related inquiries from internal and external customers; and Researching, interpreting, and applying Federal laws, regulations, policies and guidelines on federal benefits and retirement programs/systems.

**OR applicants may substitute successful completion of 3 years of progressively higher level graduate education OR Ph.D.

OR equivalent graduate degree such as an LL.M, in a field directly related to the position).

Examples of relevant fields include: Human Resource Management, Organizational Management, and Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

Education must be in a field which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to perform the duties of the position.

**OR a combination experience as described in "A" and graduate level education as described in "B", when combined, are equivalent to 100% of the qualification requirement.

Only graduate level education in excess of two full years (36 semester hours) may be used in this calculation.

To compute, first determine the total number of graduate level hours that exceed 36 semester hours, and then divide that number by 18 to arrive at a percentage.

Then, divide the total number of months of qualifying experience by 12 to arrive at a second percentage. Add the two percentages together.

The sum of the percentages must equal at least 100% to qualify.

For GS-12 - Applicants must meet one of the following to qualify for the GS-12 level: One full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and complexity to the GS-11 level in the Federal service that has equipped you with the particular knowledge, skill, and ability to perform successfully in this position.

In addition, this specialized experience must demonstrate the following: Providing advisory guidance and assistance to employees to execute a variety of employee benefits programs to include health and life benefits and insurance programs, Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) program, health benefits open season, flexible spending accounts, temporary continuation of health insurance (TCC), etc.; and Providing advice and counsel on all aspects of retirement coverage under the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS, FERS-RAE and FERS-FRAE) and Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) for employees, survivors, and eligible families to include computation of estimated benefits and retirement SCD calculations; and Responding to a variety of benefits and retirement related inquiries from internal and external customers; and Researching, presenting findings and delivering briefings related to a variety of employee benefit programs; and Researching, interpreting, and applying Federal laws, regulations, policies and guidelines on federal benefits and retirement programs/systems.

Do not copy and paste the duties, specialized experience, or occupational assessment questionnaire from this announcement into your resume as that will not be considered a demonstration of your qualifications for this position.

Additional information on the qualification requirements is outlined in the OPM Qualifications Standards Handbook of General Schedule Positions.

It is available for your review on OPM's Qualifications website: Human Resources Management Series 0201 (opm.gov) 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.

Federal status applicants must meet both Time-In-Grade AND experience requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

However, if you have separated from the Federal Government for at least 52 weeks, you are not subject to the Time-in-Grade requirement.

TIME-IN-GRADE: If you are a current career or career-conditional federal employee applying for promotion under Merit Promotion you must have completed a minimum of 52 weeks in positions at the next level lower than the position being filled.

All qualification requirements must be met by 11:59 pm (Eastern Time) on 03/06/2026 Major Duties:

As a Benefits Specialist at the GS-0201-11/12, some of your typical work assignments may include: Provides information and advice on all aspects of retirement benefits and coverage under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS, FERS-RAE, and FERS-FRAE) and the Civilian Service Retirement System (CSRS) and CSRS Offset for employees, survivors, and eligible family members.

Responsible for the delivery of information and services involving the retirement program. Calculates retirement SCDs, retirement estimates, redeposits for service, and military buy-back/deposits.

Develops and delivers training on FERS and CSRS to employees in new employee orientation and pre-retirement and retirement seminars.

Stays abreast of latest issues affecting Federal employee benefits and prepares informational materials. Note: The duties listed above are for both grade levels.

At the lower grade level, closer oversight from the Team Lead or supervisor may be provided.