Program Specialist

Full Job Description

The employee will serve as the Program Specialist, located in the Employee Experience Team of the Veterans Crisis Line (VCL), Veterans Affair (VA).

The VCL is a 24-hour, 7-days-a-week, 365-days-a-year service aimed at connecting callers worldwide to a caring, qualified Veterans Administration employee.

The VCL's mission is to provide 24/7, world-class suicide prevention and crisis intervention services to Veterans, Service Members, and their family members.

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 02/09/2026.

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-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-09 grade 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.

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 former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment.

You may qualify based on your experience and/or education s described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-09) in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization.

In order to meet the minimum qualifications for this position, you must meet 3/5 of the following examples of specialized experience: Applying analytical and evaluative methods and techniques to plan and conduct studies and analyses concerning the efficiency and effectiveness of crisis call center operations.

Determining impact of pertinent laws, regulations, policies, and precedents on the customer service program and related support resources.

Evaluating program goals and objectives, work processes, and administrative operations to determine ways to improve customer satisfaction.

Analyzing, studying, interpreting, and making recommendations regarding workload distribution, staffing, and organizational recommendations.

Presenting staffing recommendations where proposals involve substantial organizational resources, require extensive changes in established procedures.

OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have a Ph.D.

or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M.

if related, in a field that is directly related to the work of this position that demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work.

OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level.

You must have a combination of specialized experience and graduate level education (beyond the first 2 years) in a field that is directly related to the work of this position that demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work equivalent to the total requirement of this position (e.g., 6 months of specialized experience and 1 year of post masters degree graduate education).

Eligible and qualified applicants on a certificate provided to the hiring manager will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Organizational Awareness Attention to Detail Communication Technical Competence Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 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.

For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

Major Duties:

The incumbent will be responsible for the time and leave administration of VCL employees.

The incumbent will plan, coordinate, execute, maintain, and evaluate the VCL call center staff levels to ensure that a smooth flow of quality health care services is being provided promptly, courteously, and with a compassionate understanding of Veterans' needs and the needs of those responsible for their care.

The work performed by the incumbent will directly influence decisions made by managers concerning internal administrative operations and improve the quality of services to customers and staff.

The work will also involve identifying problems and making recommendations concerning the efficiency and productivity of administrative operations throughout VCL.

Additional duties include but are not limited to: Maintains staffing levels and master schedules to ensure adequate coverage.

Tracks and certifies all forms of employee leave requests and maintains tour of duty updates. Coordinates tour of duty change requests, leave requests, etc. in accordance with approved policy.

Tracks and implements employee training, organizes new employee orientations and training shifts for all employees, and creates and reviews travel schedules for employees.

Investigates and resolves employee relations issues such as no shows in accordance with approved policy, time/leave/pay/repayment/overtime issues, etc.

Coordinates with employees on long term absences including annual and sick leave scheduling.

Refers employees to Employee Assistance Program (EAP) as needed and provides support to employees with sensitive time and leave related concerns.

Maintains responsibility for scheduling employees on 20 different shifts and 30 plus start times across call centers.

Ensures coverage needs are addressed to maintain staffing needs and escalates concerns to supervisory and management staff.

Organizes and submits all planned leave requests to Team Operations (TOC) and/or time and leave supervisor for approval.

Coordinates with Workflow Coordinators and Workforce Management (WM) regarding staffing. WM provides all staffing data to use in the forecasting for work schedules for VCL.

Provides trend analysis to supervisors, TOCs, and management on leave misuse and unplanned leave.

Maintains and manages the VCL time and leave inbox groups and associated correspondence by reviewing and resolving issues.

Communicates with Human Resources groups and VCL management regarding employee staffing, transfer, part-time, and job share status.

Any other duties as assigned by the Time and Leave Supervisor Program Specialist. Work Schedule: Tour of Duty is typically Administrative Hours. Tour is subject to change based on program needs.

Compressed/Flexible Work Schedule: May be authorized upon supervisor approval after training per Agency policy. Remote: This is remote position.

Selectees will work 100% of the time in a non-VA-owned space outside of the local commuting area of a parent station.

The employee's workspace must be suitable for conducting business and as such, remote employees are expected to provide a secure, distraction-free home-based worksite with reliable high speed internet connectivity.

The employee will be required to travel to the closest VA Medical Center or VA Outpatient Clinic for issuance of equipment, and as needed for technical support.

Selectees will be required to self-certify that their remote workplace meets all safety, privacy, and internet speed requirements.

Position Description/PD#: Program Specialist/PD07527A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not required Financial Disclosure Report: Not required This is not a bargaining unit position