Program Specialist

Full Job Description

This position is located at the VA San Diego Healthcare System (VASDHS) in the Office of the Director.

The Program Specialist - Research/Privacy Compliance Auditor (RPCA) assists the Research Compliance Officer (RCO) and Privacy Officer (PO) in implementation of the Research Compliance and Privacy Programs at VASDHS.

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 03/10/2026.

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-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07. 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 as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade, GS-07, in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization.

Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: providing quality assurance and quality improvement activities to promote compliance, reduce violations of regulations and standards, identify unsatisfactory trends and conditions, and correct factors that may contribute to noncompliance; conducting routine and for-cause audits of research records and informed consents to verify that files contain required documents and to comply with federal regulations and VA and VASDHS policy; preparing audit reports and compliance analyses, including recommendations for quality improvement; conducting extensive research and compilation of data from diverse sources.

NOTE: Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hours worked per week.

OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience.

To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successfully completed a master's degree or equivalent degree, or successfully completed two (2) full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree, or an LL.B or J.D., if related.

Such education must demonstrate the knowledge skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of this position. NOTE: Transcripts must be submitted with application.

Education cannot be credited without documentation.. OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level.

You must have a combination of specialized experience, as described above, and successfully completed graduate level education beyond the first year to meet the total requirements.

The education portion must include graduate courses that demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of this position.

NOTE: If using education combined with specialized experience to qualify, a copy of your transcript is required.

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Audit Reporting Compliance Compliance Inspection Computer Skills Research 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: 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.

Physical Requirements: The work is primarily sedentary, although audits may include physical inspection of offices, clinical and research laboratory spaces and some physical effort may be required.

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:

Major duties include, but are not limited to: Research Compliance (50 Percent) Under the general direction of the RCO, the RPCA provides quality assurance and quality improvement activities to promote compliance, reduce violations of regulations and standards, identify unsatisfactory trends and conditions, and correct factors that may contribute to noncompliance.

Conducts routine and for-cause audits of research records and informed consents to verify that files contain required documents and that documents comply with federal regulations and VA and VASDHS policy.

Maintains a schedule to assure that all research protocols/projects are audited at least once, active protocols are audited at three-year intervals, and studies that involve written informed consents are audited annually to assure compliance with VA regulations and VASDHS policy.

Audits may include review of records of the Institutional Review Board, other Research Committees, Research Pharmacy, Research Service and the Computerized Patient Record System.

Meet with Principal Investigators and/or research staff to review audit findings, provide training as needed, and make specific suggestions for improving compliance with VA and VASDHS policies and federal regulation.

Prepares audit reports and compliance analyses, including recommendations for quality improvement and performance standards, in consultation with the RCO.

Monitoring and auditing reports must be timely, accurate, and complete. Privacy (50 Percent) Under the general direction of the PO, the incumbent supports the Privacy Program for the VASDHS.

Manage the office routine, coordinating meetings and preparing minutes, maintaining logs and spreadsheets of complaints, violations, incidents and observations, assisting in meeting privacy requirements of external review agencies and providing overall assistance to the Privacy Officer.

Provides orientation in privacy to new employees as well as annual and periodic privacy training to established VASDHS employees.

Uses standard approaches to perform a variety of duties related to special projects involving administrative or support issues.

Conducts extensive research and compilation of data from diverse sources; Extracts and assembles information, conducts analysis and develops reports and/or presentations.

Identifies and determines training priorities, conducts and administers training programs, develops and improves training guidance.

Serves as a liaison and handles the communication with persons and/or groups within and outside of the organization and/or office.

Conducts facility assessments on behalf of the Privacy Officer and provides a written evaluation as necessary.

Other duties as assigned Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm Compressed/Flexible: Supervisor's discretion Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Program Specialist/PD11988O Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized