Program Support Assistant

Full Job Description

The Program Support Assistant provides administrative and programmatic support in the Research Service of the White River Junction VA Medical Center (WRJVAMC).

Serves as the principal provider of support to the Research and Development Committee (R&DC), Institutional Review Board (IRB) and the Research Safety Subcommittee (SRS), the Associate Chief of Staff for Research, and the Director of Research Operations, and will be the initial contact person for principal investigators.

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 03/19/2026.

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-06 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05. 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.

You may qualify based on your experience as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-05 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization.

Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Qualifying experience includes assisting with computer access requests, maintaining program administrative supplies and office equipment and assisting with tracking data for research programs.

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: 1. Computer Skills 2. Administrative Management 3.

Information Management Per Office of Personnel Management General Schedule Qualification Policies, federal employees are assumed to have gained experience by performing duties and responsibilities appropriate for their official series and grade level as described in their position description.

Experience that would not normally be part of the employee's position is creditable when documented by satisfactory evidence (e.g., a memorandum from the manager, human resources director, or official documentation such as SF-52, SF-50 documenting an official detail/assignments, or other comparable documentation).

The documentation must indicate whether the employee performed the duties full time or, if part-time, the percentage of times the employee performed the additional duties.

To receive credit for experience in your resume that is not within the official series and grade level of your position, you must provide official documentation of such experience as indicated above.

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.

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:

Areas of Consideration: Facility-wide Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met.

Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level. Work Schedule: Full-Time Mon - Fri 8:00 am - 4:30 pm Telework: This position may be authorized for telework.

Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Program Support Assistant/PD232110 and PD232120 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Physical Demands: The work is sedentary.

Typically, the employee sits comfortably to do the work, however, there may be some walking, standing, bending, carrying of light items such as papers, books, etc.

No special physical demands are required to perform the work. This position involves a multi-grade career ladder. The major duties listed below represent the full performance level of GS-07.

At the GS-06 grade level, you will perform assignments of a more limited scope and with less independence.

You will progressively acquire the background necessary to perform at the full performance level of GS-07.

Promotion is at the discretion of the supervisor and is contingent upon satisfactory performance, availability of higher level work, and availability of funds.

Promotion is not guaranteed and no promise of promotion is implied.

Major Duties: Provide all staff support to the various R&D committees which are responsible through the Chief of Staff and the Director of WRJVAMC for maintaining high standards throughout the research program.

Independently review for completeness all research proposal submissions from principal investigators.

Complete mandatory forms and supporting documents, training, and assisting investigators with the mandatory submission software.

Responsible for keeping up to date on all new software roll outs and changes in computer procurement, assisting personnel with computer issues as a first line of troubleshooting.

Research credentialing, Government Purchase Card procurement, timekeeping, ensuring competency and education program is maintained and all education is up to date.

Schedule staff and other meetings as required and maintains an orderly and adequate level of program administrative supplies.