Social Science Program Specialist

Full Job Description

The employee will serve as the Social Science Program Specialist, located in the Quality, Training, & Risk Management division, 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, 03/02/2026.

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-9. 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.

Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR): The IOR is a basic requirement that must be met by every applicant in order to qualify for entry into this occupational series and is something that cannot be waived.

To qualify for this occupational series, you must possess one of the following: Successful completion of a four year degree from an accredited college or university.

The degree must be in a behavioral or social science, or related disciplines appropriate to the position.

OR Combination of education and experience that provide applicant with knowledge of one or more of the behavioral or social sciences equivalent to a major in the field.

OR Four years of appropriate experience that demonstrate the applicant has acquired knowledge of one or more of the behavioral or social sciences equivalent to a major in the field.

If you meet Time in Grade and the IOR above, you may qualify at the respective grade level based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience GS-11: To qualify at the GS-11 level, you must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-9) for which you are applying 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: Designing, completing, and distributing quality assessment reports to management; Completing evaluations for educational purposes; Identifying quality assurance issues; Monitoring quality standards to ensure policy compliance, collaboration, and expedited connection to appropriate resources; Engagement, rapport building, assessment, planning, problem solving, implementation, evaluation, and follow up.

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: Communications Technical Competence Teaching Others Organizational Awareness Attention to Detail 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: Identifies performance and quality assurance issues. Maintains proficiency and knowledge of VCL operations.

Monitors interactions to ensure consultation, collaboration and expedited connections to treatment programs, resources and emergency services occur.

Work Schedule: The Veterans Crisis Line is a 24/7/365 call center. Varied work schedule to include evenings, nights, weekends and holidays to provide 24/7 call center coverage.

Tour will be determined after final selections and will be based on seniority. Tour is subject to change based on program needs. Selectees will be expected to work all shifts.

Compressed/Flexible Work Schedule: Not available 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#: Social Science Program Specialist/PD08421A 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