Social Science Program Specialist (Trainer)

Full Job Description

The employee will serve as the Social Science Program Specialist (Trainer), located in the Quality, Training, and Risk Management Depart, 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, 03/17/2026.

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.

Your education must be accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education at the time the degree was obtained.

To qualify for this occupational series, you must possess one of the following: Degree: behavioral or social science; or related disciplines appropriate to the position.

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

OR Four (4) years of appropriate experience that demonstrated that the applicant has acquired knowledge of one or more of the behavioral or social sciences equivalent to a major in the field.

Selective Placement Factor (SPF): The SPF is a prerequisite for appointment and must be met by every applicant in order to receive further consideration for this position.

Evidence of the Selective Placement Factor must be reflected on your resume with complete information where the experience was obtained (employer name, job titles, dates, salary grades).

The Selective Placement Factor for this position is: experience leading, training, and/or instructing personnel on crisis intervention response methods.

In addition to the IOR and SPF requirements, applicants may qualify based on 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-9 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization.

Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: In order to meet the minimum qualifications for this position, you must meet 3/4 of the following examples of specialized experience.

Experience in crisis intervention/mental health with an emphasis on suicidality or training/leading others in that area; Expertise in identifying thought patterns and risk factors associated with major mental illnesses; Consultation process and its place in crisis management to provide state-of-the-art care for complex issues; Utilizing software to create training materials and conducting training.

OR Education: Three (3) years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree, or Ph.D.

degree, or equivalent doctoral degree OR Combination: Equivalent combination of successfully completed graduate level education beyond two (2) years (36 semester hours) and specialized experience as described above to meet the total qualification requirement for this position.

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Education and Training Project Management Planning and Evaluating Communication 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:

The Social Science Program Specialist, organizationally known as the Trainer, will develop and implement training materials under the direction of the Clinical Policy Manager and the Clinical Care Coordinator (CCC).

The paramount qualification requirements of the incumbent are experience in crisis intervention and ability to provide training to employees based on best practice training and education principles.

The incumbent will work with frontline staff to increase their skill and knowledge in documentation and crisis intervention techniques and must be able to assess a trainee's progress accurately and provide critical and positive report finding back to the Clinical Policy Manager.

Additional responsibilities include, but are not limited to: Providing different types of training for various positions within the VCL program including Responders and Social Service Assistants (SSA).

Trainings will include a range of content and skill areas including call center industry standards, crisis intervention and suicide prevention skills, and informational technology skills (e.g., search locator software, the VCL customer relationship management (CRM) system, text and chat software, etc.).

Facilitating new employee training, which typically lasts several weeks in a classroom setting, and one to several weeks as a preceptor shadowing to evaluate the application of learning and demonstration of the proper response and dues of resources.

The incumbent will also be responsible for administrating all pre- and post-test evaluation of staff learning.

Providing ongoing feedback to trainees to communicate areas that need improvement as well as areas of strength; this feedback must be provided to employees in a manner that can be easily understood and acted upon.

Ongoing (e.g., monthly, quarterly) in-service professional development trainings and staff adherence to required annual refresher trainings.

Development of the training curriculum, including the use of instructional tools ranging from PowerPoint presentations, face-to-face trainings, and e-learning technology designed to keep the Responders' skill proficiencies up to date and compliant with program policy, which ensures the consistency of performance.

Role playing scenarios, teaching courses, and coordinating activities related to the program of instruction offered.

Developing and updating course content and tests for training in a wide variety of VCL programs to a wide variety of learners.

Producing supplemental training materials to enhance learning (e.g., aids, handouts) and ensuring the most up-to-date materials are available via the SharePoint or knowledge base system.

Creating and maintaining the training plan for Responders, Social Service Assistants, and HSS Supervisors which is in alignment with and compliant with VCL procedure, VA policy, and other external regulatory agencies.

Independently evaluating the quality of training curriculum and developing recommendations for course revisions and program changes.

Providing recommendations for evaluating the training program through revision of measurement tools (i.e.

surveys, tests) to track staff training adherence, measure staff knowledge acquisition, and seek satisfaction feedback to improve the clarity, adequacy, and the effectiveness of the training program.

Evaluating the new employee's adherence to all training standards upon completion of training and providing feedback to VCL leadership about the trainee's readiness to commence job duties.

Work Schedule: Tour of duty is typically administrative hours. Flexible scheduling may be available after training. VCL has multiple tours which cover 24/7/365 operations (including holidays).

Tour is subject to change based on program needs. Compressed/Flexible Work Schedule: Not available Telework: Not applicable, this is a 100% remote position.

Position Description/PD#: Social Science Program Specialist (Trainer)/PD08423A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not required Financial Disclosure Report: Not required This is not a bargaining unit position