Statistician

Full Job Description

The position is located in the Cooperative Studies Program Coordinating Center in the VA Office of Research and Development.

The center is responsible for planning and conducting large Phase II/III, multi-site, controlled clinical trials involving drugs, devices, and/or treatment methodologies.

The responsibility of this position is to serve as a statistical programming expert and to perform the statistical analysis of data for assigned multi-site clinical trials and/or epidemiologic studies.

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 03/17/2026.

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.

Individual Occupational Requirement: In order to meet the basic requirement of the Statistician, 1530 series, you must possess: A degree that included 15 semester hours in statistics (or in mathematics and statistics, provided at least 6 semester hours were in statistics), and 9 additional semester hours in one or more of the following: physical or biological sciences, medicine, education, or engineering; or in the social sciences including demography, history, economics, social welfare, geography, international relations, social or cultural anthropology, health sociology, political science, public administration, psychology, etc.

(TRANSCRIPTS ARE REQUIRED) - OR - A combination of education and experience including courses in statistics (or in mathematics and statistics, provided at least 6 semester hours were in statistics), plus appropriate experience or additional education.

The experience should have included a full range of professional statistical work such as (a) sampling, (b) collecting, computing, and analyzing statistical data, and (c) applying statistical techniques such as measurement of central tendency, dispersion, skewness, sampling error, simple and multiple correlation, analysis of variance, and tests of significance.

(TRANSCRIPTS ARE REQUIRED) In addition to the IOR, to qualify you must meet at least one of the following qualification requirements: Specialized Experience at the GS-12: You must have one full year of specialized experience that has equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position.

You must have 4 out of 5 of the following specialized experience bullets.

Specialized experience is experience that includes the following: Identifying and applying appropriate statistical analysis techniques and procedures for analyzing study data.

Designing, writing, testing and running SAS programs, and using other commercial statistical software packages to generate tables, listings and figures of study results for various types of study reports over the lifetime of each assigned study.

Reviewing output of statistical programs to check for completeness and accuracy of data and study results following CSP program validation requirements.

Identifying data entry issues and collaborating with data management staff to help rectify these issues whenever possible.

Documenting procedures for each statistical programming assignment completed following CSP documentation requirements.

-OR- Education to Qualify at the GS-12: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must possess a Ph.D.

or equivalent doctoral degree. NOTE: Transcripts must be submitted with your application materials. Education cannot be credited without documentation.

-OR- Combination of Education and Experience to Qualify at the GS-12: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level.

You must have an equivalent combination of specialized experience and graduate education as described above. Only a master's or equivalent graduate degree may be used to qualify at this level.

NOTE: Transcripts must be submitted with your application materials. Education cannot be credited without documentation.

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Research- Knowledge of the scientific principles, methods, and processes used to conduct a systematic and objective inquiry; including study design, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; and the reporting of results.

Technical Competence- Knowledge of how to perform one's job. Refers to specialized knowledge that is acquired through formal training or extensive on-the-job experience.

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 mostly sedentary; however, some walking between offices located on three different floors in the same building and two adjacent satellite buildings is 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:

The major duties of this position include but are not limited to: Serves as a statistical programming expert in the planning of multiple assigned studies, and works with the study planning and executive committees which include inter-agency and intra-agency officials, and non-government scientists.

Assists the biostatistician in the planning of statistical analyses and study data reports. Identifies and applies appropriate statistical analysis techniques and procedures for analyzing study data.

Designs, writes, tests and runs SAS programs, and, where appropriate, uses other commercial statistical software packages to generate tables, listings and figures of study results for various types of study reports over the lifetime of each assigned study.

Reviews output of statistical programs to check for completeness and accuracy of data and study results following CSP program validation requirements.

Identifies data entry issues and collaborates with data management staff to help rectify these issues whenever possible.

Documents procedures for each statistical programming assignment completed following CSP documentation requirements.

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 8am-4:30pm; or as negotiated Compressed/Flexible: May be available Telework: This position is authorized for telework. Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process.

Functional Statement #: PD08492A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not authorized