Data Scientist

Data Scientist

Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

Location(s): Tucson, Arizona

Salary Range: $62893 - $118569 Per Year

Job Summary: The position is responsible for providing technical expertise aggregating, collating, and analyzing data from databases including, but not limited to, the development, implementation and updating of data extraction queries, data mining and, developing strategies, action plans, data queries modification and maintenance, quality control and validation of collected data. The position works as part of a study team and contributes to the design for advanced data systems.

Major Duties:

• Duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to: Serves as a Data Analyst with the responsibility for the storage, retrieval and execution of data acquisition requirements and assisting other Agency professionals and contractors in solving complex and far-reaching problems for a wide range of systems, applications, and customers. Generates and manages datasets from the VA's Corporate Data Warehouse (a national data repository for VA) using SQL, R, SAS, SPSS, STATA and VINCI Issues include data interface and storage, and require application of data management principles, procedures, and tools such as modeling techniques, data backup, data recovery, data dictionaries, data warehousing, data mining, data disposal, and data standardization processes. Constructs data pipelines using tools and techniques to handle data at scale. Supports projects developed by investigators focusing on enterprise analytics. Demonstrates the ability to utilize diverse data science techniques including data pooling and visualizations and can demonstrate how ensembles of these techniques can be harmonized into user-centric solutions. Researches and designs presentations and interpretations of analytical outputs tailored to specific audiences including the use of interactivity and narrative storytelling where appropriate. Collaborates with teammates, customers, and stakeholders in a reproducible and organized manner. Conducts observational analysis using software and/or programming languages such as R, Python, Stata, SAS, or SQL to explore/group data, test hypotheses, predict outcomes, and inform decisions. Uses appropriate analytic and statistical software to programmatically prepare data for analysis and clean imperfect data such as probabilistic matching and imputation of missing values. Collates the results of analysis that equip teammates to make informed, data-driven decisions. Articulates findings through data visualization, reports, and operationalized constructs. Presents the results of quantitative analysis to technical and non-technical audiences. Participates on teams in the development, implementation, and oversight of new technologies and statistical methods related to data science. Follows recommendations in support of IT security plans to ensure compliance with Agency security requirements specific to data. Works with senior member of team in the collecting, optimizing, analyzing, interpreting, and communicating insights from data. Follows internal and external process or system reviews, studies, projects, and data validation efforts, which provide a mean for evaluating system performance and vulnerabilities. Accesses, merges, cleans, standardizes, and develops derived metrics on multiple structured datasets; has familiarity with appropriate software and automation tools. Regularly provides analytical support to Data Scientists and/or supervisor in support of conference needs. Attends meetings, conferences, briefings, and seminars related to data science, and statistical and analysis support system concepts. Assists in consolidating research finding and conclusions into completed products for review by the investigative teams, and subsequent publication and or oral presentations to interagency and both internal and external stak Work Schedule: Full Time, Monday - Friday, 7:30AM to 4:00 PM Compressed/Flexible: This position is not authorized a compressed/flexible schedule. Telework: This position may be authorized for a Ad-Hoc telework. This is determined by the Service Line Manager. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Data Scientist/PD93309A, PD93310A, and PD93311A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized. Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not approved. Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized

Qualifications: 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-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07. For a GS-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-09. For a GS-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11. 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. NOTE: Applicants must meet both the Individual Occupation Requirements (IOR) and the Specialized Experience as stated for the grade levels as listed below. Basic Requirements (IOR): A. Degree: Mathematics, statistics, computer science, data science or field directly related to the position. The degree must be in a major field of study (at least at the baccalaureate level) that is appropriate for the position. OR B. Combination of education and experience: Courses equivalent to a major field of study (30 semester hours) as shown in paragraph A above, plus additional education or appropriate experience. AND Specialized Experience: To qualify for the grade level GS-09: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-07) or a comparable pay band in federal or other service that demonstrates the particular competencies necessary to perform the work of this position, and that is typically in or related to the position to be filled. Specialized experience for this position is defined as: Providing technical expertise aggregating, collating, and analyzing data from databases including, but not limited to, the development, implementation and updating of data extraction queries, data mining and, developing strategies, action plans, data queries modification and maintenance, quality control and validation of collected data. Generating and managing datasets, using SQL, R, SAS, SPSS, STATA and VINCI. To qualify for the grade level GS-11: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-09) or a comparable pay band in federal or other service that demonstrates the particular competencies necessary to perform the work of this position, and that is typically in or related to the position to be filled. Specialized experience for this position is defined as: Providing technical expertise aggregating, collating, and analyzing data from databases including, but not limited to, the development, implementation and updating of data extraction queries, data mining and, developing strategies, action plans, data queries modification and maintenance, quality control and validation of collected data. Generating and managing datasets, using SQL, R, SAS, SPSS, STATA and VINCI. OR Education Substitution for grade level GS-11: Applicants may substitute education for experience with an awarded master's or equivalent graduate degree (such as an LL. B or J.D.) from an accredited college or university. This graduate degree must meet the IOR with a degree Mathematics, statistics, computer science, data science or field of study directly related to the position. To qualify for the grade level GS-12: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-11) or a comparable pay band in federal or other service that demonstrates the particular competencies necessary to perform the work of this position, and that is typically in or related to the position to be filled. Specialized experience for this position is defined as: Providing technical expertise aggregating, collating, and analyzing data from databases including, but not limited to, the development, implementation and updating of data extraction queries, data mining and, developing strategies, action plans, data queries modification and maintenance, quality control and validation of collected data. Generating and managing datasets, using SQL, R, SAS, SPSS, STATA and VINCI. OR Education Substitution for grade level GS-12: Applicants may substitute education for experience with an awarded Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree from an accredited college or university. This graduate degree must meet the IOR with a degree Mathematics, statistics, computer science, data science or field of study directly related to the position. OR Applicants may substitute a combination of graduate education and specialized experience to qualify for GS 11 and or GS-12. If you have some, but not all, of the graduate education described above AND less than one full year of the specialized experience described above, you may qualify by combining the amount of creditable education and experience that you do have. Only graduate education in excess of the amount required for the next lower grade level may be used to qualify applicants for positions, and per the IOR this education must contain courses equivalent to a major field of study as appropriate for the position, at grade GS-12. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS-09 to GS-12. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Project Management Research Technical Competence Preferred Experience: Generates and manages datasets from the VA Corporate Data Warehouse (a national data repository for VA) using SQL, R, SAS, SPSS, STATA, and VINCI. 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 and does not require any special physical effort. 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/.

How to Apply: All applicants are encouraged to apply online. To apply for this position, you must complete the questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on 03/19/2026 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12895128. To begin, click Apply Online to create a USA JOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USA JOBS resume and/or other supporting documents and complete the occupational questionnaire. Click Submit My Answers to submit your application package. NOTE: It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation is submitted prior to the closing date. Beginning September 27, 2025, Federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in length to comply with the Merit Hiring Plan. Resumes longer than two pages will result in ineligibility for further consideration for the position. USAJOBS will not allow you to upload or build resumes longer than two pages, and you will need to update the resumes in your profile before applying for a job. Resumes should include information relevant to the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies of the position to which you are applying. VA is unable to make assumptions about qualifications if not clearly listed. Resumes must be legible so they can be reviewed for eligibility, minimum qualifications and other position requirements listed in the job announcement. Your resume must be 5MB or less. We recommend saving and uploading your resume as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages. We also accept GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, TXT, PDF, ODT or Word (DOC or DOCX). We do not accept PDF portfolio files. We recommend using a sans-serif font size like Lato, if available. Other widely available options are Calibri, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, Open San Source Sans Pro, Roboto or Noro Sans. Make your page margins 0.5 inches. Consider using 14-point size font for titles and 10-point for the main text in your resume. The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started. Helpful Hints for Creating a Two-Page Resume: Prioritize most relevant and recent experience Use concise, results focused language Align language from the job announcement Focus on demonstrating skills and competencies Remove outdated or unrelated experience Use the USAJOBS resume builder Additional guidance on this new requirement and resume building tools can be found at: https://help.usajobs.gov/faq/application/documents/resume/page-limit https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-information/merit-hiring-plan-resources/applicant-guidance-on-the-two-page-resume-limit/ Special Employment Consideration: VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply, including those eligible for hiring under 5 CFR 213.3102(u), Schedule A, Appointment of persons with disabilities [i.e., intellectual disabilities, severe physical disabilities, or psychiatric disabilities], and/or Disabled veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more. Contact the Agency Contact for information on how to apply under this appointment authority via the Selective Placement Coordinator. The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal/VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified for this vacancy. To be well-qualified: applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are proficient in most of the required competencies of the job. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/. During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions.

Application Deadline: 2026-03-19