Education Program Specialist

Education Program Specialist

Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

Location(s): Buffalo, New York

Salary Range: $52766 - $83911 Per Year

Job Summary: The Program Specialist provides both administrative and education support services to the Western New York (WNY) Chief of Education/Designated Learning Officer (DLO) and the Education Department. He/she is responsible for a wide range of programs and services that include furthering the mission of the Veteran's Affairs WNY Healthcare System.

Major Duties:

• Works collaboratively with department/division supervisors identifies new educational needs using data plans to deliver and evaluate training effectiveness annually and as needed. Responsible for developing or using provided materials for non-clinical training, this includes learning objectives, learning activities, and evaluation. Develops methods for evaluating current systems, recommends changes, coordinates implementation of improved methods, and develops strategies to enhance the delivery and tracking of educational training and link the education curriculum with the medical centers' mission and strategic directives. Provides recommendations on procedural and policy matters pertaining -to a broad range of employee education functions.. Distributes information to the services on upcoming courses, provides registration forms for individuals interested in attending courses. Assists with arrangements and independently schedules ongoing classes. Provides information concerning available training and makes all arrangements for the training to occur. Provides information concerning available training, arranges for instruction, prepares reports, and helps facilitate courses for an organization having a well-defined and readily understood mission. Functions as a public relations liaison during training that involves the Education Department and related activities. Maintains Liaison with training program instructors and training specialists to obtain information for projects and activities. Reviews and assesses (frequently updated) pertinent laws, regulations, policies, and precedents that affect the use of program and related support resources and applies analytical and evaluative methods and techniques in meeting the corresponding requirements. Collaborates, when necessary, with the Designated Education Officer (DEO) in issues regarding HPT and other training programs. Reviews and prepares correspondence with OAA. Performs other related duties as assigned. Performs administrative work of the Education office. Serves as a Secondary contact and advocate for the Talent Management System (TMS). Coordinates the recruitment, application process, funding, logistical support, and monitoring of employees who are awarded an: VISN 2, EISP, NNEI, or VA National Education for Employees program (VANEEP) scholarship. Performs other related duties as assigned. 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: Monday through Friday 7:30am- 4:00pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Education Program Specialist/PD11518O

Qualifications: To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 01/16/2026. 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-7 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-5. For a GS-9 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-7. 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. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience GS-7: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-5 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Demonstrate skill in applying analytical and evaluative techniques to the identification, consideration, and resolution of issues, of a procedural or factual nature. Demonstrate skill in conducting interviews with supervisors and employees to obtain information about organizational missions, functions, and work procedures. Develop recommendations and proposals based upon the mutually supervisory accepted programs and students that require knowledge of major issues, program goals and objectives, work processes, and administrative operations of the organization. knowledge and understanding of national, VISN local mandates and reporting methods and procedures; making decisions; following and interpreting guidelines and policies, establishing priorities, managing multiple priorities, and troubleshooting complex program problems. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have 1 full year of graduate level education or superior academic achievement. OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond 1 full year of graduate level education or superior academic achievement. Specialized Experience GS-9: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-7 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Demonstrate skill in applying analytical and evaluative techniques to the identification, consideration, and resolution of issues, of a procedural or factual nature. Demonstrate skill in conducting interviews with supervisors and employees to obtain information about organizational missions, functions, and work procedures. Develop recommendations and proposals based upon the mutually supervisory accepted programs and students that require knowledge of major issues, program goals and objectives, work processes, and administrative operations of the organization. knowledge and understanding of national, VISN local mandates and reporting methods and procedures; making decisions; following and interpreting guidelines and policies, establishing priorities, managing multiple priorities, and troubleshooting complex program problems. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B. or J.D., if related OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond 1 full year of graduate level education or superior academic achievement. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Adaptability Attention to Detail Financial Management Planning and Evaluating Teamwork Technology Application 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 sedentary. Typically, the employee sits comfortably to do the work. However, there may be some walking; standing; bending carrying light items such as papers, books, and small parts. 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 01/16/2026 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12864305. 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. If initial application submission is updated and resubmitted with a new resume, only the most current resume will be reviewed for consideration. 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: 2026-01-16