Health Science Specialist - Research Project/Program Coordinator

Health Science Specialist - Research Project/Program Coordinator

Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

Location(s): Los Angeles, California

Salary Range: $71244 - $92615 Per Year

Job Summary: This Health Science Specialist - Research Project/Program Coordinator position is funded through Medical Research Services - Health Services Research & Development (HSR&D), within the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System Los Angeles, CA.

Major Duties:

• ***THIS IS NOT A VIRTUAL POSITION, YOU MUST LIVE WITHIN OR BE WILLING TO RELOCATE WITHIN A COMMUTABLE DISTANCE OF THE DUTY LOCATION*** The Research Project/Program Coordinator, provides a variety of coordination and administrative functions to the Program Investigator. The incumbent relies on comprehensive experience to support the Program Director. Responsibilities include project coordination for all Western Los Angeles ESP projects, as well as general program coordination and administrative support. NOTE: This is a TERM appointment (not-to-exceed 4 years). Term appointments are non-status, nonpermanent appointments of limited duration (more than 1 year but not more than 4). Term employees are eligible to earn leave and generally have the same benefits as permanent employees including health and life insurance, withingrade increases and Federal Employees Retirement System and Thrift Savings Plan coverage. Term appointments may be extended without further competition (up to the 4-year maximum). The appointment to a Term position does not confer eligibility for promotion or reassignment to other positions or the ability to be noncompetitively converted to permanent employment. Major Duties: Outlines and defines tasks required to complete each phase of the project, task scheduling, and monitoring timely task completion. Develops and coordinates the dissemination, compilation, and organization of all administrative aspects of the project, including coordination and management of correspondence, and complex project database maintenance and tracking. Prepares reports to VA Central Office on progress and deadlines. Prepares, finalizes, and disseminates communications among all of the project staff and between project staff and research service. Primary contact with the VA Central Institutional Review Board (IRB), and/or local facility Institutional Review Board (IRB), the incumbent writes the IRB proposal, communicating regularly with the IRB, and managing multiple simultaneous submissions. Works with the project team to initiate, track, and compile documentation necessary to obtain IRB approval, both initially and for annual continuing review. Prepares each IRB application, submitting and tracks it, making any necessary modifications and reporting to the project staff. Submits required documentation for IRB annual continuing review. Compiles literature reviews on various topics and assists with report writing for numerous publications and grants. Produces correspondence, populates various forms, and manages other documents, assists in the drafting and finalization of progress reports and manuscripts, and maintains records and research files. Performs other related duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Monday through Friday from 8:00am - 4:30pm Recruitment & Relocation Incentives: Not authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not approved

Qualifications: Individual Occupational Requirements (Basic Education Requirements) Possess a completed Bachelor's or graduate/higher level degree: major study in an academic field related to the medical field, health sciences or allied sciences appropriate to the work of the position. This degree must be from an educational program from an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education - http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/ at the time the degree was obtained. (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED) In addition to meeting the basic requirements above, you must also meet the minimum qualifications requirements below. For GS-9: Specialized Experience: Possess at least one (1) full year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level of GS-7 in the Federal service. Specialized experience is possessing of the principles, concepts, and methods of health care research, health services research and health policy research; possessing of project management sufficient to plan, prioritize, schedule, and track numerous aspects of research projects, Internal Review Board (IRB) approval, prepare and submit IRB application, including milestones. OR Education: Possess 2 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a master's degree or master's or equivalent graduate degree in an academic field as stated above. One year of full-time graduate education is considered to be the number of credit hours that the school attended has determined to represent 1 year of full-time study. If that number cannot be obtained from the school, 18 semester hours should be considered an academic year of graduate study. (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED) OR Combination: Possess a Combinations of successfully completed graduate level education and specialized experience as stated above to meet the total experience requirements. Only graduate level education in excess of the amount required for the next lower grade level may be combined with experience. (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED) You will be rated on the following Competencies as part of the assessment questionnaire for this position: Administration and Management Project Management Research IMPORTANT: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. All experience listed on your resume must include the month and year start/end dates. 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. 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; religious; 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. Physical Requirements: The work primarily is sedentary. Some work may require periods of walking, standing, and bending in offices, meeting rooms, research facilities, and other work areas. Employees frequently carry light items such as books, instruments, and other similar materials. The work 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 12/22/2025 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12853727. 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/ Receiving Service Credit for Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed. 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. For more information on how to apply using this appointment authority via the Selective Placement Coordinator within the office, contact the facility Human Resources Department at (310) 478-3711. The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation and be found well-qualified (have a final rating of 85 or more before any Veterans preference points) for this vacancy. 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/.

Application Deadline: 2025-12-22