HR Specialist (Employee Benefits)

HR Specialist (Employee Benefits)

Department: Department of Housing and Urban Development

Location(s): Alexandria, Virginia, Parkersburg, West Virginia

Salary Range: $89508 - $154263 Per Year

Job Summary: This position is located in the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer.

Major Duties:

• HUD's Mission The mission of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is to foster strong communities by supporting access to quality, affordable housing, expanding the housing supply, and unlocking homeownership opportunities for the American people. The Department is committed to furthering the promise of self-sufficiency in every American while promoting economic development to revitalize rural, tribal, and urban communities across the country. This position is located in the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer (OCHCO), Office of Human Capital Services (HCS). HCS provides essential workforce support and operational HR solutions through the following Department-wide functions: Strategic and Operational Classification, Recruitment, and Staffing services; Payroll, Benefits, and Retirement services; Career/Life balance programs such as Employee Health & Wellness and Reasonable Accommodations; and Personnel Security Services. The following are the duties of this position at the GS-13. If you are selected at a lower grade level, you will have the opportunity to learn to perform all these duties, and will receive training to help you grow in this position. As an HR Specialist (Employee Benefits), you will: Provide authoritative policy and technical advice or consultation and assistance to all HUD employees (including executives and managers at all levels) and their dependents, and all levels of customers on the full range of personnel/retirement systems products and services. Interpret laws, regulations, policies, and procedures governing Federal and public employee retirement and benefit programs. Plan and conduct formal analyses of the strengths and weaknesses of Workforce Benefits and Services programs, applying critical problem-solving skills and providing results with recommendations for improvement, as appropriate, to the OCHCO and senior management. Manage components of HR's retirement and benefits employee service function. Develops tracking mechanisms for addressing complex issues for a resolution. Maintain compliance with agency and government regulations and policy in relation to all benefits plans.

Qualifications: You must meet the following requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement. Specialized Experience: For the GS-13 grade level, you must have one year (52 full weeks) of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-12 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized Experience for this position includes: - Experience counseling on benefits and retirement; AND - Experience searching and interpreting regulations and other policies in regard to benefits and retirement; AND - Experience managing personnel benefits and retirement services and processing personnel actions; AND - Experience with benefits and retirement policies and best practices; AND - Experience working with a benefits portfolio including health benefits, life insurance, etc. Specialized Experience: For the GS-12: You must have one year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-11 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized Experience for this position includes: - Experience searching and interpreting regulations and other policies in regard to benefits and retirement; AND - Experience managing personnel benefits and retirement services and processing personnel actions; AND - Experience working with a benefits portfolio including health benefits, life insurance, etc. The experience may have been gained in either the public, private sector or volunteer service. One year of experience refers to full-time work; part-time work is considered on a prorated basis. To ensure full credit for your work experience, please indicate dates of employment by month/day/year, and indicate number of hours worked per week on your resume. Time-in-Grade: In addition to the above requirements, you must meet the following time-in-grade requirement, if applicable: For the GS-13 you must have been at the GS-12 level for 52 weeks. For the GS-12 you must have been at the GS-11 level for 52 weeks. Time After Competitive Appointment: Candidates who are current Federal employees serving on a non-temporary competitive appointment must have served at least three months in that appointment.

How to Apply: HUD has partnered with the Department of Treasury to provide certain personnel services to its organization. Treasury's responsibilities include advertising vacancies, accepting and handling applications, and extending job offers. Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application. To apply for this position, you must complete the initial online application, to include submission of the required documentation specified in the Required Documents section above. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on the closing date of the announcement to receive consideration. We are available to assist you during business hours (normally 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. ET, Monday - Friday). The application process is as follows: To begin the application process, click the Apply Online button. Answer the questions presented in the application and attach all necessary supporting documentation. Click the Submit Application button prior to 11:59PM (ET) on the announcement closing date. After submitting an online application, you will be notified whether or not you are required to take additional online assessments through the USA Hire Competency Based Assessment system. This message will be delivered to you via email notification. The email may be routed to your "Spam" or "Junk" folder. If you are asked to take the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be presented with a unique URL to access the USA Hire system. Access to USA Hire is granted through your USAJOBS login credentials. Be sure to review all instructions prior to beginning your USA Hire Assessments. Click here for Computer System Requirements Note, set aside at least 3 hours to take these assessments; however, most applicants complete the assessments in less time. If you need to stop the assessments and continue at a later time, you can re-use the URL sent to you via email and also found on the Additional Application Information page that can be located in the application record in your USAJOBS account. To update your application, including supporting documentation, at any time during the announcement open period, return to your USAJOBS account (https://usajobs.gov). There you will find a record of your application, the application status, and an option to Edit my application. This option will no longer be available once the announcement has closed. To verify the status of your application both during and after the announcement open period, log into your USAJOBS account at https://www.usajobs.gov. On the Home page, scroll down and locate your job application. Once the job has been located, click the "Track this application" link on the right under the application date. The page will refresh to display the Agency's Application Information page where you can scroll down and review any notifications the agency has sent you. The Application Status will appear along with the date your application was last updated. For information on what each Application Status means, visit: https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/how-to/application/status/. Please notify us if your contact information changes after the closing date of the announcement. Also, note that if you provide an email address that is inaccurate or if your mailbox is full or blocked (e.g., spam-blocker), you may not receive important communication that could affect your consideration for this position. For more information regarding the job and applicant status, please refer to USAJOBS Help Center - How to see your application and job status To preview the application questionnaire: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12923210 The Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act prohibits specific inquiries concerning an applicant's criminal or credit background unless the hiring agency has made a conditional offer of employment to the applicant. An applicant may submit a complaint, or any other information, to the agency within 30 calendar days of the date of alleged non-compliance by contacting: FairChanceAct@hud.gov What are criminal history inquiries?

Application Deadline: 2026-05-01