Department of Veterans Affairs

Lead Electronics Technician

Chicago, Illinois Full time

Lead Electronics Technician

Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

Location(s): Chicago, Illinois

Salary Range: $82655 - $107447 Per Year

Job Summary: The Lead Electronics Technician position is located in the Biomedical Service at the Veterans Health Administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs, at the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center (537), a level 1b VHA facility. The primary purpose of this position is to ensure the safe and effective operation of electronic equipment and to effectively manage and integrate electronics systems and their related information technology (IT) systems, throughout the entire lifecycle of the technologies.

Major Duties:

  • LEADERSHIP: Distributes and balances the workload among employees in accordance with established workflow or job specialization, assure timely accomplishment of the assigned workload, and assure that each employee has enough work to keep engaged. Keeps in touch with the status and progress of work and makes day- to- day adjustments in accordance with established priorities, obtaining assistance from the supervisor on problems that may arise, such as backlogs which cannot be disposed of promptly. Estimates and reports on expected time of completion of work and maintain records of work accomplishments and time expended and prepare production reports as requested. Instructs employees in specific tasks and job techniques and make available written instructions, reference materials and supplies. Monitors working conditions such as seating, ventilation, lighting, safety, etc. Technology Planning, Assessment, Evaluation, and Implementation: Keeps abreast of technology to participate in and recommend new and replacement equipment. Serves as a technical advisor and consultant to physicians, engineers, and medical personnel in the purchase of new instrumentation to meet specific needs, and in the implementation of that technology. Serves as a Contracting Officer's Representatives (COR). Participates in market research and vendor product evaluations for various types of medical devices and systems, conducts security risk assessments, and helps prepare equipment procurement packages. Coordinates equipment installation, verifies that contract specifications are met, performs initial tests of operability and integration, and deems equipment safe and ready for use. Provides or coordinates training and assistance in adapting equipment to changing environmental conditions, including those related to space, utilities, network integration, staffing, and policy and procedures. Project Management: Responsible for the site prep and installation of this equipment either as the installer or as the VA's technical representative overseeing a contracted or vendor installation according to contractual requirements. Performs operational and verification tests or is responsible for the certification of these tests by a contractor on direct patient care systems prior to initial use by the electronics equipment operator. Technology Sustainment: Responsible for overall implementation and management of electronics technology in his/her assigned areas. Serves as the primary resource on all electronics technology issues in those areas. Provides technical support for a wide variety of highly sophisticated and complex electronics equipment and systems including advanced analog, digital, microprocessor and computer based electronics with many interrelated subassemblies, system servers and sophisticated digital equipment connected to the Medical Center IT network and other systems. Analyzes and evaluates equipment problems, determining whether the problem is caused by use error, hardware or software component failure, physical damage, environmental factors, and connectivity/compatibility or communication/networking issues. Safety: Ensures that electronics equipment continuously meets TJC, VA, CAP, radiation, and other standards for patient and user safety and standards of care. Researches the applicability of published hazard notices and recalls and coordinates actions with medical center staff to minimize impact on patient care. Investigates local incidents involving electronics equipment and systems and participates on root cause analysis (RCA) and failure mode effects analysis (FMEA) teams as necessary. Administration: Responsible for establishing a stock level of repair parts and supplies and ensuring the availability of items needed for the daily tasks associated with the equipment within the assigned areas of responsibility. Identifies test equipment, tools, and software needed to support and sustain technology. Performs other duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday - 7:00am - 3:30pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Lead Electronics Technician/PD230640 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved

Qualifications: To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 01/09/2026. 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-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-10. 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 must meet the IOR requirement and Position Requirements below to Qualify for the position. INDIVIDUAL OCCUPATIONAL REQUIREMENT (IOR): SPECILIZED EXPERIENCE: 1. Work as a technician, instructor, inspector, or mechanic (civilian or military) that showed progression in theoretical and practical knowledge of electronic theory, and of the characteristics, function, operation, and capabilities of a variety of types of electronic equipment. This experience must have included the use of schematic diagrams, a variety of test equipment, and the application of appropriate electronic formulas involved in such duties as testing, troubleshooting, modifying, designing, calibrating, installing, maintaining, repairing, constructing, developing, and instructing on electronic equipment, or similar functions. 2. Experience in developing policies, standards, and procedures for maintenance, installation, or similar functions, provided the work clearly shows that the applicant applied a specialized knowledge of the theories and principles of a variety of electronic systems or equipment. AND, You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: GS-11 Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-10 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Distributes and balances the workload among employees and established workflow or job specialization, maintain records of work and prepare production, Gives on the job training to new employees, analyzes maintenance trends, operating environment, Analyzes and evaluates equipment problems, Investigates, troubleshoots, and diagnoses root cause, respond to other customer service requests, serves as a technical advisor in the purchase of new instrumentation to meet specific needs, and in the implementation of that technology, Serves as a Contracting Officer's Representatives (COR), Coordinates equipment installation, verifies that contract specifications are met, performs initial tests of operability and integration, and deems equipment safe and ready for use, conducts or arranges training, suggesting improvements, updates, upgrades, replacements, and/or interfaces based on specific needs, serves as consultant and advisor on construction projects, responsible for the site prep and installation of this equipment, Ensures that electronics equipment continuously meets TJC, VA, CAP, radiation, and other standards, identifies test equipment, tools, and software needed, order parts, supplies, and services, maintaining documented equipment histories in AMES/MERS, documenting all equipment maintenance. 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 01/09/2026 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12858596. 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: 2026-01-09