Program Specialist

Program Specialist

Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

Location(s): Buffalo, New York

Salary Range: $64543 - $83911 Per Year

Job Summary: This position is located in the Office of Environmental Management Service (EMS) under the direct supervision of the EMS Chief at the VA West New York Health Care System in Buffalo, NY and serves as a Program Specialist in the Service Line, Environmental Management Service.

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*** Program Management and Coordination 40% Research and analyzes problems, issues, administrative processes and program requirements. Manage administrative functions associated with Environmental Management Services. Perform a wide variety of administrative functions such as maintaining program requirements/validation criteria. Collect, analyze, and generate local, VISN, and national reports. Identify needed changes and improvements in programmatic processes and develops, implement, and evaluate process improvements. Data Collection, Tracking, and Analysis 25% Perform work involving the collection, compiling, and tracking of data and statistical information in support of Environmental Management Service. Enter pertinent information into an automated tracking system. Perform in-depth analysis of data and generate recommendations and reports as needed. Track by license plates all GSA vehicles and VA owned vehicles for VA WNY and Batavia and maintains EZ Pass information. Information Control and Administrative Support 20% Monitor and control business papers, correspondence, and records throughout the Service. Communicate in person, through written correspondence and by telephone. Design and manage work processes to support transmission of information to and from clerical staff. Prepare written documents and correspondence in support of Environmental Management Service. Budget, Finance, and Training 15% Assist in budget administration including managing assigned Fund Control Points. Evaluate trends for various programs. Request additional funds or transfers of funds and are coordinated with Fiscal Service. Performs other duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday - 8:00AM - 4:30PM Recruitment & Relocation Incentives: Not authorized

Qualifications: To qualify for this position at the GS-09 level, you must meet one of the following: Specialized Experience: You must have at least one (1) full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level (GS 7) in the Federal Service that has given you the knowledge and skills and abilities required to successfully perform the duties of this position. Specialized experience includes performing analytical, evaluative, an advisory work; managing and coordinating administrative services, preparing a variety of reports, forms, and correspondence; utilizing various software programs to accomplish administrative duties, evaluating trends for the various programs for each ensuing fiscal year, request additional funds or transfers of funds that are coordinated with the Fiscal Service so that there are no unexpected financial crises at the end of each quarter. NOTE: Applicant wishing to receive credit for such experience must clearly indicate the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. Experience must be clearly indicated in your resume. OR Education: Must have successfully completed two (2) years of progressively higher-level graduate education or master's or equivalent graduate degree or LL.B. or J.D., if related. NOTE: If you select this option, you must submit a copy of your transcript (unofficial or official) with your application. Education cannot be credited without documentation. OR Combination of Education and Experience: Must have the equivalent combinations of successfully completed graduate-level education (beyond the first year) and specialized experience, as described above, which meet the total experience requirements for this grade level. NOTE: Copies of transcripts must be submitted with your application materials. Education cannot be credited without documentation. Physical Requirements: The work is primarily sedentary, although some slight physical effort5 may be required. 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: 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 the initial online assessment and 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. To preview the questionnaire, click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12913101. The application process is as follows: 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. Answer the questions presented in the application and attach all necessary supporting documentation. Click the Submit Application button prior to 11:59 PM (ET) on the announcement closing date, 03/25/2026. After submitting the 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. IMPORTANT: 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. Set aside at least 3 hours to take the USA Hire 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 in your USAJOBS account under the "Track my application" link for the corresponding application. Your responses to the USA Hire Assessments will be reused for one year (in most cases) from the date you complete an assessment. If future applications you submit require completion of the same assessments, your responses will be automatically reused. Visit the USA Hire Applicant Resource Center for practice assessments and assessment preparation resources at https://support-usahire.opm.gov/hc/en-us. To view the announcement status or your application status: https://help.usajobs.gov/how-to. Your application status page is where you can view your application status, USA Hire assessment completion status, and review your notifications sent by the hiring agency regarding your application. 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.

Application Deadline: 2026-03-25