Program Specialist

Program Specialist

Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

Location(s): Los Angeles, California

Salary Range: $58827 - $93549 Per Year

Job Summary: The primary purpose of this position is program management of the State Home Per Diem programs (SHPD) under GEC authority. The duty and responsibility for regulatory oversight, local policy development, and compliance surveying related to State Veterans Home programs is under the authority of the GEC Service. Locations include: State Veterans Home such as the case with West Los Angeles, Lancaster, and Ventura State Veteran Homes (SVH).

Major Duties:

• Duties include but are not limited to: Examine and develop the productiveness of Nursing Home program operations in meeting established goals and objectives of the Geriatrics and Extended Care Service. Reviews, analyzes, evaluates, and consults with the ACOS with proposed changes in the services mission, capacity or effectiveness of program details, operating procedures and existing and future delegations of authority affecting nursing home program operations. Serves as a subject matter expert and program manager for all purchased care processes for the State Veteran Home Per Diem programs. Monitors program authorization and obligation utilization, assists with financial oversight by working closely with SHPD national program office, financial management staff, will reconcile obligations monthly within the Integrated Funds Control, Accounting and Procurement (IFCAP) and Financial Management Systems (FMS). This position will be responsible for developing reporting procedures, and quality measurements for the transaction process to ensure the GEC service is able to meet its commitments to veterans, to identify problem areas or inherent weaknesses in work processes, procedures, establish information systems needed to conduct transactions and securely store sensitive content for the State Veteran Home Per Diem program management and content. Performs research on projects and provides advisory services on technical program compliance, patient and state transfer of data integrity, workflow & achievement progress for Geriatrics and Extended Care performance measures and ability to provide service for the State Veteran Home programs that allow veterans to access the care their entitled to. Review and draft policies, memoranda, and Delegations of Authority which express the operation policies of the GEC service line. Manages program inquiries, document validation, and development of revised or corrected actions regarding eligibility for program benefits. Furnishes information and performs in-depth researching services to beneficiaries concerning their rights and benefits with regard to the Veteran Affairs' programs under laws administered by the VA. Manages the data, information, establishes system for record tracking for auditing and joint commission purposes. Certifies invoices specific to the State Veteran Home programs being administered using the Department of Veterans Affairs Financial Service Center portal. Develops procedures and systems for establishing, operating, and assessing the effectiveness of administrative control operating programs and the accomplishment, evaluation, and monitoring of audits and inspections. Responsible for regular monitoring and auditing of the program for regulatory compliance, financial cost estimations for funding, monitoring obligations, authorizations, and expenditures, working with the fiscal team to manage cost estimation and authorization processes. The program specialist is expected to work with the ability to manage and understand complexities with the Domiciliary program (DOM). This includes "residential care" within the DOM which is defined as encounters between Veterans and providers within the VA health care system that require an overnight stay in residential bed areas, Per VHA Handbook 1006.02. Responsible for examining and evaluating relevant documentation related to applications submitted for determination under the SHPD program and analyze and apply judgment and discretion to the extent required in the performance of their duties. Provides technical and professional expertise in interpreting and applying administrative and clinical eligibility and enrollment laws, regulations and procedures related to health care eligibility. Experience managing SHPD program operations, including detailed review and validation of application packets (10-10SH, 10-10EZ, H&P, DD214) and ensuring full compliance with VHA policies, or equivalent duties. 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 - Friday, 8am - 4:30pm Compressed/Flexible: At Management's Discretion Position Description/PD#: Program Specialist/PD14135O Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Qualifications: To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 05/15/2026. 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-07 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05. For a GS-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07. 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: GS-07 Level Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-05 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: providing program/administrative support; reviewing material for grammar, neatness, technical accuracy, adherence to established format. Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have one full year of graduate level education; 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 as listed above. GS-09 Level Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-07 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: providing program/administrative support to leadership; reviewing material for grammar, neatness, technical accuracy, adherence to established format; and being responsible for the day to day operations of an office. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have a master's or equivalent degree, or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree. 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 the first full year of graduate education. Preferred Experience 1. Experience managing SHPD program operations, including detailed review and validation of application packets 10-10SH, 10-10EZ, H&P, DD214 and ensuring full compliance with VHA policies or equivalent duties. 2. Experience with SHPD financial processes, including fund control point management, authorizations/obligations, monthly reconciliation, invoice validation, 10-5588 processing, census-based cost projections, and FSC portal submissions or equivalent duties. 3. Experience conducting financial and workload audits for multiple sites, identifying discrepancies, correcting misclassified residential programs, and preparing audit-ready documentation for Joint Commission and GEC requirements or equivalent duties. 4. Experience developing and maintaining program tracking systems, performing data quality checks, preparing financial/workload reports, and maintaining secure, compliant records equivalent duties. 5. Experience interpreting and applying VHA directives and SHPD program guidelines, identifying policy impacts, recommending changes to leadership, and coordinating with State Veterans Homes, VISN offices, and internal service lines or equivalent duties. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Attention to Detail Customer Service Decision Making Flexibility Integrity/Honesty Interpersonal Skills Learning Reading Comprehension Reasoning Self-Management Stress Tolerance Teamwork 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: Work of the position is mainly sedentary although some slight physical effort may be required using computers. Work outside normal business hours and occasional travel to other VA and non-VA locations in the community 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: 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 05/15/2026 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12952715. 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. 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/ 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: 2026-05-15