Program Specialist

Program Specialist

Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

Location(s): San Diego, California

Salary Range: $57641 - $91664 Per Year

Job Summary: VA San Diego's Program Specialist, drives operational excellence within Surgical Service. Partnering with Orthopedic and Podiatry leaders, this role analyzes performance, workload, and resources to improve efficiency and access. As a trusted advisor and project lead, the specialist advances data-driven solutions, strengthens coordination, and ensures high-quality, mission-focused care for Veterans.

Major Duties:

• As the Program Specialist, the incumbent will collaborate with the Orthopedic and Podiatry Section Chiefs in providing overall administrative and program support. The incumbent will also provide administrative support to other areas within the Surgery Service and complete special projects, as assigned, by the Administrative Officer in the Surgery Service. The incumbent participates in high priority projects and performs analysis of performance goals and improvement initiatives for the Orthopedic and Podiatry Sections. The incumbent advises Service Leadership based on evaluation and analysis of resource, workload and productivity data for the Orthopedic and Podiatry Sections that leads to performance improvement and organizational efficiency. Major duties include, but are not limited to: Serves as an evaluator, advisor and performance improvement advocate for the Sections and the inter-service activities in which the Orthopedics and Podiatry plays a role Serves as Consult Manager for the Orthopedic and Podiatry Sections ensuring consults are addressed timely and appropriately. Performs program cost analyses such as development of life cycle times, or performance of cost benefit or economic evaluations of programs/initiatives. Independently conducts cost-effectiveness studies for clinical or administrative programs with service-wide and/or facility-wide impact. Analyzes scheduling/overbooking trends, workload variations, labor mapping and potential problems and inconsistencies by monitoring and reviewing clinical capacity, patient appointment lead times, anticipated workload and provider schedules and duty hours. Develops reports and visual aids to track and explain trends to communicate information to the Section Chief(s) for evaluation and modification of program operations and milestones. Administrative responsibilities include service specific performance measures, monitoring clinic access, the consult and encounters processes, assist in identifying clinical personnel needs, patient satisfaction, patient flow and will provide data for service strategic business planning for subspecialties in both Orthopedic Surgery and Podiatry. Develops procedures and systems for establishing, operating and assessing the effectiveness of administrative control systems and line or operating programs. Evaluates processes, or makes recommendations for effective programmatic and organizational changes Provides advice on the distribution of workload among positions within the Program, and the skill mix or categories of employees needed to perform the work. Develops proposals that involve comprehensive analysis prior to recommending significant changes in workforce distribution, positions and/or functional responsibility. Develops manpower utilization proposals. Performs budgetary analysis and fund control point management for the Orthopedic and Podiatry Sections. Assists with the formulation of new policies and procedures and revises existing Medical Center and Service-wide policies and procedures as necessary. Drafts new and revised Medical Center Memoranda and similar documents that become official Medical Center policy upon review and concurrence of senior hospital leadership. Drafts responses to action items tasked through the Chief of Staff, Director's Office, VISN or VACO. Prepares controlled correspondence and researches and provides written responses to patient complaints directed towards Surgery Service providers and employees (primarily within the Orthopedic and Podiatry Sections). Acts as recorder and transcribes notes from the meetings. Types final minutes for approval of the appropriate Chief(s) and distributes minutes to all members and higher level approving officials. Reviews correspondence and documents prepared for signature of or requiring coordination by the Chief(s) for conformance with regulations, grammar and format. On own initiative, returns such communications to the originator when not in conformance with known policies or correspondence regulations. Performs work involving the collection, compilation, and/or tracking of data and statistical information in support of the assigned sections. Assists in the planning, review and reporting of data/statistical results of program/project studies 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: Full-time, Monday-Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Program Specialist/PD09701A 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, 03/13/2026. 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) appoint You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-5 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to collaborating with the Section Chiefs, providing administrative support in completing special projects, participating in high priority projects and performing analysis of performance goals and improvement initiatives. NOTE: Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hours worked per week. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have (1) full year of successfully completed graduate level education that demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of this position. NOTE: Education at the graduate level must have been obtained in an accredited college or university and transcripts must be submitted with application. Education cannot be credited without documentation. OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education directly related to the work of the position. The total percentages must equal at least 100 percent to qualify for that grade level as outlined above for the GS-07 level. NOTE: If using education combined with specialized experience to qualify, a copy of your transcript is required. GS-09 Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-7 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to collaborating with the Section Chiefs, providing administrative support in completing special projects, participating in high priority projects and performing analysis of performance goals and improvement initiatives. NOTE: Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hours worked per week. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have (2) years of progressively higher-level graduate education or masters or equivalent graduate degree or LL.B. or J.D., in a related field of the position to be filled. Education at the graduate level must have been obtained in an accredited college or university and must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of this position. NOTE: Transcripts must be submitted with application. Education cannot be credited without documentation. OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education directly related to the work of the position. The total percentages must equal at least 100 percent to qualify for that grade level as outlined above. Only graduate education in excess of the amount required for the next lower grade level may be used to qualify applicants for positions at grades GS-9 level . NOTE: If using education combined with specialized experience to qualify, a copy of your transcript is required. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Auditing Clerical Computer Skills Customer Service Technical Competence 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. Preferred Experience: 2 Years of progressive administrative experience. Physical Requirements: Work is primarily sedentary, although some slight physical effort 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 03/13/2026 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12900526. 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/ 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: 2026-03-13