Supervisory Social Science Program Specialist

Supervisory Social Science Program Specialist

Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

Location(s): Anywhere in the U.S. (remote job), United States

Salary Range: $89508 - $145468 Per Year

Job Summary: The employee will serve as the Supervisory Social Science Program Specialist, located in the Office of Mental health and Suicide Prevention , Veterans Crisis Line, Veterans Affair (VA). The VCL is a 24-hour, 7-days-a-week, 365-days-a-year service aimed at connecting callers worldwide to a caring, qualified Veterans Administration employee. The VCL's mission is to provide 24/7, world-class suicide prevention and crisis intervention services to Veterans, Service Members and their family members.

Major Duties:

• Major duties include but are not limited to: Supervises Training staff by providing administrative and technical supervision necessary for accomplishing the work of the unit. Establishes guidelines and performance expectations for staff, which are clearly communicated through both formal and informal performance management evaluations. Observes staff's performance, providing performance and productivity input and taking appropriate steps to recommend and/or effect changes when needed to enhance employee and section performance. Assures that employees are trained or otherwise familiar with duties/responsibilities and Office of Mental health and Suicide Prevention (OMHSP _policies and procedures. Assures subordinates are adequately trained to perform their assigned duties, recommending additional training when needed or required to enhance employee development. Performs supervisory duties within the scope of existing OMHSP policies and within the scope of the negotiated labor contract. Resolves informal complaints and grievances. Recommends personnel actions, including disciplinary and performance-based actions. Makes recommendations for recognition of special contributions and/or superior performance by employees. Analyzes and evaluates, on a quantitative and qualitative basis, the effectiveness of training programs and initiatives in meeting established goals and objectives. Continuous oversight of assigned program areas for effectiveness is essential and directly impacts OMHSP organizations in meeting its mission and goals. Evaluating and analyzing training needs, assigning workload, reviewing processes, and assessing functional requirements of all training activities from contact center operations to social science services. Provides guidance and technical direction to staff for accomplishing the work of the unit. Plans and distributes work, assigns projects/tasks, balances workload, keeps track of the status and progress of work, estimates and reports completion of work, provides instruction and guidance to employees, responds to questions and inquiries, resolves recurring problems and discrepancies, develops basic procedural guidelines, provides on-the-job training and reviews/evaluates work of subordinate employees and making basic recommendations. Performs work related to coordinating and assigning projects for the development and implementation of training course or course materials. Coordinates activities associated with significant matters such as tuition assistance, policies, course prerequisites, learning objectives, and training contents, instructional methods, assessments, failure and attrition, employee developmental needs, etc. Provides training advice and guidance in the areas of training course development/design, delivery, evaluation and modification. Oversees development work of courses for training programs. Conducts fact-finding and analyses which contribute to research in a specific field of competence; have curriculum coordination responsibilities; and represent the organization at professional and public gatherings, lectures and panel discussions. Arranges and moderates' seminars and conferences, provides guidance to trainers and learners, and participates in panel discussions. Participates with a training committee, academic department head, or higher-level instructor in determining specific topics covered by the course. Performs work associated with the evaluation of courses for training programs. Plans and conducts studies which evaluate and predict program achievements and student performance, and prepares interpretations of results and recommendations. Performs work involving review and modification of training courses. Conducts studies and analyses in functional specialty or subject matter areas. Analyzes educational or instructional problems or questions involving a functional specialty area of education and training, a subject- matter area, or may involve a grouping of courses. Performs other duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Tour of duty is typically administrative hours. Flexible schedule may be available after training. VCL has multiple tours that cover our 24/7/365 operations (this does include Holidays). Tour is subject to change based on program needs. Remote: This is remote position. Position Description/PD#: Supervisory Social Science Program Specialist/PD06809A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not required Financial Disclosure Report: Not required This is not a bargaining unit position

Qualifications: To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 05/04/2026. 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-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11. 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: INDIVIDUAL OCCUPATIONAL REQUIREMENT (IOR): An IOR is a basic requirement that must be met in order to qualify for entry into this job series, and it is something that can't be waived. The education must be accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education at the time the degree was obtained. To qualify for the Social Science 0101 occupational series, applicants MUST possess one of the following: Degree: behavioral or social science; or related disciplines appropriate to the position. OR Combination of education and experience that provided the applicant with knowledge of one or more of the behavioral or social sciences equivalent to a major in the field. OR Four years of appropriate experience that demonstrated that the applicant has acquired knowledge of one or more of the behavioral or social sciences equivalent to a major in the field. NOTE: Examples of related behavioral or social science degrees are as follows: psychology, social work, sociology, family counseling, mental health counseling, nursing, ministry, and criminal justice. In addition to the above Individual Occupational Requirements (IOR), applicants must meet the Specialized Experience. SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: Specialized Experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular competencies/knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position and is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled. For GS-12, you must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-11 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. In order to meet the minimum qualifications for this position, you must meet 3/5 of the following examples of specialized experience: Designing, evaluating, and developing employee development programs, training plans, course methods, materials, and aids. Coordinating and assigning projects for the development and implementation of training courses or course materials. Leading or supervising a fast-paced, diverse team by providing administrative and technical supervision necessary for accomplishing the work of the unit. Experience providing administrative and technical supervision necessary for accomplishing the work of the unit. Assuring subordinates are adequately trained to perform their assigned duties, recommending additional training when needed. PREFERRED EXPERIENCE: Must possess advanced skills in providing feedback and constructive criticism that promotes successful learning and behavioral change. Developed expertise in the broad functional or specialized area of education and psychological services. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Managing Human Resources Project Management Requirements Analysis 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. 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 questionnaire and submission of the required documentation specified in the How to Apply and Required Documents section. 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 application questionnaire, clickhttps://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12943685 . 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 date05/04/2026, . If you are required to complete any USA Hire Assessments, you will be notified after submitting your application. The notification will be provided in your application submission screen and via email. The notification will include your unique assessment access link to the USA Hire system and the completion deadline. Additionally, in USAJOBS you can click "Track this application" to return to your assessment completion notice. Access USA Hire using your unique assessment link. Access is granted through your USAJOBS login credentials. Review all instructions prior to beginning your assessments. You will have the opportunity to request a testing accommodation before beginning the assessments should you have a disability covered under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended. 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 later, you can re-use your unique assessment link. NOTE: 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 update your application, including supporting documentation: During the announcement open period, return to your USAJOBS account, find your application record, and click Edit my application. This option will no longer be available once the announcement has closed.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: 2026-05-04