Supervisory Veterinary Medical Officer (Laboratory Animal Medicine)

Supervisory Veterinary Medical Officer (Laboratory Animal Medicine)

Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

Location(s): Charleston, South Carolina

Salary Range: $147945 - $192331 Per Year

Job Summary: This position serves as the Veterinary Medical Officer (VMO) to direct the Veterinary Medical Unit (VMU)/Animal Research Facility (ARF) of the Research & Development Service at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Health Care System (RHJVAHCS), Charleston, SC. The incumbent serves as the institutional attending veterinarian with oversight, supervision, and direction of the Animal Care and Use Program.

Major Duties:

• This is a non-bargaining unit position. VA offers a comprehensive total rewards package: VA Total Rewards Work Schedule: Full-time; Monday - Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm Compressed/Flexible Schedule: Not Available Telework: Not Available Duty Location Status: Will work from a VA owned or leased space Position Description Title/PD#: Supervisory Veterinary Medical Officer (Laboratory Animal Medicine)/ PD353060 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required Physical Demands: Professional work is primarily sedentary and involves some physical exertion to inspect or investigate conditions, products, facilities, and small and large animal subjects housed and treated within the Veterinary Medical Unit and may include the need to stand for an extended period of time during surgical procedures. Supervisory Probationary Statement: Applicants selected for this position may be required to serve a one-year supervisory probationary period. Failure to successfully complete the supervisory probationary period will result in the employee being reassigned to a position in the agency of no lower grade and pay than the one the employee left to accept the supervisory or managerial position. As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider: your performance and conduct; the needs and interests of the agency; whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service. Upon completion of your probationary period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest. Major Duties: Provide professional guidance and technical support to the health care facility's investigators in planning, executing, and directing research and development activities involving animals. This is accomplished through consultation, guidance and advice on the comparative biology and medicine, technology, husbandry, medical and surgical care, and the selection, procurement, preparation, and use of laboratory animals. Ensure adequate caretaker staffing and proper support of animal research projects at the facility. Initiate and/or review requests for equipment used in the animal research facility and plans for animal research facility construction and renovation. Research and evaluate policy issues that are central to the Agency's mission. Work involves comparing and contrasting current and future policies and strategies in force to formulate appropriate strategies for addressing problems, to develop timetables to ensure prompt action, and to institute efficient follow-up procedures. Monitor quality program implementation and indicators designed to prevent erroneous transactions and ineffective work practices and to verify adherence to quality plans and requirements. Formulate alternative courses of action for the solution of issues, provide Agency officials with recommendations and follow up to ensure agreed upon action is carried out. Serve on review committees, study groups and task forces charged with the review and development of agency policies, procedures, guidelines, and standards.

Qualifications: To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 04/01/2026. 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-15 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-14. 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. Provide a copy of your last or most recent SF-50, "Notification of Personnel Action" to indicate your current federal status. You must also submit additional SF-50(s) to clearly demonstrate one year time-in-grade as required in the announcement. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate that you possess one year time-in-grade. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one year time-in-grade. 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. AND You may qualify based on your education/experience as described below. A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. BASIC REQUIREMENTS: Applicants must meet the following basic education and licensure requirements: Education: Possess a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) or equivalent degree, i.e., Veterinary Medical Doctor (VMD), obtained at a college or school of veterinary medicine accredited by the AVMA Council on Education; OR Graduate from a foreign veterinary medical school not accredited by the AVMA Council on Education possessing one of the following: Proof of certification of final transcript by the Educational Commission for Foreign Veterinary Graduates (ECFVG); OR Current, permanent, full and unrestricted license to practice veterinary medicine in a State, District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or a territory of the United States that includes successful completion of the North American Veterinary Licensing Examination (NAVLE) or its predecessors, the National Board Examination (NBE) and the Clinical Competency Test (CCT); OR Proof that the education obtained in a foreign veterinary medical program is equivalent to that gained in a veterinary medical program that is accredited by the AVMA Council on Education. Under this provision, equivalency is established only if an AVMA-accredited veterinary medical school or college accepts the graduate's final transcript from the foreign veterinary medical school at full value for placement into an advanced degree, postgraduate educational program or training program (e.g., residency or graduate program); AND Graduates of foreign veterinary medical programs must also provide proof of proficiency in the English language by successfully completing one of the nationally and internationally recognized examinations that incorporate assessments of reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. Examples of examinations that assess mastery of the English language include: Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) - Minimum scores for the TOEFL are 560 for the paper-based version; 220 for the computer-based version; or overall score of 83 for the internet-based version (including 26 or higher in speaking, 26 or higher in listening, and 17 or higher in writing). For the computer-based and paper-based test versions, applicants must also complete the Test of Spoken English (TSE) and the Test of Written English (TWE). Minimum required scores are 55 for the TSE and 5.5 for the TWE; OR Academic tests (listening, writing and speaking) offered by the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). Applicants must achieve a minimum overall band score of 7.0, with at least 7.0 in speaking, 6.5 in listening, and 6.0 in writing; OR Canadian Academic English Language Assessment (CAEL). Applicants must achieve a minimum overall band score of 70, with at least 60 in speaking, 60 in listening, and 50 in writing. Licensure: Possess a current, permanent, full and unrestricted license to practice veterinary medicine in a State, District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or a territory of the United States that includes successful completion of the NAVLE or its predecessors, the NBE and the CCT. An employee who enters this occupation with the basic requirement for licensure, but fails to maintain licensure must be immediately removed from the occupation, which may also result in termination of employment. At the discretion of the appointing official, an employee who fails to maintain licensure may be reassigned to another occupation for which he/she qualifies if a placement opportunity exists. AND GRADE LEVEL REQUIREMENTS. In addition to meeting the basic requirements, applicants must meet the grade level requirements for the position for which they wish to be considered. Applicants may qualify for each grade level through the attainment of specialized experience, residency or post-graduate training, or board certification as indicated below: Specialized Experience: Specialized experience must demonstrate the ability of the applicant to independently perform the veterinary medical duties required for the position. Only experience gained after completing the basic education requirements described above and in a biomedical research setting in which Public Health Service Policy and United States Department of Agriculture Animal Welfare Act Regulations were applied under the jurisdiction of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee is creditable. Experience gained at a pet veterinary clinic with species commonly used in research does not count towards meeting the specialized experience requirements. To be creditable, applicants must have one year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-14) in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience is defined as: Oversight of an animal research facility; providing medical treatment to animals; providing guidance on animal model development; Leadership and guidance regarding animal research; compiling data and preparation of reports; development of policies, procedures and administration of biomedical and pre-clinical science research programs. Residency and Post-Graduate Training: Residency or post-graduate training in an ACLAM- approved program is creditable towards meeting the grade level requirements. The discipline or specialty of the residency or post-graduate training program must be laboratory animal medicine, laboratory animal science or in an area directly related to the practice of laboratory animal medicine. Applicants must demonstrate successful completion of a residency or post-graduate training program or a level of satisfactory progression in the residency or post-graduate training program. The number of years of residency or postgraduate training required for the GS-15 grade level is as follows: 5 years of progressively responsible training in an ACLAM-approved internship, residency program or fellowship training program. (continued in Education section)

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 04/01/2026 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12901902. 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/ 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: 2026-04-01