IT Specialist

Summary This position is located in Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Office of Information and Technology (OIT) serving as an IT Specialist providing central engineering services and develops the technical framework promoting one technology vision across VA, supporting system optimization, integration, and interoperability throughout the enterprise. Learn more about this agency Duties OIT Mission: The mission of the Office of Information and Technology (OIT) is to collaborate with our business partners to create the best experience for all Veterans. OIT Vision: To become a world-class organization that provides a seamless, unified Veteran experience through the delivery of state-of-the-art technology. Major Duties: Provide expert level engineering, architecture, and design for VA's IT infrastructure services within the platform. Ensures the organization's strategic plans, mission, vision, and values are communicated to the team and integrated into the team's strategies, goals, objectives, work plans, and work product services. Serves as a resource for other team members performing non-supervisory IT work. Communicates to the team the assignments, projects, problems to be solved, actionable events, milestones, and/or program issues under review, deadlines and timeframes for completion. Position Description/PD#: IT Specialist/PD19377A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required Telework: No - ADHOC telework may be authorized at management discretion. Travel Required: Up to 25% travel may be required for this position. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00am-4:30pm; Tour of duty may be subject to change based on organizational needs. Compressed/Flexible: As determined by the Agency Policy. Virtual: This is NOT a virtual position. Physical Demands: The work is sedentary. Some work may require walking and standing in conjunction with travel and to attendance at meetings and conferences away from the work site. Some employees may carry light items, such as papers, books, or small parts, or drive a motor vehicle. The work does not require any special physical effort. The work often requires long hours, including weekend and evening hours, to meet project deadlines and to devise corrective actions and solutions to unexpected technical and/or management crises resulting in sometimes highly stressful work situations. The work requires continual use of a video display device. Working Conditions: The work area is adequately lighted, heated, and ventilated. The work environment involves everyday risks or discomforts that require normal safety precautions. This position requires extensive travel to VA Central Office and other VA installations throughout the United States. Designated Drug Testing Position: Not applicable Requirements Conditions of employment You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 You may be required to serve a probationary period. Subject to background/security investigation A complete application package; Resume, SF-50s, etc. Only resumes up to TWO total pages will be accepted. Resumes must be legible so they can be reviewed for position requirements listed in the job announcement. File size must not exceed 5MB. Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment. This is NOT a remote position. OI&T has multiple worksites at various duty locations, and the individual(s) selected may be assigned to any federal government work site. This announcement will NOT be used to change duty locations. If selected, and you are a current VA employee, and not on an approved exemption, you will continue to report to your current duty location. Resumes must be legible so they can be reviewed for eligibility, minimum qualifications and other position requirements listed in the job announcement. 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. Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 06/03/2026. Applicants must meet all requirements when a request is received to fill a vacancy. You may qualify based on your experience as described below: Basic Requirements Experience: Experience must be IT related; the experience may be demonstrated by paid or unpaid experience and/or completion of specific, intensive training (for example, IT certification), as appropriate. For all positions individuals must have IT-related experience, demonstrating each of the four competencies listed below. The employing agency is responsible for identifying the specific level of proficiency required for each competency at each grade level based on the requirements of the position being filled. Attention to Detail - Is thorough when performing work and conscientious about attending to detail. Customer Service - Works with clients and customers (that is, any individuals who use or receive the services or products that your work unit produces, including the general public, individuals who work in the agency, other agencies, or organizations outside the Government) to assess their needs, provide information or assistance, resolve their problems, or satisfy their expectations; knows about available products and services; is committed to providing quality products and services. Oral Communication - Expresses information (for example, ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (for example, technical, sensitive, controversial); makes clear and convincing oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately. Problem Solving - Identifies problems; determines accuracy and relevance of information; uses sound judgment to generate and evaluate alternatives, and to make recommendations. AND Selective Placement Factor: In addition to the minimum qualifications described above, you must meet the following requirement(s) to be considered qualified for the position: Experience with enterprise infrastructure engineering; platforms, storage, hybrid cloud, cloud and/or data center and telecommunications infrastructure engineering at a large enterprise or government agency (over 200,000 employees, over 100 facilities, over 20,000 servers). AND Specialized Experience: You must possess one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-13 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience for this position is defined as: Experience with enterprise platform, storage, and telecommunications engineering. This experience must include expert level design, integration, and life-cycle management of large scale IT infrastructure supporting mission critical healthcare and benefits systems; mastery of engineering policies, processes, standards, and best practices for compute, data, storage, networking and telecommunications, and platform services; and demonstrated leadership of cross functional infrastructure projects from requirements through implementation and operations. Specialized experience must also include applying capital investment and business case analysis such as cost benefit, total cost of ownership, and return on investment to enterprise infrastructure solutions, aligning recommendations with VA capital planning regulations, policies, cybersecurity requirements, and strategic business needs, and translating complex technical options into clear, risk informed, business focused recommendations for senior leadership. 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. Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members. 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/. Education There is no educational substitution at this grade level. Additional information Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act. The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced 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/. 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. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. If selected you will be required to report to one of the following locations: Location Negotiable after selection: Los Angeles, CA Long Beach, CA Oakland, CA Anaheim, CA Denver, CO Aurora, CO Atlanta, GA Orlando, FL Tampa, FL St. Petersburg, FL Hines, IL Detroit, MI Eatontown, NJ Albany, NY Cleveland, OH Philadelphia, PA Pittsburgh, PA Nashville, TN Davidson, TN Murfreesboro, TN Austin, TX Houston, TX San Antonio, TX Salt Lake City, UT Martinsburg, WV Shepherdstown, WV Washington, DC If space is not immediately available a temporary exception to telework may be granted. If/when workspace is identified, the employee is expected to report to their assigned duty location. Expand Hide  additional information Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution. Benefits A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits. Review our benefits Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.