IT Specialist

Summary Join the Connectivity and Collaboration Service (CCS) under OIT and be part of VA's digital transformation. CCS designs and maintains world-class connectivity, collaboration, and support services with secure, redundant, and reliable connections across the enterprise. We deliver a delightful user experience, empowering internal and external VA customers, with robust offerings for video and web conferencing, telephony, secure messaging, and more, built on a resilient network infrastructure. Responsibilities Contributes to IT Tower management performance measures, baselines, and spend analysis processes. Develops surveys and approaches and implements expenditure analysis processes. Evaluates procedures and tests methods of analyzing specific information technologies. Advises technical staff and provides recommendations to management on complicated or unusual problems. Serves as a project manager, carrying out assignments involving multifaceted and complex problems that are handled through individual projects and/or technical studies. Work with peers, leaders, and technical staff to provide service implementations, advise and provide guidance to customers, and comply with best practices and processes. Provides expert technical advice, guidance and recommendations to senior leadership, management and technical specialists on critical, complex, and controversial IT Tower management issues ensuring integration of key program activities Position is bargaining unit eligible. This position is primarily aligned to the following NICE Cybersecurity Workforce Framework work roles: 641 - System Requirements Planning: Responsible for consulting with internal and external customers to evaluate and translate functional requirements and integrating security policies into technical solutions. Promotion Potential: The position is at Full Performance Level Work Schedule: Mon-Fri 8am - 4:30pm Compressed/Flexible: available at the manager's discretion. Telework: VA supports the use of telework as a way to help attract and retain talented individuals in public service, increase worker productivity, and better prepare the agency to operate during emergencies. This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: IT Specialist/PD18501A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized. Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized. Physical Requirements: The work is primarily sedentary, but there may be occasional walking, standing, bending and carrying of light items. The work required does not inherently include any physical requirements essential for successful job performance that could not otherwise be performed with accommodation or workplace adjustment. Requirements Conditions of Employment You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job. A pre-placement physical examination is not required. You may be required to serve a probationary period. Subject to background/security investigation. 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 identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment. 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. All required documents must be uploaded at the time you submit your application. The system supports only one submission. Applicants will not be able to edit their application or upload additional documents once it has been submitted. Applications that are incomplete-including those missing required documentation-will not be considered. Applicants are responsible for reviewing the Required Documents section and ensuring all mandatory materials are included prior to submission. Note: Applicants will not be contacted for missing information. It is the applicant's responsibility to provide all documentation necessary to determine qualification and eligibility. Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 10/16/2026. You may qualify based on your experience as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-12 or equivalent in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Analyzing, designing, developing, or provisioning telecommunications infrastructure, including moves, changes, or new installations; translating functional requirements into technical solutions for new or modified IT/telecommunications systems, such as cost estimates, use cases, or design specifications; applying capital planning regulations and policies to evaluate IT program effectiveness, efficiency, or total cost of ownership; and advising management or technical staff on complex IT Tower management issues, including preparing documents to support programmatic recommendations. 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 This is not a remote position. OIT 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 for changing 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. If selected you will be required to report to one of the following locations: Oakland, CA, Washington, DC, Hines, IL, Eatontown, NJ, Albany, NY, Philadelphia, PA, Austin, TX, Salt Lake City, UT. Martinsburg, WV, Shepherdstown, WV., Little Rock, AR, North Little Rock, AR, Phoenix, AZ, Long Beach, CA, Los Angeles, CA, San Francisco, CA, Anaheim, CA, Denver, CO, Aurora, CO, Miami, FL, Orlando, FL, St. Petersburg, FL, Tampa, FL, Atlanta, GA, Chicago, IL, North Chicago, IL, Bedford, MA, Boston, MA, Baltimore, MD, Detroit, MI, Minneapolis, MN, St. Louis, MO, Cleveland, OH, Pittsburgh, PA, Nashville, TN, Davidson, TN, Murfreesboro, TN, Arlington, TX, Dallas, TX, Houston, TX, San Antonio, TX, SeaTac, WA, Seattle, WA. 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. 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. Receiving Service Credit or Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. VA may offer newly-appointed Federal employee's credit for their job-related non-federal experience or active duty uniformed military service. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement. 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/.