IT Specialist (ENTARCH)

About the role

This position is in the Veteran Affairs Office of Information and Technology. Serving as a Senior Information Technology (IT) Specialist for End User Services (EUS), End User Operations (EUO), Endpoint Engineering (EE), Enterprise Endpoint Management and Reporting (EEMR).

EUS-EUO provides central engineering services and management of a technical framework promoting one technology vision across VA, which supports system optimization, integration, and interoperability throughout the enterprise.

What you will do

• Develops and maintains business, systems, and information processes to support enterprise mission needs; develops information technology (IT) rules and requirements that describe baseline and target architectures.
• Responsible for setting up and maintaining a system or specific components of a system (e.g. for example, installing, configuring, and updating hardware and software; establishing and managing user accounts; overseeing or conducting backup and recovery tasks; implementing operational and technical security controls; and adhering to organizational security policies and procedures).
• The incumbent plans, coordinates, and reviews the functions essential to providing business system application support and services associated with the implementation, sustainment and operation of Endpoint Management and Enterprise Reporting systems.
• Provides senior level consultation on enterprise initiatives regarding Reporting and enterprise-wide solutions for VA.
• Select and apply appropriate problem-solving methods and techniques, provide advice on work methods, practices and procedures, and identify parameters of a viable solution.
• Maintain program and administrative reference materials, project files and relevant back- ground documents and share available policies, procedures and written instructions from the supervisor; maintain current knowledge to answer questions from team members on procedures, policies, directives, etc. As a senior IT Specialist, work on high-visibility assignments that have a critical impact on VA's ability to analyze, develop and implement IT policy and programs.
• Prepare white papers, position papers and Executive Decision Memorandum describing results of evaluations/testing/ analyses and recommendations regarding VA's IT architecture, these documents will be used by national decision-making bodies in determining courses of action that will impact all VA.
• Plan, execute, policies, methodologies, and architecture solutions that establish the framework for VA's enterprise-wide authentication, authorization, and name resolution services.
• Evaluate operational activities and determines changes needed in procedures and policies.
• Using VA enterprise IT goals and objectives, draft targeted IT policies and plans in concert with other senior VA technical staff, subject matter experts (SMEs) and customers.
• Act as the primary Subject Matter Expert (SME) for the VA Enterprise Reporting architecture.
• Responsibilities include analysis of all aspects of the VA Enterprise Reporting and Endpoint Management technologies throughout the full engineering life cycle (i.e. from defining standard hardware configurations and settings to operations parameters and end of life management).
• This will include preparation of solution implementation and deployment to the VA enterprise, coordination of performance, capacity and other key metrics through the lifecycle of the project, upgrade and end of project lifecycle planning.
• Ensure that the organization's strategic plan, mission, vision and values are communicated to the team and integrated into the team's strategies, goals, objectives, work plans and work products and services. ***Additional duties required, within scope of the position description.*** This position is primarily aligned to the following NICE Cybersecurity Workforce Framework work roles of Cybersecurity Code: 451 & 651.
• For more information about these work roles, where they fit within the larger Cyber Workforce, and how they can support your unique career journey, please visit the Cyber Career Pathways tool on the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Careers and Studies website: *** Position Description/PD#: IT Specialist (ENTARCH)/PD19167A Bargaining Unit: No Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized.
• Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized.
• Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required.
• Travel Required: Up to 25%.
• Occasional travel may be required as needed for this position.
• Work Schedule: Monday-Friday; 800AM to 4:30PM EST.
• (Tour of duty may be subject to change based on organizational needs).
• Compressed/Flexible: May be available/authorized, at Manager's discretion, determined by the Agency Policy.
• Telework: (AdHoc) Authorized at Manager's discretion.
• Virtual/Remote: This is NOT a virtual NOR a remote position.
• Physical Demands: The work is sedentary working at a keyboard and monitor.
• 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, or drive a motor vehicle.
• Working Conditions: Work is performed in a typical computer operations environment.
• Rooms are well-lighted, air-conditioned office spaces with moderate noise from common office equipment.
• Computer equipment on the operations floor involves the use of high voltage electricity.

Requirements

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Selectee is subject to background/suitability investigation.
• Selected applicant will be required to complete an online onboarding process.
• This position is subject to pre-employment and random drug testing.
• Complete the initial online assessment and USAHire Assessment, if required.
• To be considered for this position, applicants must complete all required steps in the process.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process.
• Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (***).
• 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 may 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.
• This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

Education

EDUCATIONAL SUBSTITUTION: There is no educational substitution for this position at this grade level.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated based on how well you meet the qualifications listed in this vacancy announcement. Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), your responses on the application questionnaire, and your responses to all assessments required for this position.

You will be assessed on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics): The USA Hire Assessment includes a cut score based on the minimum level of required proficiency in these critical general competencies.

You must meet or exceed the cut score to be considered.

You will not be considered for the position if you score below the cut score or fail to complete the assessment.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC.

WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE.

Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration. Cheating on an assessment may also result in your removal from consideration. In order to be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process.

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 include your name, contact phone number and contact email address, and 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. 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. Placement Policy: The posting of this announcement does not obligate management to fill a vacancy or vacancies by promotion. The position may be filled by reassignment, change to lower grade, transfer, appointment, or reinstatement.

Management may use any one or any combination of these methods to fill the position. It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment. Veterans' Preference: Since the Direct-Hire Recruitment Authority is being used, traditional Veterans' Preference rules do not apply.

Qualified veterans will, however, be given full consideration for this position.

Documents you must provide

• To apply for this position, you must submit a complete Application Package which includes one or more of the following documents.
• Please use this checklist to make sure you have included documents required for your application.
• You will not be contacted for additional information: Resume which includes a list of all significant jobs held and duties performed, dates specified in month and year format, and the two-page resume must reflect full and/or part-time or total number of hours worked (i.e., work 40+ hours a week, rather than indicating full-time).
• If part-time, the hours must be annotated to be able to pro-rate the amount of qualified specialized experience.
• If military or civilian, please include your rank and/or grade.
• Resumes longer than two pages will result in ineligibility for further consideration for the position.
• Complete All Required Assessments.
• SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action (if applicable for Time in Grade and/or Eligibility): ELIGIBILTY SF-50: If you are a current or former Federal employee to verify your eligibility, provide your most recent pay adjustment SF-50 (current federal employee) OR Separation SF-50 (former federal employee) TIME IN GRADE SF-50's: To verify your time in grade, please provide one to two additional NON-AWARD SF-50's, spanning one year, showing you meet the time in grade requirements specified within the vacancy announcement.
• Examples of appropriate SF-50's include: Within grade increases at the highest grade held; or Promotions with an effective date more than one year old; or SF-50's at the highest grade held with an effective date more than one year old.
• If you are a former Federal employee who previously held a career or career-conditional position in the competitive service and separated from the Federal Government over a year ago and you are requesting non-competitive consideration you must submit a copy of your last SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action that demonstrates your eligibility for consideration and a copy of your last Federal Performance appraisal with a rating of at least Fully Successful (or equivalent).
• Documentation that you meet Selective Placement Factors, if applicable.
• Veterans' Preference documentation, if applicable (e.g., DD-214 Member Copy 4 showing type of discharge/character of service, SF-15 Form and related documentation, VA letter, etc.) Documentation is required to award preference.
• For more information on Veterans' Preference, please visit ***
• When applying for Federal Jobs, eligible Veterans should claim preference for 5pt (TP), 10pt (CP/CPS/XP), or for Sole Survivor Preference (SSP) in the questionnaire.
• You must provide a legible copy of your DD214(s) which shows dates and character of service (honorable, general, etc.).
• If you are currently serving on active duty and expect to be released or discharged within 120 days you must submit documentation related to your active-duty service which reflects the dates of service, character of service (honorable, general, etc.), and dates of impending separation.
• Additionally, disabled veterans and others eligible for 10-point preference (such as widows or mothers of eligible Veterans) must also submit an SF-15 "Application for 10 Point Veteran Preference" with required proof as stated on the form.
• If your application is rated as well-qualified (score 85 or above) and you are claiming special priority selection rights under the Interagency/Career Transition Assistance Program (I/CTAP) submit: a copy of your agency notice, a copy of your most recent performance rating, and a copy of your most recent SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action, noting your current position, grade level, and duty location.
• Do not submit photographs with your application package.
• Documents with photographs may not be seen by hiring officials - you must remove your image from any badges, licenses, etc. Do not upload Adobe portfolio documents.
• Adobe portfolio documents are not viewable by our agency's staffing offices.
• Please review the above list(s) to ensure you have included all necessary documents required for your application.
• Not every applicant will require the same documents, therefore it is the applicants responsibility to ensure that their application package includes all necessary documents to determine qualifications and eligibility for appointment, such as a copy of your SF-50, transcript, ICTAP/CTAP documentation (for displaced Federal employees).
• Applicants will be deemed ineligible if supporting documentation is not submitted.
• You will not be contacted for additional information.
• 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.

What to expect next

Once your online application is submitted you will receive a confirmation notification by email. After we receive application packages (including all required assessments and documents) and the vacancy announcement closes, we will review applications to ensure qualification and eligibility requirements are met.

After the review is complete, a referral certificate(s) is issued, and applicants will be notified of their status by email. Referred applicants will be notified as such and may be contacted directly by the hiring office for an interview. All referred applicants receive a final notification once a selection decision has been made.

If you are referred for consideration, you may be asked to submit additional job related information, which may include, but not limited to; responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities; completion of a work sample, and/or contact for an interview. Your resume and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully.

Errors or omissions may affect your rating or consideration for employment.

The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate's abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

Additional information

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. 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: Albany, NY Arlington, TX Atlanta, GA Austin, TX Baltimore, MD Bedford, MA Boston, MA Chicago, IL Cleveland, OH Dallas, TX Denver, CO Detroit, MI Eatontown, NJ Hines, IL Houston, TX Little Rock, AR Long Beach, CA Los Angeles, CA Martinsburg, WV Miami, FL Minneapolis, MN Nashville, TN Oakland, CA Orlando, FL Philadelphia, PA Phoenix, AZ Pittsburgh, PA Salt Lake City, UT San Antonio, TX San Francisco, CA Seattle, WA Shepherdstown, WV St. Louis, MO St. Petersburg, FL Tampa, FL 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. A selectee receiving a first appointment to the Federal Government (Civil Service) is entitled only to the lowest step of the grade for which selected. The display of a salary range on this vacancy shall not be construed as granting an entitlement to a higher rate of pay.

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. 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.