Environmental Protection Specialist
What you'd do
Environmental Protection Specialist is located at the Cincinnati, OH VA Medical Center, located in the Engineering Service. Environmental protection specialists play a central role in planning and administering environmental programs. Environmental Protection Programs deal with the environmental impacts of human activities on air, land, water, and other media.
Major duties
The Cincinnati VA Medical Center (CVAMC) is a two-division campus located in Cincinnati, OH and Fort Thomas, KY serving 15 counties in Southwest OH, Northern Kentucky, and Southeast Indiana with 6 Community Based Outpatient Clinics located in Bellevue, KY; Florence, KY; Lawrenceburg, IN; Hamilton, OH; Clermont County, OH, and Georgetown, OH. The CVAMC also supports two off main campus locations in the Cincinnati area via an Eye Center and Mental Health Outreach Community Division. Major Duties: The environmental protection specialist is responsible for GEMS program planning and implementation to assure compliance with environmental laws and regulation. The environmental protection specialist completes permits and leads facility self assessments, inspections, and other environmental investigations. The employee administers the GEMS program and is responsible for management of GEMS activities and internal reporting activities. The employee advises senior level management officials within the facility on the status of environmental programs and recommends changes in the design of facility work programs to meet new environmental requirements. The employee interacts with federal, state, and local environmental agencies with respect to facility environmental issues. The employee independently schedules and leads environmental audits to identify and evaluate program implementation and compliance activities. The employee trains other employees and lower grade environmental staff, providing instruction on a variety of subjects related to specific and specialized environmental topics. He/she adapts various available media to fit special and unique training requirements and participates in the development of novel or innovative environmental training and promotion activities. The employee participates in the facility GEMS committee. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 7:00am - 3:30pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Environmental Protection Specialist/PD91203O Physical Demands: The work includes frequent audits of waste storage areas and involves a good deal of walking, standing, bending, and climbing.
What you need to qualify
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 07/16/2026. 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-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-9. 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 as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-9 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: an understanding of environmental laws and regulations, knowledge of how to plan, organize, implement, and evaluate of environmental programs, practical knowledge of environmental sciences and related disciplines, and the relationship between environmental factors and human health and well-being; and practical knowledge of important historic and natural resources and the relationship between the preservation and management of these resources and environmental protection. The work also requires a knowledge and understanding of program principles and procedures, applying the knowledge, and solving complex problems to a range of duties in on or more program or functional area pertaining to environmental protection. The employee is required to possess the knowledge of statutes, regulations, and precedent decisions governing environmental operations sufficient to plan, implement, or monitor environmental programs and services. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have: Successful completion of a Ph.D., equivalent doctoral degree, or three (3) full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree, or LL.M., if related, from an accredited college or university. Such education must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to perform the work of this position. NOTE: You must submit a copy of your transcript with your application. Education cannot be credited without documentation. OR, Combination of Education and Experience: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have equivalent combinations of successfully completed graduate level education (beyond a master's degree) and specialized experience as described above to meet total experience requirements. 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. 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/.
Before you apply
Federal applications are different: your resume should be 3–5 pages and mirror the language of this announcement. Read our federal resume guide first — it's the #1 reason qualified people get screened out.
Don't miss the next one.
Get an email the moment a similar federal job opens — postings can close in as little as 5 days.