Administrative Specialist
What you'd do
The Administrative Specialist provides comprehensive administrative support to Surgical Service, performing a wide range of functions that include analysis, coordination, and technical assistance for both clinical and business operations. This role is essential to the effective and efficient delivery of services and requires the ability to work independently, manage sensitive information, and interact professionally with staff, patients, and external stakeholders.
Major duties
Duties include but are not limited to: Provide administrative and analytical support to Surgical Service at VA Palo Alto Health Care System, including coordinating day-to-day office operations and acting as a primary administrative resource for surgical leadership. Develop, track, and maintain program data and reports, compiling workload statistics, performance measures, and other management information to support planning, budgeting, and decision-making for the service. Prepare, edit, and route a wide range of correspondence and documents, such as memoranda, briefing materials, policies, and meeting minutes, ensuring accuracy, proper formatting, and compliance with VA/VHA requirements. Manage scheduling and logistics for the service, including arranging meetings and conferences, maintaining shared calendars, coordinating travel, and ensuring required materials and resources are available for providers and leaders. Perform procurement and fiscal support functions, such as initiating and tracking purchase requests, reconciling orders, monitoring fund usage, and maintaining records to ensure compliance with VA purchasing and audit requirements. Support human resources-related actions for the service by assisting with recruitment packages, onboarding requests, position descriptions, timekeeping documentation, and other staffing or personnel paperwork. Coordinate the processing and onboarding of trainees, medical students, residents, and fellows rotating in Surgical Service. Serve as a customer service and liaison point of contact between VAPAHCS and affiliate universities to develop and maintain agreements, collaborate with Residency Program Coordinators to manage rotation schedules, and address any related issues. Respond to inquiries from staff, patients, and other services, routing issues to appropriate offices, and helping to resolve administrative or operational problems. Develop and maintain office systems and files, including electronic and hard-copy records, standard operating procedures, and tracking tools to ensure information is organized, current, and available for audits or management review. Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00am - 4:30pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Administrative Specialist/PD00523A and PD00522A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
What you need to qualify
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 07/17/2026. 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-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07. For a GS-07 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05. 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 and/or education as described below: GS-07: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-05 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: At the GS-07 developmental level, the incumbent will be assigned work and/or receive training with the objective of acquiring the qualifications needed to successfully perform duties such as applying organizational structure, policies, and procedures to the program's mission and administrative operations; applying analytical techniques to resolution of problems concerning the efficiency and effectiveness of program operations. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have 1 full year of graduate level education or superior academic achievement. OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have a combination of specialized experience and education beyond a bachelor's degree. GS-09 Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-7 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: applying organizational structure, policies, and procedures and skill in applying the program's mission, functions, objectives, work processes, and administrative operations; applying analytical and evaluative techniques to the identification, consideration, and resolution of issues or problems concerning the efficiency and effectiveness of program operations; knowledge of contractual and procurement guidelines and requirements to prepare requests, evaluate proposals, and ensure quality measures are met. (NOTE: Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hours worked per week) OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have .master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B. or J.D., if related (NOTE: If using education you MUST submit transcripts at time of application) OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have a combination of specialized experience and graduate education beyond the first year or 18 semester hours to meet total experience requirements. (NOTE: If using education combined with specialized experience to qualify, a copy of your transcript is required). 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
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