IT Specialist-(System Administrator/Customer Support)
What you'd do
This position is in the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA), Office of Information & Technology (OIT), Enterprise Command Operations (ECO). The purpose of the position is to provide system analysis and customer support for all major incidents related to Information Technology (IT) service outages, degradation of services, and unplanned service disruptions, that negatively impact the VA's nationwide plans, goals and mission effectiveness in support of our nation's Veterans.
Major duties
The Incident Manager is responsible for planning, coordinating, and providing technical leadership throughout the troubleshooting efforts to resolve critical IT service outages impacting the enterprise, that include collaborating with inter-service, inter-agency, and commercial vendor subject matter experts from a variety of technical competencies. Oversees high risk/high impact installation and integration of systems fixes, updates, patches, and enhancements ensuring systems and network availability and functionality. Assesses the technical expertise necessary to troubleshoot a service outage, gathers the technical subject experts, and leads the efforts for researching, evaluating, diagnosing, troubleshooting, and resolving the outage. Identifies alternate approaches to problem resolutions; frequently modifies and adapts precedent solutions to unique requirements to solve a wide variety of highly complex network and system related outages, suggests alternative means of meeting operational requirements through known workarounds Manages accounts and access to systems for major incident management ensuring the team is fully capable of performing all tasks and functions necessary to facilitate resolution efforts in a timely manner to urgent and highly complex service outages. Leads emergency change efforts to install, uninstall, or change configurations for application software, operating systems, and systems hardware necessary to restore IT services as quickly as possible. Technical Support Specialist- Provides technical support to customers who need assistance utilizing client-level hardware and software in accordance with established or approved organizational process components (i.e., Master Incident Management Plan, where applicable.) Diagnose and resolve customer reported system incidents, problems, and events Troubleshoot system hardware and software Analyze incident data for emerging trends Maintain incident tracking and solution database This position is primarily aligned to the following NICE Cybersecurity Workforce Framework work roles: 411 Additional duties may be required, within scope of the position description. 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: https://niccs.us-cert.gov/workforce-development/cyber-career-pathways Position Description/PD#: IT Specialist-(System Administrator/Customer Support)/PD18158A Bargaining Unit: Yes 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: Wednesday-Saturday, 10:30PM-9:00AM EST. (Tour of duty may be subject to change based on organizational needs) Compressed/Flexible: May be available/authorized, at Manager's discretion. Telework: May be authorized at Manager's discretion. (Ad Hoc) Virtual/Remote: This is not a virtual nor a remote position. Physical Demands: This position is sedentary. Walking, standing, bending, or occasional lifting of boxes or IT equipment weighing up to 40lbs may be required. 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.
What you need to qualify
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 08/11/2026. 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-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11. 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. You must meet the Minimum Qualification Requirements, Specialized Experience to qualify for this series as described below. Minimum Qualifications Requirements EXPERIENCE: To qualify for this position, you must have information technology-related experience demonstrating all of the four competencies listed below. Ensure that this experience is clearly described in your resume: 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- Specialized Experience for GS-12: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular competencies/knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position and is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled. Such experience is typically gained in the IT field or through the performance of work where the primary concern is IT. Specialized Experience is defined as: Experience leading and coordinating enterprise-level IT incident management operations in a 24/7 environment, including monitoring, triaging, and resolving major system outages affecting multiple users or locations. Demonstrated ability to analyze complex IT systems (networks, applications, servers), direct cross-functional technical teams, and restore services within defined service level agreements. Experience communicating incident status and impacts to stakeholders and senior leadership, developing reports and root cause analyses, and applying ITIL-based processes for incident, problem, and change management. Experience supporting policy implementation, process improvement, and operational planning for IT service delivery. 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; religious; 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. It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those who have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.
Before you apply
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