Program Specialist
What you'd do
This position serves as the Program Specialist (Navigator) in the Veteran Engagement Service at the VA Sierra Nevada Health Care System (VASNHCS) Reno, NV.
Major duties
Major duties and responsibilities include, but not limited to: Responsible for speaking directly to with Veterans and Family members, identifying barriers and concerns with care and providing resolutions to these concerns. Acts as a quality assurance specialist, helping assure accuracy of data entered in the Patient Advocate Tracking System. Performs analytical and evaluative work associated with line and/or program activities. Welcomes Veterans into the local system, orienting them to Veteran health education and health promotion, offering a variety of points of entry into partnership with VHA, coordinating and connecting Veterans to resources and programs based on preferences, assisting Veterans in articulating their goals for health, supporting them in advocating for themselves to obtain effective services, and providing tools and resources to assist in navigating the Health Care System. Directly supports the mission of the Veteran Engagement team. Provides information, liaison, and advocacy services to support Veterans' personal health goals and shared goals with clinical care team. Collaborates with Veteran Experience Coordinator in establishing and implementing policies and procedures and assures that programs and services are incompliance with patients rights. Makes inquiries into patient complaints, initiates action or changes necessary to correct problem situations, and reports on corrective measures taken. Work Schedule: Full Time, Monday - Friday, 07:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Telework: Not Authorized Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Program Specialist/PD03470-A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required
What you need to qualify
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 08/24/2026. 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-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: 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: Meeting the needs of customers while supporting VA missions, provides consistent information per established policies and procedures, handles conflicts, responds to all inquiries in person, by email, and telephone, informs supervisor or management official of any issue or potential incident where a customer is dissatisfied or angry, interacts with patients, supervisors, staff, visitors and non-VA personnel, protects data from unauthorized release or loss, uses MS word, MS excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint. Experience directly interacting with Veterans in VHA environment, familiarity with the wide range of services available in VHA & experience providing external customer service within the VHA environment. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have One (1) full year of graduate level education beyond a bachelor's degree (normally 18 semester hours); OR Superior academic achievement. (Transcripts required). OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. A combination of experience and education may be computed by first determining the applicant's total qualifying experience as a percentage of the experience required; then determining the applicant's education as a percentage of the education required for the grade level; and then adding the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. For example, an applicant who has 9 semester hours of graduate level education (i.e., 50% of graduate education required) and 6 months of creditable experience (i.e., 50% of the required experience) would equal 100% of the required experience/education to qualify for the GS-7 grade. (Transcripts required) Attention to Detail Customer Service (Clerical/Technical) Decision Making Flexibility Integrity/Honesty Interpersonal Skills Interpersonal Skills Organizational Awareness Problem Solving Reading Comprehension Reasoning Self-Management Stress Tolerance 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. 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. Physical Requirements: The work will involve a laptop computer at docking stations in staff cubicles/office space, outpatient treatment rooms, and group/conference rooms. The work will involve walking around to different workspaces within the clinic and thus conveying a patient-centered environment where providers go to the patient. The physical demands include presenting oneself in an energetic way to create positive attitudes about health and well-being for Veterans, families, VA employees, and stakeholders. 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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