Supervisory IT Specialist (Policy & Planning)

This position is in the Office of Information and Technology. End User Services, Enterprise Command Center, Monitoring Architecture & Standards. The incumbent serves as a Manager within the Monitoring, Architecture & Standards team responsible for overseeing the Application Performance Monitoring tools., * Serves as point of contact for all matters pertaining to the life-cycle and maintenance of technical infrastructure management and operations, network and computer operations, and computer services.

• Advises and provides recommendations to the Monitoring Architecture & Standards Manager on the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) policies, missions, and functions.
• Assesses policy needs and develops policies to govern IT activities.
• Identify and address IT workforce planning and management issues. Serves as the primary point of contact for administrative, personnel services, training/ logistical support, security, and plans and operations activities. Performs special projects and studies as directed by the Pillar Director.
• Provides advice and recommendations on sensitive issues related to policies, processes and procedures as they pertain to Enterprise wide monitoring, incident, problem and event management, emergency preparedness and continuity of operations. This position requires demonstrated knowledge of business processes, risk management, emergency preparedness, and incident response.
• Performs analysis of complex information to allow technically sound IT investment decisions that map to strategic planning. Proposes strategies for future direction of the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) including long-term strategic vision and shorter-term tactical planning.
• Serves as the Subdivision supervisor responsible for managing major multiple-year initiatives that involve multi-year, multi-million dollar contracts, that are inter-agency wide in scope.
• Leads, coordinates, communicates and integrates services across OIT and/or subordinate organizations and is accountable for the overall success of assigned duties and responsibilities and ensuring organizational goals are aligned with critical OIT and subordinate subdivisions.
• Supervises technical support staff to address problems, installs, configures, troubleshoots, and provides maintenance and training in response to customer requirements or inquiries (e.g., tiered-level customer support).
• Researches, evaluates, and provides feedback on problematic trends and patterns in customer support requirements.
• Develops and maintains problem tracking and resolution databases. Also develops and manages customer service performance requirements and provides customer training.
• Oversees and communicates systematic analytical approach to collect, organize and interpret data, and information to maintain 24/7 operational situational awareness of current and emerging threats. Contains the incident, including isolation and characterization. Directs mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery approaches as needed, to maximize information security.
• Supports and assists the OIT and subordinate organization Directors in all matters relating to OIT support. Reports and communicates relevant national enterprise issues and initiatives to the OIT and subordinate organization Directors., 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: Telework: (AdHoc) Authorized at Manager’s discretion. Virtual/Remote: This is NOT a virtual NOR a remote position.

Physical Demands: This position is sedentary working at a keyboard and monitor. Walking, standing, bending, or occasional lifting of boxes or IT equipment weighing up to 50lbs may be required. *Subject to call back outside of regular tour of duty.

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., 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, 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., Other accepted documents:

• Cover Letter
• DD-214/ Statement of Service
• Disability Letter (Schedule A)
• Disability Letter (VA)
• Other (1)
• Other (2)
• Other (3)
• Performance Appraisal
• Reasonable Accommodation Documentation
• Resume
• Separation Notice (RIF)
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action

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.

Beginning September 27, 2025, Federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in length to comply with the Merit Hiring Plan. Resumes longer than two pages will result in ineligibility for further consideration for the position. USAJOBS will not allow you to upload or build resumes longer than two pages, and you will need to update the resumes in your profile before applying for a job. Resumes should include information relevant to the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies of the position to which you are applying. VA is unable to make assumptions about qualifications if not clearly listed.

Additional guidance on this new requirement and resume building tools can be found at:https://help.usajobs.gov/faq/application/documents/resume/page-limit

-AND- https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-information/merit-hiring-plan-resources/applicant-guidance-on-the-two-page-resume-limit, * Review all instructions prior to beginning your assessments. You will have the opportunity to request a testing accommodation before beginning the assessments should you have a disability covered under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended.

• Set aside at least 3 hours to take the USA Hire Assessments; however, most applicants complete the assessments in less time. If you need to stop the assessments and continue later, you can re-use your unique assessment link.

• Your responses to the USA Hire Assessments will be reused for one year (in most cases) from the date you complete an assessment. If future applications you submit require completion of the same assessments, your responses will be automatically reused.

Assessment Update Policy: Please be advised that once your application is submitted, the assessment responses cannot be revised or updated. The numerical rating (score) from your initial submission will be final and used for all rating purposes. You may, however, update your eligibility information and submit additional supporting documents (e.g., SF-50s) for this vacancy after your initial submission but before the closing date of the announcement.

To view the announcement status or your application status: https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/howto/application/status/.Your application status page is where you can view your application status, USA Hire assessment completion status, and review your notifications sent by the hiring agency regarding your application.

To update your application, including supporting documentation: During the announcement open period, return to your USAJOBS account, find your application record, and click Edit my application. This option will no longer be available once the announcement has closed.

Visit the USA Hire Applicant Resource Center for practice assessments and assessment preparation resources at: https://support-usahire.opm.gov/hc/en-us

Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.

Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Requests: If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a RA in your online application. Requests for RA for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for RA are made on a case-by-case basis. If you meet the minimum qualifications of the position, after notification of the adjudication of your request, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, based on your adjudication decision. You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, if you received the link after the close of the announcement. To determine if you need a RA, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments here: https://help.usastaffing.gov/Apply/index.php?title=Reasonable_Accommodations_for_USA_Hire, 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.

Basic Requirements Experience: Experience must be IT related; the experience may be demonstrated by paid or unpaid experience and/or completion of specific, intensive training (for example, IT certification), as appropriate. For all positions individuals must have IT-related experience demonstrating each of the five competencies listed below. The employing agency is responsible for identifying the specific level of proficiency required for each competency at each grade level based on the requirements of the position being filled.

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-2210-14: 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 an enterprise application performance monitoring or observability capability using a modern platform, including but not limited to Dynatrace, Splunk Observability Cloud, Splunk APM, Datadog, New Relic, Cisco AppDynamics, Elastic Observability, or a Grafana/Open Telemetry-based platform using technologies such as Prometheus, Loki, Mimir, or Tempo; leading efforts to improve service quality and incident analysis; using observability findings to make operational decisions or recommendations and communicating those findings verbally and in writing to operational and senior leadership stakeholders.

-AND-

Selective Placement Factor: Documented experience managing, directing, overseeing, coordinating, or serving as a technical lead for the production operation of an enterprise observability or monitoring function in a large, complex enterprise environment.

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., Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution., Position sensitivity and risk High Risk (HR) Jobs require a background check and some require a security clearance. The type depends on the job. Background check type

• Suitability/Fitness

Financial disclosure required No Some jobs require financial disclosure to identify conflicts of interests.

• 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 (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). 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., A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

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Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.