Supervisory IT Specialist

• Responsible for command-and-control of day shift operations supporting mission-critical VA services.
• Lead day/evening response (triage, bridge coordination, escalation, communications, restoration) to maintain continuous service delivery and reduce MTTR during off-hours when engineering and leadership coverage is limited.
• Execute and govern scheduled maintenance windows (implementation/backout discipline, verification, and documentation) under formal change-control processes to safely complete required sustainment without disrupting mission operations.
• Drive CRISP-aligned vulnerability and patch remediation during the day, including evidence capture and exception handling, to meet compliance requirements and reduce active risk to VA systems.
• Coordinate cross-domain responders (SOC/NOC/cyber/network/storage/application stakeholders) during off-hours events and maintenance activities, where operational risk and uncertainty are highest.

NCWF Code: 641 - Systems Requirement Planner. Responsible for consulting with internal and external customers to evaluate and translate functional requirements and integrating security policies into technical solutions.

NCWF Code: 451 - System Administrator. Responsible for setting up and maintaining a system or specific components of a system in adherence with organizational security policies and procedures. Includes hardware and software installation, configuration, and updates; user account management; backup and recovery management; and security control implementation.

NCWF Code: 461 - Systems Security Analyst. Responsible for developing and analyzing the integration, testing, operations, and maintenance of systems security. Prepares, performs, and manages the security aspects of implementing and operating a system.

Work Schedule: 8am-4:30pm CST or EST Compressed/Flexible: Compressed/flexible schedule available at the manager’s discretion Telework: This position may be authorized for ADHOC telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process., Physical Requirements: The work is sedentary. Some work may require walking and standing in conjunction with travel to attendance at meetings and conferences away from the work site. Some employees may carry light items such as papers, books, or small parts, or drive a motor vehicle. The work does not require any special physical effort. Occasionally work may be done in computer rooms, off site offices, or buildings., * To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job.

• Subject to background/security investigation
• 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 dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.

All required documents must be uploaded at the time you submit your application. The system supports only one submission. Applicants will not be able to edit their application or upload additional documents once it has been submitted.

Applications that are incomplete-including those missing required documentation-will not be considered. Applicants are responsible for reviewing the Required Documents section and ensuring all mandatory materials are included prior to submission.

Note: Applicants will not be contacted for missing information. It is the applicant’s responsibility to provide all documentation necessary to determine qualification and eligibility.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will 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., scalable cloud infrastructure plans; and coordinating with cybersecurity, cloud engineering, network, storage, vendor, and contractor teams to deliver secure, resilient, auditable, and mission-supporting Cloud Linux services., Your resume must be 5MB or less. We recommend saving and uploading your resume as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages. We also accept GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, TXT, PDF, ODT or Word (DOC or DOCX). We do not accept PDF portfolio files. We recommend using a sans-serif font size like Lato, if available. Other widely available options are Calibri, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, Open San Source Sans Pro, Roboto or Noro Sans. Make your page margins 0.5 inches. Consider using 14-point size font for titles and 10-point for the main text in your resume. The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started.

Other accepted documents:

• Cover Letter
• Other (1)
• Performance Appraisal
• Resume
• Separation Notice (RIF)

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.

Veterans’ Preference: Since the Direct-Hire Recruitment Authority is being used, traditional Veterans’ Preference rules do not apply. Qualified veterans will, however, be given full consideration for this position.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

Special Employment Consideration: VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply, including those eligible for hiring under 5 CFR 213.3102(u), Schedule A, Appointment of persons with disabilities [i.e., intellectual disabilities, severe physical disabilities, or psychiatric disabilities], and/or Disabled veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more. Contact the Agency Contact for information on how to apply under this appointment authority via the Selective Placement Coordinator., For more general information, system requirements, reasonable accommodation information, and to request assistance regarding the USA Hire Assessments, review the following resources: https://help.usastaffing.gov/Apply/index.php?title=USA_Hire_Assessments

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.

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

Placement Policy: The posting of this announcement does not obligate management to fill a vacancy or vacancies by promotion. The position may be filled by reassignment, change to lower grade, transfer, appointment, or reinstatement. Management may use any one or any combination of these methods to fill the position.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment., 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.

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 10/12/2026.

Applicants must have IT-related experience demonstrating each of the four competencies listed below at a proficiency level equivalent to the next lower grade level in federal service.

You must meet both the Basic Requirement and the Specialized Experience to qualify for this series as described below.

• 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., * Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS12 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Supervising or serving as a technical lead for enterprise cloud Linux platform operations. Directing technical staff, contractors, or vendor-supported teams responsible for native Linux or Red Hat Enterprise Linux workloads hosted in Amazon Web Services, Azure, Google Cloud, or Oracle Cloud Infrastructure; overseeing associated cloud infrastructure, identity and access integration, monitoring, patching, vulnerability remediation, backup/recovery, automation, incident/change coordination, configuration management, and operational documentation; implementing cybersecurity and compliance controls across cloud-hosted Linux environments; translating enterprise customer requirements into secure, * Selective Placement Factor: In addition to the minimum qualifications described above, you must meet the following requirement(s) to be considered qualified for the position: Demonstrated experience leading enterprise Linux and Cloud operations in a 24x7 production environment, including real-time incident triage and service restoration, execution of scheduled maintenance windows under formal change control, and delivery of vulnerability/patch remediation activities aligned to a compliance program (e.g., CRISP/VA 6500/NIST-aligned) using an ITSM platform (e.g., ServiceNow or equivalent)., The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified for this vacancy. To be well-qualified: applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are proficient in most of the required competencies of the job. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM’s Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/.

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., * Accountability

• Customer Service
• Decisiveness
• Flexibility
• Interpersonal Skills
• Problem Solving
• Resilience

USA Hire Assessments include a cut score based on the minimum level of required proficiency in these critical general competencies. You must meet or exceed the cut score to be considered. You will not be considered for the position if you score below the cut score or fail to complete the assessment.

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., 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.

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.

Review our benefits

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.

Deliver secure and high availability infrastructure solutions supporting VA’s mission. Serve as an operational service provider of foundational compute, storage, physical database, and client management components. Implement and sustain technical, management, and operational security controls and supporting processes to protect mission critical networks, systems, and applications throughout the VA enterprise.