Summary The position is located in the Research Service, Long Beach VA Healthcare System (VALBHS). The Health Science Specialist is responsible for implementing standards mandated by various regulatory agencies and develops policies and procedures. The position serves as the Research Chemical Hygiene Officer, responsible for preparing and responding to safety and space inspections. The position also coordinates space planning and management, as well as supervises the animal unit divisions. Responsibilities This is a non bargaining unit position. VA offers a comprehensive total rewards package: VA Total Rewards Work Schedule: Full-Time Monday-Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm Compressed/Flexible Schedule: Not Authorized Telework: Not Authorized Duty Location Status: Will work from a VA owned or leased space Position Description Title/PD#: Health Science Specialist/ PD198660 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required Physical Demands: The work is primarily sedentary, although some physical effort may be required. No special physical demands although it may involve some walking, standing, bending, or carrying of light items such as binders, books, instructional materials, and thick files. Concentration and sustained performance under prolonged stress is required due to time factors involved and the nature of work. The employee has a strong understanding of the requirements for entering research space including research laboratories, clinical research, and animal research unit. No special physical demands are required to perform the work. Major Duties: Development of Policies and Procedures: Responsible for developing, reviewing, and revising the Research Service chemical hygiene plan, disaster plan, exposure control plan and the "Handbook of Laboratory Safety", and other research safety related plans. Develop policies and procedures for organizing the laboratory space. Train research staff on the use of the equipment. Develop Emergency Response procedures to deal with minor spills and releases of hazardous substances in the Research Service. Compliance Designations and Duties: Responsible for performing or coordinating inspections of all research laboratories according to established timelines specified in Standard Operating Procedures. Reviews all research protocol submissions for the use of chemical, biological and physical hazards. Serves as the service representative to inspectors, accompanying them on all site visit activities. Oversee effective and equitable allocation of assignable research space to facilitate independent research programs. Requirements Conditions of Employment Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/10/2025. 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-13 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-12. 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. Provide a copy of your last or most recent SF-50, "Notification of Personnel Action" to indicate your current federal status. You must also submit additional SF-50(s) to clearly demonstrate one year time-in-grade as required in the announcement. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate that you possess one year time-in-grade. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one year time-in-grade. 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. AND You may qualify based on your Education and Experience as described below. A transcript must be submitted with your application for qualification. Individual Occupational Requirements: Basic Requirements Education: Bachelor's or graduate/higher level degree: major study in an academic field related to the medical field, health sciences or allied sciences appropriate to the work of the position. This degree must be from an educational program from an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education(external link) at the time the degree was obtained. Evaluation of Experience for Grants Administration Positions: For positions at grades GS-12 and above involved in professional work in grants administration, qualifying experience is considered to be experience in grants administration in areas of science, medical and healthcare fields similar or related to the work of the position. Such experience must have involved professional judgment of a kind and level of difficulty and responsibility essential to successful performance in the position to be filled. Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-12 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience is defined as; Management of a clinical research study/project in a healthcare setting; experience monitoring research study adherence to protocols and quality control parameters; revising and submitting research study documentation for review; qualitative and quantitative data collection relative to a scientific research study; monitoring and tracking research project timelines and performance metrics. Possess experience in all matters pertaining to biosafety, fire and natural disaster safety, radiation safety, environmental safety, and security of the research space and buildings. Per Office of Personnel Management General Schedule Qualification Policies, federal employees are assumed to have gained experience by performing duties and responsibilities appropriate for their official series and grade level as described in their position description. Experience that would not normally be part of the employee's position is creditable when documented by satisfactory evidence (e.g., a memorandum from the manager, human resources director, or official documentation such as SF-52, SF-50 documenting an official detail/assignments, or other comparable documentation). The documentation must indicate whether the employee performed the duties full time or, if part-time, the percentage of times the employee performed the additional duties. To receive credit for experience in your resume that is not within the official series and grade level of your position, you must provide official documentation of such experience as indicated above. 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. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit OPM's web site at http://www.opm.gov/qualifications/standards/indexes/alph-ndx.asp. Education There is no education substitute or requirement for the GS-13 level. PLEASE NOTE: Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications (particularly positions with a positive education requirement). Therefore, applicants must report only attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Applicants can verify accreditation at the following website: http://www.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/index.html. All education claimed by applicants will be verified by the appointing agency accordingly. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. Additional Information Receiving Service Credit for Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. VA may offer newly-appointed Federal employee's credit for their job-related non-federal experience or active duty uniformed military service. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed. 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. 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 well-qualified, applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors if applicable, and must be proficient in most of the requirements of the job. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website which can be found at https://www.opm.gov/. The Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act (or the Act) prohibits the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) from requesting applicant criminal history record information before extending a conditional or tentative offer of employment. In accordance with 5 U.S.C § 9202(c) and 5 C.F.R § 920.201 certain positions are exempt from the provisions of the Act. Applicants who believe they have been subjected to a violation of the Act, may submit a written complaint within 30 calendar days of the date of the alleged non-compliance to VA at vacofairchanceact@va.gov. Applicant written complaints should include the following: Administration name: Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Office name, employee name and contact information or contractor who made contact (if known). Date of contact. Details regarding the job opportunity announcement applied to, and copies of any documents or other evidence related to the complaint. Visit Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer (OCHCO) for more 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.
