Summary This position is located at the Jonathan M. Wainwright Memorial VA Medical Center, Walla Walla, WA (VAWW). This position is aligned with the Office of the Director, which is responsible for VAWW's overall operations. The primary purpose of this position is to support the mission, goals, and functions of the VAWW and the Office of the Director. Responsibilities Develops, coordinates, and implements internal and external communication plans to support VAWW operations and strategic goals. Serves as the primary spokesperson, responding to media inquiries and coordinating interviews, statements, and press releases with OPIA/OCA as required. Manages emergency and crisis communications as the facility Public Information Officer (PIO), including JIC activation, incident messaging, and issue briefs. Writes, edits, and publishes news releases, feature articles, staff messages, and executive communications in print and digital formats. Maintains and updates internal and external VAWW websites, ensuring accuracy, accessibility, and compliance with VA standards. Creates, schedules, and monitors official social media content to meet VA mandated posting requirements and enhance digital engagement. Coordinates congressional and White House inquiries, ensuring timely routing, tracking, documentation, and archiving of all correspondence. Plans, coordinates, and promotes special events, Town Halls, outreach campaigns, and tele town halls, including promotional materials and logistics. Develops and maintains relationships with VSOs, community partners, congressional offices, and internal leaders to support communication and outreach. Produces graphic design products such as flyers, brochures, branding materials, and digital content consistent with VA branding standards. Monitors news coverage and provides timely summaries to VISN, regional, and national PAO stakeholders. Serves as facility expert on communication SOPs, including training staff on 10N Issue Brief and Notification SOP requirements. Manages GovDelivery email communications, including content development, targeted outreach, and distribution to subscriber groups. Ensures proper release forms and approvals for media interviews, photos, and public facing materials. Performs additional public affairs duties including stakeholder engagement, project coordination, and support for national/VISN requests. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Public Affairs Specialist/PD807800 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized. Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not approved. Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized. Requirements Conditions of Employment You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job 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. Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 Physical Requirements: The work required does not inherently include any physical requirements essential for successful job performance that could not otherwise be performed with accommodation or workplace adjustment. A pre-placement physical examination is not required. 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 identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment. Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP) As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period or 2-year trial 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. Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement, 06/02/2026. 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 within 30 days of 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 as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. You may qualify based on your experience as described below: GS-12 Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-11 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Knowledge of current issues-national, regional and local- affecting or having the potential to affect the DVA and VAWW; Skill in developing written materials and making oral presentations; Skill in assessing public reaction and identifying the extent of understanding achieved to evaluate effectiveness of information programs; Knowledge and skills sufficient to work with social media and VAWW websites. NOTE: 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 the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/. Education There is no educational substitution at this grade level. Additional Information Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act. 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. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. 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/.
