Summary This position resides in the Center for Education and Development (CED) and is responsible for developing educational programs to enhance existing skills and promote the development of employees of VA Puget Sound Healthcare System (VAPSHCS) to include Seattle, American Lake and CBOCs. The incumbent will also provide counseling and resources to those individuals who are interested in self development and/or advancing their careers. Responsibilities Duties include but are not limited to: Participates in mandated trainings including train-the-trainer opportunities with responsibility of coordinating facility-wide roll outs to include promotion, facilitation and tracking of participation. Provide advice and assistance in the resolution of problems and issues regarding career development programs and assists by gathering data to monitor the effectiveness of these programs; if insufficient controls are in place to evaluate career development programs, they may be involved in establishing criteria to assess these programs or projects. Provides assistance, consultation, guidance, and motivation to employees at VA Puget Sound regarding their personal development. Specific examples include: providing career resource information, performing interest assessments to help employees focus on specific aptitudes; identifying education career tracks; conducting career enhancing workshops, providing individualized assistance on resumes, promoting career development programs, and identifying community programs that provide educational or financial support to employees. Analyzes the resources needed, including additional faculty, material, and/or educational products; prepares related program budget information. Creates and develops learning goals and objectives, which are modified to suit the target audience; determines the best vehicle for delivery of curriculum, based on adult learning theory and evidence-based teaching practices. Analyzes new or proposed policies concerning education programs and career development programs to assure compliance with regulations and compatibility with agency mission and responsibilities; recommends new policy or changes in existing policies; provides guidance on the implementation of educational programs, and projects and activities. Coordinates the New Employee Orientation, orienting new employees to the facility's culture, leadership, policies, and mandated trainings; adapting the curricula to meet changing facility, VISN, and national policies, procedures, and needs. Independently establishes standards to calculate program effectiveness; conducts reviews after every class cycle and analyzes this data to ensure that programs are continually refined. Periodically performs a comprehensive evaluation of the overall curriculum for the healthcare system, identifying gaps and redundancies and taking action to improve integration, efficiency and quality of the curriculum. Plan, develop, direct, promote, and implement adult education curricula, programs, and projects to address educational needs of employees of the VA Puget Sound Health Care System. Analyze and integrate data from various resources from diverse facility, VISN, national VA, and non-VA sources (such as: facility/VISN educational needs assessments, All Employee Surveys to clarify learning goals and objectives. Other duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Monday- Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm Virtual: This is not a virtual or remote position. Position Description/PD#: Training Specialist/PD408410 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not authorized 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, 06/30/2026. 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. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. For a GS-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-9. 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. Individual Occupational Requirement: An IOR is a basic requirement that must be met in order to qualify for the Training Specialist occupational series. Education must be accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education at the time the degree was obtained. To qualify for this occupational series, applicants MUST have one of the following listed below: Education: Undergraduate and Graduate Education: Major study -- education or a subject area related to the position to be filled. OR Specialized Experience: Experience that demonstrated a practical knowledge of the subject area of the position and of the methods and techniques of instruction. Examples of qualifying specialized experience include: Teaching or instructing in an adult education program, secondary school, college, military installation, or industrial establishment in the appropriate field(s). Supervising or administering a training program. Development or review of training/course materials, aids, devices, etc., and evaluation of training results. Work in the occupation or subject-matter field of the position to be filled that required training or instructing others on a regular basis. In addition to meeting the above Individual Occupational Requirement, you must also meet the GS 11 qualification standard as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-9 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Conducting training in both face-to-face and virtual environments; Training a diverse workforce in a government and healthcare setting; Conducting leadership or management training to a workforce with varying levels of experience; Development or review of training/course materials, aids, devices, etc., and evaluation of training results. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successfully completed a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree OR three (3) full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree OR LL.M, in a related field of the position to be filled. Education must have been obtained in an accredited college, or university. TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED. OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience equivalent to the GS 9 level (as described above) and successfully completed graduate level education beyond a master's degree. Education must have been obtained in an accredited college, or university. TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED. 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 A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. 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. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/. 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/.
