Summary The incumbent serves as the Public Affairs Officer of the James H. Quillen VA Medical Center (JHQVAMC). The incumbent plans, directs, and programmatically manages the Medical Center's Public Affairs office which is inclusive of the Medical Center Director's office. Responsibilities The incumbent plans, directs, and programmatically manages, public affairs, Veteran engagement, and audiovisual/ media services. In this role, the incumbent coordinates, maintains and integrates public affairs; Veteran engagement; visual information; congressional relations; media relations; community and affiliate relations; event management and internal/external communications that include the development and maintenance of both an internet and intranet site, and multiple social media outlets. S/he serves as the spokesperson for the Medical Center, which entails representing the Director at events of public, civic, or social nature and participation in a variety of events dealing with improving the perception of the VA, VHA, and JHQVAMC. Duties include but are not limited to: The incumbent serves as the senior Public Affairs Officer for JHQVAMC and provides leadership and direction for the public affairs and marketing program, to include supervision and management for public affairs, Veteran engagement program, visual media within the health care system, and one Public Affairs Specialist. The Public Affairs Officer is responsible for planning, developing, and communicating the organization's programs, policies and activities to the regional public and congressional offices while displaying tact, common sense, diplomacy, initiative, and solid professional judgement. The goal of the position is to increase internal and external awareness of VA programs, services, special events and projects, technologies, and research accomplishments for the Veteran population in the East Tennessee, Southwest Virginia, and Eastern Kentucky areas. Evaluates and advises management officials on specific courses of action to follow in making public announcements, particularly on policy statements which inform the public on medical facility positions. Cultivates and maintains contacts with institutions, state and city officials, community organizations, industry, and other centers of influence to improve the public's understanding and awareness of medical facility activities. Analyzes and evaluates comments, proposals or suggestions from the local community, employees and media outlets before developing recommendations for management concerning the medical facility's impact on the community. Initiates and prepares responses to inquiries concerning policies and activities of JHQVAMC from interested groups, the general public, and legislative offices to include Congressional/Senatorial inquires, and White House Casework. Establishes cooperative working relationships with legislative partners and local media; writes and disseminates news releases and feature articles regarding the Medical Facility mission, functions, programs, and policies to print and broadcast media representatives. Organizes and coordinates print and broadcast media interviews with staff members and oversees all arrangements with the media involving medical facility activities. Leads team(s) in research, analysis, development and implementation of public affairs strategic communications and marketing plans for highly visible and potentially sensitive agency programs. Establishes and maintains proactive contacts with media outlets, legislative offices, Veteran Service Organizations, and health care affiliates. Actively pitches, advocates and places stories with media outlets. Conducts market analysis via existing VA databases, various media forums, and current literature to evaluate regional program needs. Proactively advises the Medical Center Director and other Executive Management officials of the information that should be made available to the public. Provides content management surveillance for intranet and internet in conjunction with Veteran Integrated Service Network (VISN) 9 Webmaster. Incumbent provides content and oversight of messages posted on JHQVAMC social media outlets. Monitors social media for inappropriate content and responds to public social media comments. Plan, develop and produce a variety of methods, techniques, materials and publications in achieving communication and marketing goals, including news releases, print articles, brochures and exhibits, radio and television scripts, personal appearances, news conferences, web-based multimedia, and video materials to convey information about VA to a variety of stakeholders. Work Schedule: Monday through Friday, 7:30 am to 4:00 pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Supervisory Public Affairs Specialist/PD604580 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 position requires driving to the various JHQVAMC Outpatient Clinics and a valid state issued driver's license is required. A full physical is 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 by the closing date of this announcement, 07/02/2026. 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 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. 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: 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. Qualifying specialized experience includes experience where you were responsible for performing, developing, planning, and directing programs to manage the Medical Center's Public Affairs office which is inclusive of the Veteran Engagement Office (VEO), Visual Information (VI) services, communicating with different organization programs, policies, and activities to the regional public and congressional offices while displaying tact, common sense, diplomacy, initiative, and solid professional judgement, evaluating and advising management officials on specific courses of action to follow in making public announcements, particularly on policy statements which inform the public on medical facility positions, cultivating and maintaining contacts with various institutions, state and city officials, community organizations, industry, and other centers of influence to improve the public's understanding. Specialized experience also includes preparing Medical Center Director and All Employee Survey newsletters, producing scripts, audio-visual materials and brochures for ceremonies, briefings and orientations, advising the Medical Center Director and other Executive Management officials of the information that should be made available to the public. Establishes and maintains effective working relationships with representatives of the print and broadcast media, congressional offices, and national organizations interested in the environmental, recreational and conservation aspects of the organization's programs. 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. 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/.
