Summary You will serve as a Veterans Services Representative (Fiduciary Service Specialist), making factual quasi-legal and subjective determinations in the administration of beneficiary estates. You will protect beneficiary rights, handle routine legal matters, identify legal questions, apply knowledge of benefit programs and entitlement criteria, input data to generate awards, and authorize payments. Responsibilities Specific duties include: Analyzes and makes the final determination of the competency of Veterans and other VA beneficiaries and provides the final notification of the determination. Generates the award for the retroactive payment release, once a fiduciary is established, as well as other award actions needed by the Fiduciary Program. Authorizes, reviews and approves the pending award action for technical accuracy, clarity, and thoroughness. Ensures that estate protection is in place, when appropriate, before releasing large retroactive payments and in other cases where the VA beneficiary's funds may not be adequately protected. Prepares Statements of the Case (SOC) on Fiduciary Program appeals. Performs other duties as assigned. Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level. The grade progression for this position is GS-11. Work Schedule: Full-Time, Monday - Friday 8:00 am - 4:30 pm. Compressed/Flexible: As determined by the hiring office: Hours to be determined by hiring office. Telework: No -This position is not eligible for telework. Remote/Virtual: This is not a remote/virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Veterans Service Representative (Fiduciary Service Specialist); PD37531A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized. Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required Requirements Conditions of Employment As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you may 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 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. You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 You may be required to serve a probationary or trial period 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 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. A complete application package must be submitted by 07/09/2026: Resume, transcripts, SF-50s etc. You will be required to complete an Optional Form 306, Declaration for Federal Employment, and to sign and certify the accuracy of all information in your application. Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement:07/09/2026. TIME-IN-GRADE REQUIREMENT: Applicants who are current/former Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements. For a GS-10 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-09 level. 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. MINIMUM QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENT: You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience: One year of Specialized Experience which is equivalent to the GS-09 level. Specialized experience is defined as experience (1) Applying federal, state, and local laws regarding benefit programs; (2) Conducting interviews to evaluate eligibility for benefits and services; (3) Applying state laws pertaining to conservatorship and estate administration; and/or (4) Knowledge of fiduciary and field examination programs sufficient to protect beneficiary's assets; (as described in the How You Will Be Evaluated section of this announcement). OR Education Substitution: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at the GS-10 level. Only graduate education in excess of two full years can be used to combine with experience. The combination of experience and education must total at least one year. [To compute your combined total, divide your total months of qualifying experience by 12. Then divide your semester hours of graduate education by 45. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100% to qualify. OR Combining Education & Experience: If you do not fully meet the length of experience and education described for a specific grade level (e.g. have six months of experience and some coursework but not a degree), the two can be combined to total 100% of the requirement. Click here for more information. Volunteer Experience: 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. Full vs. Part-Time Employment: Full-time employment is considered to be at least 35 hours per week. Part-time experience will be credited on a pro-rated basis; when including part-time employment in your resume you must specify the average hours worked per week. Physical Requirements: The work is sedentary in an office setting. However, there may be some walking, standing, bending, carrying of light items such as papers, books, small parts, etc. No special physical demands are required to perform the work. Travel may be required in order to assist with training and/or outreach. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at http://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. Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education to be credited towards qualifications. Provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. All education claimed by applicants will be verified upon appointment. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript to receive credit. Note: You may submit unofficial transcripts when applying. However, if you are selected for the position, you will be required to provide an official transcript or a statement from the institution (e.g., from the registrar, dean, or other appropriate official) or equivalent documentation prior to the start date. Additional Information The 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 (have a final rating of 85 or more) for this vacancy. 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/. 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. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members. 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 (TJO). Please visit the Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP), https://www.va.gov/EMPLOYEE/docs/The-Fair-Chance-to-Compete-Act.pdf 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. For more information on the "Who may apply" eligibility requirements, please refer to the OHRM Status Candidates and Other Candidate Definitions document. 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. To determine if you need a RA, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments. https://appsupport.usastaffing.gov/hc/en-us/sections/28980686389652-Reasonable-Accommodation-Information)
