Summary Deliver secure and high availability infrastructure solutions supporting VA's mission. Serve as an operational service provider of foundational compute, storage, physical database, and client management components. Implement and sustain technical, management, and operational security controls and supporting processes to protect mission critical networks, systems, and applications throughout the VA enterprise. Apply today! Responsibilities Diagnose and resolve customer reported system incidents, problems, and events. Analyze incident data for emerging trends. Comply with organization systems administration standard operating procedures. Maintain baseline system security according to organizational policies. Develop and document systems administration standard operating procedures. Properly document all system security implementation, operations, and maintenance activities and update as necessary. NICCS Code: 421 - Database Administrator Responsible for administering databases and data management systems that allow for the secure storage, query, protection, and utilization of data. NICCS Code: 451 - System Administrator Responsible for setting up and maintaining a system or specific components of a system in adherence with organizational security policies and procedures. Includes hardware and software installation, configuration, and updates; user account management; backup and recovery management; and security control implementation. NICCS Code: 461 - Systems Security Analyst Responsible for developing and analyzing the integration, testing, operations, and maintenance of systems security. Prepares, performs, and manages the security aspects of implementing and operating a system. 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. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday; 8am-4:30pm Compressed/Flexible: Compressed/flexible schedule available at the manager's discretion Telework: This position may be authorized for ADHOC telework. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: IT Specialist/PD10060A and PD10059A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not Authorized Physical Requirements: The work is sedentary, but may involve periods of walking, bending, stooping, lifting, carrying, moving (up to 50 pounds) components and supplies, reaching, pulling, and working at a keyboard and monitor. Subject to call back outside tour of duty. 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. You may be required to serve a probationary 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 (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment. All required documents must be uploaded at the time you submit your application. The system supports only one submission. Applicants will not be able to edit their application or upload additional documents once it has been submitted. Applications that are incomplete-including those missing required documentation-will not be considered. Applicants are responsible for reviewing the Required Documents section and ensuring all mandatory materials are included prior to submission. Note: Applicants will not be contacted for missing information. It is the applicant's responsibility to provide all documentation necessary to determine qualification and eligibility. As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will 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 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, 11/09/2026. Basic Requirement (IOR): Individuals must have IT-related experience demonstrating each of the four competencies listed below. Attention to Detail - Is thorough when performing work and conscientious about attending to detail. Customer Service - Works with clients and customers (that is, any individuals who use or receive the services or products that your work unit produces, including the general public, individuals who work in the agency, other agencies, or organizations outside the Government) to assess their needs, provide information or assistance, resolve their problems, or satisfy their expectations; knows about available products and services; is committed to providing quality products and services. Oral Communication - Expresses information (for example, ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (for example, technical, sensitive, controversial); makes clear and convincing oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately. Problem Solving - Identifies problems; determines accuracy and relevance of information; uses sound judgment to generate and evaluate alternatives, and to make recommendations. The basic requirements MUST be substantiated in your resume. Failure to provide the required information will render your application ineligible for consideration. You may qualify for the GS-12 based on your experience as described below: Specialized Experience GS-12: 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: administering and supporting enterprise virtualization environments, including hypervisors, virtualization management platforms, virtual machines, compute clusters, virtual networking, and storage infrastructure; installing, configuring, upgrading, patching, and maintaining virtualization systems; monitoring system health, capacity, availability, and performance; troubleshooting and resolving virtualization issues involving compute, storage, networking, and operating systems; provisioning and managing virtual machines, templates, snapshots, resource allocation, and migrations; implementing security configurations and access controls in accordance with organizational requirements; supporting backup, disaster recovery, high availability, and business continuity activities; coordinating infrastructure changes and maintenance activities with other technical teams; assisting with the planning and execution of virtualization upgrades, migrations, consolidation efforts, and technology refresh projects; providing technical guidance to other administrators and coordinating technical assignments; and maintaining system documentation, configuration records, and operational procedures to support the reliability and availability of enterprise virtualization infrastructure. You may qualify for the GS-13 based on your experience as described below: Specialized Experience GS-13: 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. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: administering and supporting enterprise virtualization environments, including hypervisors, virtualization management platforms, virtual machines, compute clusters, virtual networking, and software-defined storage; installing, configuring, upgrading, patching, and maintaining virtualization infrastructure; monitoring system health, capacity, availability, and performance and resolving complex hardware, storage, network, and virtualization issues; managing virtual machine provisioning, migrations, snapshots, templates, resource allocation, and lifecycle activities; configuring role-based access controls and applying security requirements to virtualization platforms; coordinating infrastructure changes with server, storage, network, cybersecurity, application, and data center teams; analyzing system performance and capacity requirements and recommending changes to improve reliability, scalability, and resource utilization; supporting backup, disaster recovery, high availability, and business continuity requirements; leading technical teams, coordinating work assignments, providing technical direction and mentoring to other administrators, and serving as a technical lead for complex infrastructure initiatives; planning, coordinating, and executing special projects involving virtualization modernization, migrations, upgrades, technology refreshes, consolidation efforts, or new platform deployments; managing project priorities, schedules, technical dependencies, risks, and stakeholder coordination; and providing technical expertise for the design, implementation, troubleshooting, modernization, and ongoing operation of large-scale enterprise virtual infrastructure. You may qualify for the GS-12 and GS-13 based on your experience as described below Selective Placement Factor: This position includes a skill, knowledge, ability, or other worker characteristic basic to -and essential for satisfactory performance of the job. Selective Placement Factors are a prerequisite to appointment and represent the minimum requirements for a position. Applicants who do not meet it are ineligible for further consideration. The Selective Placement Factor for this position is: Demonstrated experience administering, engineering, and supporting large-scale enterprise virtualization infrastructure, including hypervisors, virtualization management platforms, virtual machines, compute clusters, virtual networking, software-defined storage, and associated infrastructure services. Evidence of the Selective Placement Factor must be reflected in your resume. 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. Receiving Service Credit or 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. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. 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. 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/.
