The position will be assigned to the Office of Human Capital Services (HCS), Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA). HCS is accountable for the strategic alignment of the Administration's workforce to its mission and strategy by providing and implementing workforce services, human capital management solutions, and innovations. This position is located under the Training Management & Performance Improvement Division.

Duties

Applies analytic and performance problem-solving principles of Human Performance Improvement/Human Performance Technology (HPI/HPT) and Instructional Systems Design (ISD). Provides expertise to Service, Staff, and Program Office personnel on ISD and HPT principles and methodologies to develop and strengthen skills across the VBA training community. Maintains knowledge on the doctrine and work procedures within VBA's business lines to enable the incumbent to effectively consult and support evolving training needs. Performs front end analysis and assessments for identification and comparison of present and desired levels of individual and organizational performance to identify performance gaps. Assists in root cause analyses to determine what impact the work environment (information, resources, and incentives) and the people (motives, individual capacity, and skills) are having on performance and provide recommendations and solutions for appropriate interventions. Develops and documents problem analyses, training situation analyses, job task analyses, alternatives analyses to support functional designs/development for a training product that will fulfill identified training deficiencies. Performs regular review of the literature to maintain expertise in instructional technology for consultations and emerging technologies and related issues pertaining to training systems being planned for VBA. Assists business lines in developing and documenting the problem analysis, training situation analysis, job task analysis, and alternatives analysis to support the functional design/development for training solutions that will fulfill training deficiencies. Assures that Project/Program management principles are in use and proper controls are maintained to permit accurate forecasting of schedules, costs, and resource needs for planning and coordination of training initiatives and programs. Familiarization and compliance of formal Federal Program/Project Management principles and methodologies. Develops project goals, set expectations, and product outcomes to meet VBA deadlines for implementation of training. Manages and provides expertise and support for concurrent training-related initiatives. Develops cost estimates and Plans of Action and Milestones (POA&M). Develops project schedules and integrated schedules to plan, coordinate the use of the subject matter experts and others time. Collaborates and provides expertise to staff resources necessary to create the work products that will result in ISD based training products. Staff resources include a multidisciplinary team of subject matter experts from field and Central Office organizations Oversees contractors' instructional systems development work (analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation,) on the training products being procured. Reviews and recommends approval (by Task Order Program Manager) of contract deliverables. Ensures VBA's Evaluation Program Strategy and Services' evaluation training plans are reviewed and updated as appropriate annually. Consults and validates that evaluation program activities align with industry best practices and adhere to federal regulations for training evaluation and learning effectiveness. Assists team members by advising appropriate early planning in evaluation methodologies and protocols in new design and development efforts. Assists team members by advising appropriate early planning in evaluation methodologies and protocols in new design and development efforts. Responsible for identification of measures, setting metrics, and formally capturing programmatic data to be used for tracking and reporting to Senior Leadership and for purposes of determining Return on Investment/Return on Expectation. Review and perform analyses and document findings and recommendations with Program Managers and Services' training personnel. Reviews prepared evaluation plans for adequacy, evaluation reports for technical accuracy/results and adequacy to be certified acceptable for payment under the contract. Consult and partner with multiple VBA Services to identify future training evaluation needs and develop appropriate plans. Ensure compliance as necessary VBA Letter 20-21-19 and the VBA Training Evaluation Policy. Familiarization and provide consultation about VBA Training Evaluation Strategy to stakeholders. Lead efforts for instruction of VBA Training Systems framework to include training evaluation workshops. Work Schedule: Full time, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Compressed/Flexible: Available Telework: Available Virtual: This is a virtual position. Must be within 50 Mile Radius commuting distance of the DC or Orlando Office. Position Description/PD#: Instructional Systems Specialist; 03507-A, GS-1750-13 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required

Requirements

• 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 period
• Subject to background/security investigation
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement:09/18/2023. TIME-IN-GRADE REQUIREMENT: Applicants who are current Federal employees, former Federal employees applying for reinstatement, or a current federal employee applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment must meet time in grade requirements. 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. NOTE: This does not apply to Non-Federal Applicants, or applicants applying for consideration under Non-Competitive Authority (i.e.... "30% or more Disability", VRA, and/or Schedule A). To verify your eligibility, you must submit a copy of your most recent Notification of Personnel Action, Standard Form 50 (SF-50). You must provide a copy of your most recent SF-50 that indicates proof of status, and shows Time in Grade (for example, you were a career or career-conditional employee) and identifies your position title, series, grade, step, salary, tenure, and type of service (Competitive or Excepted). 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 also submit your most recent promotion or within-grade increase in addition to your recent SF-50. If you previously held a higher grade, you must also submit any SF-50 showing that grade. DO NOT submit Award SF-50's and/or General Adjustment SF-50's as they cannot be used to prove time-in-grade. 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. For a GS-13 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-12 level. INDIVIDUAL OCCUPATIONAL REQUIREMENT: To be considered, you MUST possess the following: Degree: that included or was supplemented by at least 24 semester hours appropriate to the work of the position to be filled. The course work must have included study in at least four of the following five areas: MINIMUM QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENT: You may qualify based on your experience:GS-13 Grade Level: Examples of specialized experience would typically include but are not limited to: Providing management advisory and consultant services on a wide range of training related matters; assessing training needs to develop training/course materials, and evaluation of training results; and analyzing training programs to provide recommendations for improvement. Learning theory, psychology of learning, educational psychology: Study of learning theories as they relate to the systematic design, development, and validation of instructional material. Instructional design practices: Study of the principles and techniques used in designing training programs, developing design strategy and models, and applying design methods to the improvement of instructional effectiveness. Educational evaluation: Study of the techniques for evaluating the effectiveness of instructional/educational programs, including developing written and performance tests and survey instruments, and determining reliability and validity of evaluation instruments. Instructional product development: Study of the techniques appropriate for developing training materials, including identifying learner characteristics, specifying objectives, applying training strategy, validating training materials, and evaluating training. Computers in education and training: Study of the application of computers in education and training, including selecting appropriate computer software. 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: No special physical demands are required to perform work. The work is sedentary. 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.

Contacts

• Address VBA Human Resources Center - Central Office 810 Vermont Ave NW Washington, DC 20420 US
• Name: Sandra Hicks
• Phone: 601-368-4995
• Email: [email protected]