The Director, Research Operations (DRO) is responsible for planning, developing, and directing the administrative and operational activities of the large and complex Atlanta VA research program. The DRO reports to the Associate Chief of Staff for Research, who in turn, reports directly to the Atlanta VA Chief of Staff.

Duties

The duties of the position include, but are not limited to: Assists in analyzing the needs, strategic plans, and goals in the context of VA, VHA and ORD goals and initiatives, and makes recommendations for new directions, initiatives, policies, and procedures. Participates routinely in senior management and policy decisions regarding strategic planning, priority-setting, scientific direction, and operations. Provides supervision and/or leadership to researchers and administrators to ensure integrity, effectiveness, and efficiency. Formulates and ensures continued appropriateness and timely communication of all assigned activities and events to the Executive Leadership Team and other key stakeholders. Identifies the need for and develops plans for necessary organizational changes to maximize efficiency. Identifies, justifies, and implements actions to improve operational efficiency, such as identifying needed equipment, personnel, or changes in procedures. Ensures fiduciary accountability of research funds; oversees the management of the research budget and project funding; ensures that appropriate internal control systems are in place; and prepare budget recommendations. Represents program office in communications and/or meetings with senior management within and outside VA, non-government experts, and the public, and serves as a liaison to other federal agencies and internal VA committee. Establishes working relationships with other agencies within and outside the Department, professional societies, groups and individuals to share information on developments and technology in the scientific, technical, and administrative fields related to research and development. Identifies areas where research has special needs or unique opportunities and assesses the potential of VA research to contribute. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8:00 am - 4:30 pm Compressed/Flexible: Not available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Health Science Officer/PD000000 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not available Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not available Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not available Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 10/03/2023. 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-14 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-13. 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. Individual Occupational Requirements: The Health System Officer position has an Individual occupational requirement. All applicants must meet the following requirements: Applicants must have successfully completed a bachelors or graduate/higher level degree in an accredited college or university that included a major field of study related to the medical field, health sciences or allied sciences appropriate to the work of the position of the program major. (This experience must be supported by your resume to be creditable.) 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-13 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: analyzing the needs, strategic plans, and goals while making recommendations for new directions, initiatives policies and procedures; providing supervision to researchers and administrators to ensure integrity, effectiveness and efficiency; processes fiduciary accountability of research funds while overseeing the management of a budget and project funding. (This experience must be supported by your resume to be creditable.) You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Research Financial Analysis Leadership 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. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. Physical Requirements: The work is primarily sedentary, although some slight physical effort is required such as inspection of facilities. 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: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html.

Contacts

• Address Atlanta VA Medical Center 1670 Clairmont Road Decatur, GA 30033 US
• Name: VHA National Recruitment Center
• Phone: (844)456-5208
• Email: [email protected]