The VHA Research Program strives to promote Veteran-centered care to improve patient experience and outcomes across VA healthcare and community settings, and to advance value driven care by providing Veterans the highest quality care at the lowest financial burden. The position is vital within the Office of Research and Development (ORD) and the facilities where research programs are conducted. Data science provides the link between highly innovative projects and the care that Veterans receive.

Duties

Major duties include, but are not limited to: Data Science Lifecycle: Serves as a Data Analyst with the responsibility for the storage, retrieval and execution of data acquisition requirements and assisting other Agency professionals and contractors in solving complex and far-reaching problems for a wide range of systems, applications, and customers. Issues include data interface and storage, and require application of data management principles, procedures, and tools such as modeling techniques, data backup, data recovery, data dictionaries, data warehousing, data mining, data disposal, and data standardization processes. The position requires knowledge of principles and concepts of managing data through its life cycle. Use of data science tools to execute duties is gained from education and experience; these duties including programming, statistics, and data visualization. Constructs data pipelines using tools and techniques to handle data at scale. Support projects developed by investigators focusing on enterprise analytics. Examples of data accessed include health data, demographic data, administrative data, claims data, programmatic data, and patient behavior, provider activities, economic indicators, and expenditure data. Demonstrates the ability to utilize diverse data science techniques including data pooling and visualizations and can demonstrate how ensembles of these techniques can be harmonized into user-centric solutions. Researches and designs presentations and interpretations of analytical outputs tailored to specific audiences including the use of interactivity and narrative storytelling where appropriate. Collaborates with teammates, customers, and stakeholders in a reproducible and organized manner. Conducts observational analysis using software and/or programming languages such as R, Python, Stata, SAS, or SQL to explore/group data, test hypotheses, predict outcomes, and inform decisions. Works with large datasets. Uses appropriate analytic and statistical software to programmatically prepare data for analysis and clean imperfect data such as probabilistic matching and imputation of missing values. Collates the results of analysis that equip teammates to make informed, data-driven decisions. Articulates findings through data visualization, reports, and operationalized constructs. Presents the results of quantitative analysis to technical and non-technical audiences. Has knowledge about chart typologies, mapping stories to appropriate chart types. Works with customers to create useful presentations and interpretations of analytical outputs. Independently synthesizes findings and turns them into actionable insights. Adheres to applicable style guides. Is responsive to a variety of stakeholders and team members with varying technical skills. Data Science Support: Participates on teams in the development, implementation, and oversight of new technologies and statistical methods related to data science. Follows recommendations in support of IT security plans to ensure compliance with Agency security requirements specific to data. Works with the senior member of teams in the collecting, optimizing, analyzing, interpreting, and communicating insights from data. Follows internal and external process or system reviews, studies, projects, and data validation efforts, which provide a mean for evaluating system performance and vulnerabilities. Accesses, merges, cleans, standardizes, and develops derived metrics on multiple structured datasets; has familiarity with appropriate software and automation tools. Regularly provides analytical support to Data Scientists and/or supervisor in support of conference needs. Attends meetings, conferences, briefings, and seminars related to data science, and statistical and analysis support system concepts. Assists in consolidating research finding and conclusions into completed products for review by the investigative teams, and subsequent publication and or oral presentations to interagency and both internal and external stakeholders. Work Schedule: Monday through Friday; 08:00 to 16:30 Telework: Regular telework is available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description #: PD93309A Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 04/30/2024 BASIC REQUIREMENT OR INDIVIDUAL OCCUPATIONAL REQUIREMENT: Degree: Mathematics, statistics, computer science, data science or field directly related to the position. The degree must be in a major field of study (at least at the baccalaureate level) that is appropriate for the position. OR Combination of education and experience: Courses equivalent to a major field of study (30 semester hours) as shown in paragraph A above, plus additional education or appropriate experience. AND MINIMUM QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENT: You may qualify based on your experience/education as described below: In order to qualify, you must meet the specialized experience requirements described in the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Qualification Standards for General Schedule Positions, Data Science Series 1560 and Group Coverage Qualification Standard for Professional and Scientific Positions In addition to meeting the basic entry qualification requirements, applicants must have specialized experience and/or directly related education in the amounts shown below. Education: Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree directly related to the position being filled OR Specialized Experience: 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: Utilizing data science tools and techniques, including programming, statistics, and data visualization; identifying and executing appropriate data handling and data integrity practices; applying scientific principles, methods, and processes to research design, plan, conduct, and report; conducting and consulting on cost analyses; mentoring data analysts and other data users; creating and maintaining databases; consulting with teammates and customers to identify the appropriate tools and methodological approaches; and executing data handling and integrity practices. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Data ManagementDatabase AdministrationDatabase Management SystemsResearchTeaching Others 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: You will be asked to participate in a pre-employment examination or evaluation as part of the pre-employment process for this position. Questions about physical demands or environmental factors may be addressed at the time of evaluation or examination. 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

IMPORTANT: 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: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Contacts

• Address Iowa City VA Health Care System 601 Highway 6 West Iowa City, IA 52246 US
• Name: Jason Arcand
• Phone: 612-629-7118
• Email: [email protected]