These positions are located within the Enterprise Measurement and Design Directorate of the Veterans Experience Office. These positions will work on a range of projects to improve the experience of VA programs, services & products. We will rely on your aptitude for design leadership to navigate the needs of complex stakeholder groups as we work to spread and scale customer experience (CX) and human-centered design practices across VA through both project work and formal training opportunities.

Duties

Enterprise Measurement and Design (EMD) manages a large and diverse design portfolio of collaborative work within both VEO and VA, as well as across other federal agencies. The incumbent will serve as a national level CX Strategist performing duties as follows: Serve as technical advisor in matters, issues, and questions pertaining to customer experience and/or assigned areas and identify, develop, manage, and lead initiatives to improve customer experience and service delivery, increase administration/organization/program/service customer experience maturity, and apply government-wide leading practices outlined in A-11 Section 280 and from the private, state, local, and other sectors. Design and undertakes complex management studies, initiatives, or data gathering efforts, where the boundaries of the studies are extremely broad and difficult to determine in advance, i.e., the actual limits of the project are developed as the study proceeds. Studies are typically designed to provide information that assists management in the administration's diverse program areas, improve program delivery, and identify actual or potential problem areas impacting program operations and customer experience in the short and long term. Work with stakeholders across organizations, functions and levels to build customer understanding and solve challenging problems, empower teams to move forward by developing metrics, measuring results, and integrating new methodologies into existing systems. Develop mechanisms for gathering or using existing quantitative and qualitative data to help stakeholders understand their customers; develop insights to inform decision-making, identify and scope problems; and embark on new research areas worth exploring through innovative methods. This could include designing surveys, conducting interviews, focus groups, usability test session, secondary research, observational studies, etc. Review, evaluate, distill and synthesize data to uncover issues, identify trends and provide insights that drive organizational strategy. Plan and facilitate workshops, meetings and/or other interactive sessions to gather feedback and insight from key customers and stakeholders. Document, package and present findings, insights and recommendations via reports, presentations and/or other outputs as needed. Make research findings relevant and impactful for design and action through a variety of formats such as insights, stories, videos, experiences and exhibits. Build understanding within programs and services of who their customers are, the needs trying to be met and value the public seeks from VA services, and the moments that matter most. Creatively gather and package compelling customer feedback, research, and other data to develop insights to support leadership decision-making. Bring together the right people and supporting culture to develop strategies for improving CX, and plan for achieving measurable outcomes. Act as a relentless entrepreneur driving opportunities and projects through to completion creatively within a bureaucracy, while maintaining respect for colleagues and tactfully building coalitions of support. Work alongside colleagues to embed human-centered design practices so that others can both benefit from these approaches and learn methods for sustainable change. 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, 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. EST Compressed/Flexible: Compressed schedule is not approved for the first 90 days, but may be discussed with the supervisor and addressed on an individual basis after that time. Telework: Available (up to 5 days per pay period with supervisors' approval) Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: 18930A & 18929A 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, 11/27/2024. 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-13 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-12. 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. See the Required Document section below for more information regarding the SF-50s needed to verify time-in-grade. You may qualify based on your experience as described below: GS-13 Requirement: 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. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Experienced in applying design methods such as design thinking, service design, and usability research to enhance customer outcomes and ensure accessibility compliance. Skilled in collaborating with stakeholders across functions to solve complex problems, establish metrics, and integrate innovative methodologies. Proficient in leading customer experience initiatives informed by diverse research methods and synthesizing data into actionable insights to guide strategy. Adept at documenting and presenting findings through reports, presentations, and engaging formats like stories and videos. Successfully implements improvements across organizational silos by leveraging customer journey insights and supporting continuous improvement. Experienced in facilitating workshops, gathering feedback, and effectively communicating the value of design to stakeholders and leaders. Skilled at using customer data and research to inform leadership decisions and drive meaningful outcomes. Utilizing design software including Adobe Creative Cloud and prototyping tools such as Figma. Also being part of a team that services external customers including project based support, scoping, planning, managing, design projects that cover multiple phases of the design process (such as research, synthesis, and prototyping). Evidence of this specialized experience must be supported by detailed documentation of like duties performed in positions held on your resume. You will also need to provide work experience information such as hours per week, full-time/part-time status, and starting/ending dates of employment (month and year format) to establish you have one (1) full year of specialized experience at the required grade level. GS-14 Requirement: 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: Experience in applying design methods such as design thinking, service design, content design, or usability research to achieve positive customer outcomes, including compliance with accessibility standards like 508. Working collaboratively with stakeholders across various functions and levels to solve complex problems, establish metrics, measure results, and incorporate innovative methodologies. Identifying, developing, and leading customer experience initiatives informed by diverse research methods, including surveys, interviews, usability testing, and observational studies. They can synthesize and distill quantitative and qualitative data into actionable insights that shape organizational strategy and drive decision-making. Documenting and presenting findings through reports, presentations, and engaging formats such as stories, videos, and exhibits. Implementing customer experience initiatives that span organizational silos, using customer journey insights to support continuous improvement. Facilitating workshops and interactive sessions to gather feedback while communicating the value of design to leaders and stakeholders. Experience leveraging customer feedback and data to inform leadership decisions, ensuring impactful and actionable outcomes. Providing human centered design services to external customers through project-based work; contributing as an expert designer on teams comprised of expert designers working on multiple design projects; scoping, planning, conducting complex design projects that involve senior stakeholders that cover multiple phases of the design process (such as research, synthesis, ideation, and prototyping) and developing visual artifacts (such as customer journey maps, service blueprints, storyboards, etc. Evidence of this specialized experience must be supported by detailed documentation of like duties performed in positions held on your resume. You will also need to provide work experience information such as hours per week, full-time/part-time status, and starting/ending dates of employment (month and year format) to establish you have one (1) full year of specialized experience at the required grade level. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Creativity and Innovation Design Analysis and Problem Solving Systems Thinking 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: Work is sedentary. Typically, the incumbent sits comfortably to do the work. There may be some walking, standing, bending, carrying of light items, or driving an automobile. No special physical demands are required to do the work. The incumbent may be required to travel. The environment involves everyday risks or discomforts that require normal safety precautions typical of such places as offices, meeting and training rooms, libraries, or commercial vehicles. 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

There is no educational substitution at this grade level.


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 Veteran Customer Experience VCE 810 Vermont Ave NW Washington, DC 20420 US
• Name: Dorian Bruce
• Phone: 909-602-4590
• Email: [email protected]