This position is located in the Veterans Administration, Veterans Experience Office (VEO), Enterprise Measurement & Design (EMD) Directorate. The incumbent serves as Human Centered Design Management Analyst. The incumbent conducts and facilitates human centered design methods to uncover meaningful insights that drive exceptional design and innovation in the Federal government.

Duties

This vacancy will close on the posted closing date OR at 11:59 p.m. EST on the day in which 50 applications are received, whichever comes first. The incumbent conducts and facilitates human centered design methods to uncover meaningful insights that drive exceptional design and innovation in the Federal government. They serve as an advisor to VEO and other federal partners in implementing products, policies, services, experiences and other outputs that result from human-centered design projects. They provide graphic design leadership to VEO as well as general and technical guidance and leadership to senior officials of assigned agencies in human centered design, complex facilitation and other innovation initiatives. The incumbent is engaged in and responsible for the following: providing information to key client agencies and VEO stakeholders as it pertains to design project work. Leading human-centered design projects from ethnography through to implementation. This includes (1) working with partners to scope a well-formed design project problem statement that strikes the right balance of openness to explore and maneuver within the research in defining the problem and enough focus to lead researchers on the right path of understanding the problem; (2) leading empathy-based contextual inquiry, qualitative research and field observation in a variety of environments to understand user needs; (3) leading design synthesis to make sense of the qualitative data and uncover meaningful insights about the system and latent user needs through theming, generation of provocative insights and high level design pillars, which includes applying a variety of human-centered design tools such as customer journey maps personas, concept mapping and reframing; (4) leading structured and unstructured ideation sessions using a variety of human-centered design tools to build divergent thinking teams and breakthrough ideas; and (5) leading low, medium and high fidelity prototyping using physical and IT-based technology, including the ability to develop hand-drawn storyboards, thumbnail sketches and services/spaces to communicate prototype use and impact. Subject matter expert in identifying gaps and will develop problem statements to frame future and current design projects. The incumbent develops design projects that leverage best practices being implemented by VEO to deliver consistent veteran-centered experience. As a design leader, the incumbent is relied upon to exercise independent judgment, design and initiative in understanding customer needs, framing design requirements, establishing priorities, allocating resources and formulating recommendations for customer centric designs and/or solutions. Collaborates with facilities to research and design interventions/solutions for local environments. Utilizes visual design expertise to develop compelling communications and customer experience products for dissemination at VA facilities. Works with facilities to evaluate the effectiveness of design interventions/solutions through development of relevant measures and continuously iterates upon those. Develops written and verbal presentations outlining the impact of design interventions/solutions at VA facilities for presentation to senior VA leadership and stakeholders to gain buy-in for further customer experience centric design. Gathers and organizes narrative and statistical information using established methods, techniques, and precedents such as questionnaires, interviews, review of databases and comparisons of past, present and related project functions. Reviews and studies Department processes to identify such procedural problems such as the duplication/overlapping of functions or the need for revision of program procedures. Supports the implementations of lean management, change management, and process improvement. Develops multi-year strategic plans and recommendations for program officials and supervisors and strives to have viable solutions accepted by operating components leading to a transformed Department customer delivery model. Recommendations include development of new or modified work (methods, procedural changes, systems variations) and acceptance of new technology developments. Develops recommendations for improvements in operations and to promote efficiency and cost savings, evaluates, processes, and makes recommendations for effective organizational changes. Recommends areas and methods by which efficiency of operation can be improved. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Compressed/Flexible: Available with supervisor approval Telework: Available, as determined by the agency policy. Candidates who are hired will be required to work in person at least 5 out of 10 days per pay period at 810 Vermont Avenue NW, Washington, DC. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: 18626A 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, 12/17/2024. 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-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. QUALITY RANKING FACTOR: Technical expertise in the methods, techniques and tools drawn from human centered design, complex facilitation and other disciplines that enable innovation. Conducts and facilitates human centered design methods to facilitate problem solving to uncover meaningful customer insights, spur innovation in the Federal Government and facilitate change in complex environments. 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: Experience in leading human-centered design projects, providing strategic design consultation to senior officials, and advancing customer experience and innovation efforts. Being proficient in design methods, complex facilitation, and qualitative research, enabling the development of meaningful customer insights and innovative solutions. Experience in scoping design projects, crafting problem statements, and conducting ideation, prototyping, and evaluation to assess program and service effectiveness is required. Facilitating problem-solving workshops, building strategic partnerships, and collaborating with diverse stakeholders to implement impactful, customer-centered design interventions. 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 Partnering Project Management Problem Solving 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 sedentary. Typically, the employee sits comfortably to do the work. However, there may be some walking; standing; bending; carrying of light items; such as papers, books or small parts; or driving an automobile. No special physical demands are required to perform the work. Travel is required. 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
• Email: [email protected]