Summary The employee will serve as the Program Analyst in the Veteran's Crisis Line (VCL), Veteran's Affair (VA). The VCL is a 24-hour, 7-days-a-week, 365-days-a-year service aimed at connecting callers worldwide to a caring, qualified Veterans Administration employee. The VCL's mission is to provide 24/7, world-class suicide prevention and crisis intervention services to Veterans, Service Members and their family members. Responsibilities Major duties include but are not limited to: Working with VCL Managers and supervisors, VHA senior leaders involved in mental health crisis interventions in regards to technology and innovations. Serving as liaison with OIT staff and vendors to identify, develop, and build support and tools for implementing a mission enhancing user experience and improved Key Performance Indicators. Working with OIT, vendors, and outside organizations to analyze and develop business requirements for national application products. Being a subject matter expert in regards to the ethical and effective applications and trends to suicide prevention and crisis care. Working with other technological and Suicidology subject matter experts within VA, as well as others through private industry to develop innovative crisis care using applications or strategies. Providing recommendations for improvements and upgrades to VCL's technology and digital infrastructure to the Innovations Hub Program Manager and Senior Leadership at Veterans Crisis Line. Providing consultation on systems or policy proposals, and providing technical, policy, and programmatic guidance to VA leaders at most senior level. Planning and conducting work in area of Suicidology informed technology and technology policy. Analyzing technological requirements and collaborates with OIT and IT vendors on new information system techniques and establishing criteria for best practices. Exploring advances in communications and contact center technology and enhancing efficiency of operations through modifications and applications of evolving technology. Containing knowledge on user-centered design and development practices to support development and implementation of technical projects. Developing reporting requirements, procedures, and data analysis techniques that will allow for planning and evaluation of operational efficiency that clinical and non-technical leadership can intake and use to inform strategic decision making. Providing guidance to all VCL offices on digital services best practices from within and outside government. Ensuring smooth governance forum operations, including coordinating secretariat duties, collecting updates, performing content reviews, recording meeting minutes, capturing actions, and ensuring actions are completed within their stated suspenses. Serving as lead for gathering project statuses, ensuring project milestones are fully understood and are completed on time, and Technology & Innovation and VCL senior leadership are updated to allow for timely and informed decisions are made to keep projects on schedule. Work Schedule: Tour of Duty is typically Administrative Hours. Tour is subject to change based on program needs. Compressed/Flexible: May be authorized upon supervisor approval after training per Agency policy. Remote: This is remote position. Selectees will work 100% of the time in a non-VA-owned space outside of the local commuting area of a parent station. The employee's workspace must be suitable for conducting business and as such, remote employees are expected to provide a secure, distraction-free home-based worksite with reliable high speed internet connectivity. The employee will be required to travel to the closest VA Medical Center or VA Outpatient Clinic for issuance of equipment, and as needed for technical support. Selectees will be required to self-certify that their remote workplace meets all safety, privacy, and internet speed requirements. Position Description/PD#: Program Analyst/PD076950 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required This is a bargaining unit position. Requirements Conditions of Employment 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, 01/24/2025. 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. 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. 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-12 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. In order to meet the minimum qualifications for this position, you must meet 3/5 of the following examples of specialized experience: Using analytical methods to define technological process and program/system improvements; Working with innovation professionals in designing, developing, testing, and implementing technological systems; Utilizing state-of-the-art IT trends for application to suicide prevention and care; Using emerging technologies to implement their applications in a complex operating environment; AND Leading technology and technology policy initiatives from conception through implementation. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Communication Technology Management Organizational Awareness Requirement Analysis Project Management 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 and requires no special physical demands. 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 There is no educational substitution at this grade level. Additional Information Order of Referral: This announcement will remain open until 01/24/2025. All applications received up to 11:59p.m. EST on the date in which 50 applications is reached will receive first consideration. Applications received after 11:59p.m. EST on the date in which 50 applications are received may not receive consideration unless otherwise requested by management. Additional applications will be reviewed in one day increments at management request. This position is covered by AFGE bargaining unit. Per the Master Agreement, the Area of Consideration will be: FIRST - The Administration or VA Staff office posting the vacancy. SECOND - Any other internal candidates of the Department. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement. Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.