Program Specialist

Veterans Benefits Administration • San Diego, CA

32d • Onsite

About The Position

This position is in the Veterans Benefits Administration, San Diego Veterans Affairs Regional Office, Support Services Division, National Transcription Center; and serves as a Program Specialist responsible for administrative and technical work. The incumbent is responsible for managing the efficient, effective coordination and accomplishment of the planning scope, development, design and the Supervisory Office Automation Assistant caseload and the progress forward to claims resolution. The Transcription Program Specialist (TPS) works within the Support Services Division of the San Diego VBA Regional Office and is responsible for supporting Management and the Supervisory Office Assistant. Specific duties include: Responsible for the overall management control and execution of the office programs within the National Transcription Center (NTC). Provides advice and guidance to managers, staff and Veteran Service Organizations (VSO). Conducts quality assurance reviews of final transcripts produced by NTC. Analyzes reports regarding production, quality, and timeliness goals/standards offering suggestions to management for improvements. Prepares and conducts formal training sessions for newly hired personnel, refresher training and training required due to changes in procedures or standards. Dual responsibility with the NTC Supervisor for suspense and control action of all approved recurring reports or other scheduled reports; i.e. OT reports, follow-up correspondence to staff members as required, transferring of transcripts to Veterans Benefits Management System (VBMS), and logs. The incumbent transcribes the most difficult voice recordings of complex testimony, to include a wide-range of topics and specialized and complex medical and legal terms. Serves as the equipment and technological subject matter expert, ensuring that equipment used by OA Assistants and 50+ regional offices is up-to-date and in working order.

Requirements

• Must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• May be required to serve a probationary or trial period
• Selectees are required to serve a one-year supervisory probationary period if not previously completed in a Federal position.
• Subject to background/security investigation
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process.
• Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements I-9 Acceptable Documents.
• Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• As a current Federal, GS employee you must meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-07 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05 level. For a GS-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07 level.
• If you are a current VBA employee requesting reassignment or change to lower grade via this vacancy announcement, you must currently hold the GS- 07 or higher and the promotion potential of your current position must be at least GS-9.
• 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.
• GS-7: Specialized experience is defined as experience in a wide range of medical or legal transcriptions. This experience should document experience researching legal and/or medical terminology, and experience drafting documents with proper grammar, punctuation, spelling and the proper format for different types of hearings being transcribed.
• GS-9: In addition to the skills for the GS-07 level, specialized experience for the GS-09 must document experience in the performance of program analysis and evaluation to meet goals, and experience conducting quality assurance reviews.
• For GS-07, you must have at least 1 full year of graduate level education, or have earned superior academic achievement in your bachelor's degree.
• For GS-09, you must have master's or equivalent graduate degree, or 2 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree.
• Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level.
• You must have a combination of specialized experience and education beyond graduate level.
• If you do not fully meet the length of experience and education described for a specific grade level (e.g. have six months of experience and some coursework but not a degree), the two can be combined to total 100% of the requirement.
• The work is primarily sedentary and involves keyboarding for long periods.
• There may be some walking, standing, and carrying light items such as paper or books.

Nice To Haves

• 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.

Responsibilities

• Responsible for the overall management control and execution of the office programs within the National Transcription Center (NTC).
• Provides advice and guidance to managers, staff and Veteran Service Organizations (VSO).
• Conducts quality assurance reviews of final transcripts produced by NTC.
• Analyzes reports regarding production, quality, and timeliness goals/standards offering suggestions to management for improvements.
• Prepares and conducts formal training sessions for newly hired personnel, refresher training and training required due to changes in procedures or standards.
• Dual responsibility with the NTC Supervisor for suspense and control action of all approved recurring reports or other scheduled reports; i.e. OT reports, follow-up correspondence to staff members as required, transferring of transcripts to Veterans Benefits Management System (VBMS), and logs.
• Transcribes the most difficult voice recordings of complex testimony, to include a wide-range of topics and specialized and complex medical and legal terms.
• Serves as the equipment and technological subject matter expert, ensuring that equipment used by OA Assistants and 50+ regional offices is up-to-date and in working order.

Benefits

• A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package.
• As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding.
• Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent.
• Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: Associate degree