IT Specialist

US Deputy Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology; Hines (IL); On-site; USD 110,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is seeking an Engineering Technician to join Infrastructure Operations in Illinois. The role focuses on secure, high-availability IT and cloud solutions for mission-critical systems, including modernization and sustaining enterprise Linux environments.

Applicants must meet federal qualifications and demonstrate hands-on Linux administration experience. The position requires independence, strong problem-solving, and effective communication with diverse

Qualifications

• IT experience with competencies: Attention to Detail, Customer Service, Oral Communication, and Problem Solving at proficiency level equal to next lower grade in federal service.
• Senior systems or infrastructure administration experience focused on Linux (RHEL or equivalent) in on-premises, hybrid-cloud, or multi-cloud environments.
• Experience installing, configuring, patching, upgrading, securing, troubleshooting, and optimizing Linux systems.
• Automation/configuration management using Ansible, Satellite, shell scripts, or Git-based tools.

Skills

Attention to Detail

Customer Service

Oral Communication

Problem Solving

Tools

Ansible

Red Hat Satellite

Shell scripting

Git

Job description

Join VA's Infrastructure Operations (IO) to deliver and maintain secure, high-availability IT and cloud solutions. Help protect and modernize mission-critical systems and support quality services for Veterans. Work in a dynamic, innovative environment as an Engineering Technician located in Deputy Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology (VA).

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 10/09/2026.

You must meet the Basic Requirements (Individual Occupational Requirement), Specialized Experience, and the Selective Placement Factor to qualify for this series as described below.

Basic Requirements (Individual Occupational Requirement):

Applicants must have IT-related experience demonstrating each of the four competencies listed below at a proficiency level equivalent to the next lower grade level in federal service:

1. Attention to Detail - Is thorough when performing work and conscientious about attending to detail.
2. Customer Service - Works with clients and customers (that is, any individuals who use or receive the services or products that your work unit produces, including the general public, individuals who work in the agency, other agencies, or organizations outside the Government) to assess their needs, provide information or assistance, resolve their problems, or satisfy their expectations; knows about available products and services; is committed to providing quality products and services.
3. Oral Communication - Expresses information (for example, ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (for example, technical, sensitive, controversial); makes clear and convincing oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately.
4. Problem Solving - Identifies problems; determines accuracy and relevance of information; uses sound judgment to generate and evaluate alternatives, and to make recommendations.

Specialized Experience:

Specialized Experience is defined as experience serving as a senior systems administrator, infrastructure administrator, technical lead, or subject matter expert responsible for the administration, sustainment, security, performance, and modernization of enterprise Linux operating systems and associated infrastructure in on-premises, hybrid-cloud, or multi-cloud environments. Qualifying experience must include independently installing, configuring, patching, upgrading, securing, troubleshooting, and optimizing Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) or equivalent Linux systems; administering Linux workloads and their associated compute, storage, networking, identity, monitoring, backup, and recovery services within AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, or comparable enterprise cloud platforms; managing system performance, capacity, availability, serviceability, and recoverability; planning, testing, implementing, documenting, and validating operating system, software, configuration, and production changes; developing or using automation and configuration-management technologies such as Ansible, Red Hat Satellite, shell scripting, Git-based repositories, or cloud-native automation services; implementing cybersecurity hardening, privileged-access controls, vulnerability remediation, security patching, and configuration compliance; diagnosing and resolving complex operating system, infrastructure, authentication, storage, networking, application-interface, and performance incidents; supporting disaster recovery, contingency, backup, restoration, and continuity-of-operations activities; developing technical standards, operating procedures, implementation plans, run-books, and system documentation; and providing authoritative technical guidance to administrators, engineers, application teams, cybersecurity personnel, contractors, vendors, customers, and management to evaluate complex requirements, mitigate operational and cybersecurity risk, and ensure the availability, security, reliability, performance, and recoverability of mission-critical enterprise Linux and cloud infrastructure.

Selective Placement Factor

In addition to the minimum qualifications described above, you must meet the following requirement(s) to be considered qualified for the position: Direct, hands-on experience performing production-level Linux administration and engineering duties (not including application support, oversight-only, training, or certifications alone), where you independently managed, troubleshot, and maintained complex Linux environments in a business or operational setting and executed independent judgment, immediate operational contribution, and direct coordination with assigned customers and technical stakeholders.

PLEASE NOTE: General IT experience, Linux administration, application support, training, certifications, or oversight-only responsibilities are not sufficient substitutes for direct, production-level Linux administration and engineering experience. Applicants must clearly demonstrate qualifying experience in their resume by describing the duties personally performed, level of responsibility and independence, complexity and scale of the supported environment, and measurable results achieved. Merely listing technologies, certifications, training, or generalized familiarity will not satisfy the requirement. may be required to support planned or emergency maintenance, respond to production outages, participate in disaster-recovery activities, and perform occasional after-hours or on-call work

Evidence of the selective placement factor must be reflected in your resume.

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/.