IT Specialist (Operation Systems)

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology; Chelmsford (MA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 115,000; Full time

Job summary

The Department of Veterans Affairs is seeking an IT professional to deliver secure, high-availability infrastructure and services across the VA enterprise. The role requires applying information security principles, remediating vulnerabilities, and providing technical security recommendations within a federal environment.

Qualified applicants must meet the basic and specialized experience requirements by the closing date and demonstrate ability to coordinate with project teams to adapt to CMOP

Qualifications

• Basic IT competencies: attention to detail, customer service, oral communication, problem solving.
• Requires ability to assess needs, provide information or assistance, and resolve problems.
• Experience applying information security principles and addressing IT challenges in a federal environment.

Responsibilities

• Deliver secure, high-availability infrastructure solutions for VA missions.
• Serve as an operational service provider for compute, storage, database, and client management components.
• Implement and sustain security controls and supporting processes to protect networks, systems, and applications across the VA enterprise.

Skills

Attention to Detail

Customer Service

Oral Communication

Problem Solving

Job description

Deliver secure and high availability infrastructure solutions supporting VA's mission. Serve as an operational service provider of foundational compute, storage, physical database, and client management components. Implement and sustain technical, management, and operational security controls and supporting processes to protect mission critical networks, systems, and applications throughout the VA enterprise.

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/15/2026. You must meet both the Basic Requirement and the Specialized Experience to qualify for this series and grades as described below.

Basic Requirement - Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR):

Applicants must have IT-related experience demonstrating each of the four competencies listed below.

• Attention to Detail - Is thorough when performing work and conscientious about attending to detail.
• 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.
• 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.
• Problem Solving - Identifies problems; determines accuracy and relevance of information; uses sound judgment to generate and evaluate alternatives, and to make recommendations.

Specialized Experience:

You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-11 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience include, independently applying information systems security principles, remediating vulnerabilities, providing technical security recommendations, and resolving complex IT issues. Planning and executing technical assignments, adapting established methods to new requirements, and interpreting regulations to address unprecedented challenges. This experience demonstrates expertise in information security, IT project management, and technical problem-solving within a federal environment.

A Quality Ranking Factor is a knowledge, skill, or ability that is highly desirable for successful performance in this position. Applicants with this qualification may be ranked above others in the selection process. For this vacancy, the Quality Ranking Factor is: Experience independently supporting technical or project teams by coordinating and sharing technical knowledge with peers, as well as working in automated industrial or control-system environments (e.g., PLC/SCADA), to quickly adapt to Consolidated Mail Outpatient Pharmacy (CMOP) operational systems.

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/.