Staff Assistant.

Veterans Benefits Administration; Phoenix (AZ); On-site; USD 58,000 - 74,000; Full time

Job summary

Veterans Benefits Administration in Phoenix is seeking an experienced Staff Assistant to provide administrative and technical support to the Director's Office and staff. Responsibilities include troubleshooting operations, routing materials, and maintaining schedules for timely reports.

You will assist senior leadership, monitor timekeeping records, and help develop reporting systems while ensuring compliance with agency policies and deadlines.

Qualifications

• Experience ensuring deadlines are met on administrative programs or projects.
• Ability to coordinate and monitor administrative correspondence and priorities.
• Familiarity with preparing written reports and policies.

Responsibilities

• Assist the Director and provide administrative and technical support to staff.
• Troubleshoot administrative operations to improve processes and resolve discrepancies.
• Analyze and route written material to appropriate elements.

Skills

Administrative support

Process improvement

Reporting systems

Timekeeping oversight

Travel coordination

Calendar management

Education

Master's degree or higher

2 years of higher-level graduate education

Job description

Duties

• Serves as assistant to Director and provides administrative and technical support to office staff.
• Troubleshoots administrative operations, processes, and procedures to improve processes and resolve discrepancies in administrative operations.
• Analyzes and evaluates written material coming into Director's Office and places controls and distributes to appropriate elements.
• Establishes internal deadlines for completion of reports and projects and follows up with Division leadership on pending assignments.
• Researches and analyzes information to determine the status of significant issues, to assist the senior leadership and staff in the decision making process.
• Regularly monitors pertinent timekeeping records to detect anomalies or deviations.
• Devises and oversees development of reporting systems.
• Serves as the Alternate Coordinator for the Regional Office programs
• Formatting, editing, and distributing standard documents and correspondence; coordinating travel; tracking actions items.
• Schedules appointments, meetings, and conferences; managing the Director's calendar; and screening telephone calls and visitors to the Director's office.

Specific Duties Include

• Serves as assistant to Director and provides administrative and technical support to office staff.
• Troubleshoots administrative operations, processes, and procedures to improve processes and resolve discrepancies in administrative operations.
• Analyzes and evaluates written material coming into Director's Office and places controls and distributes to appropriate elements.
• Establishes internal deadlines for completion of reports and projects and follows up with Division leadership on pending assignments.
• Researches and analyzes information to determine the status of significant issues, to assist the senior leadership and staff in the decision making process.
• Regularly monitors pertinent timekeeping records to detect anomalies or deviations.
• Devises and oversees development of reporting systems.
• Serves as the Alternate Coordinator for the Regional Office programs
• Formatting, editing, and distributing standard documents and correspondence; coordinating travel; tracking actions items.
• Schedules appointments, meetings, and conferences; managing the Director's calendar; and screening telephone calls and visitors to the Director's office.

Promotion Potential:

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. The grade progression for this position is GS11.

Work Schedule

Full Time, Monday - Friday, 7:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Compressed/Flexible:

Unavailable

Telework

This position is eligible for situational (ad hoc) telework only. The selectee is required to report to the official duty station each scheduled workday. Telework may be approved only on a case-by-case basis with supervisory approval. Routine or recurring telework is not authorized for this position.

Virtual:

This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#

Staff Assistant; PD422870 and PD422880

Financial Disclosure Report:

Not Required

Bargaining Unit:

No

Requirements

Conditions of employment

Required

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the Agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the Agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your probationary period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Additional Conditions Of Employment Are As Follows

• 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 or trial period.
• 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
• 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.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement:09/24/2026.

TIME-IN-GRADE REQUIREMENT

As a current Federal, GS employee you must meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

• For a GS-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07 level.
• For a GS-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-09 level.

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.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENT:

You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below:

GS-09 Grade Level

• Specialized Experience: (1) ensuring that priorities and deadlines are met on administrative programs and/or projects; (2) Establishing and monitoring deadlines; (3) Coordinating administrative and quasi-technical correspondence; and Handling and shifting priorities of a sensitive nature;

OR

• Education Substitution: Education: A master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree in a field related to the duties of this position;

OR

• Combination of Education and Experience: Applicants may combine education and experience to qualify at the GS-07 grade level. When substituting you can only use graduate level education you have earned.

GS-11 Grade Level:

• Specialized Experience: In addition to the experience required at the GS-9 level, the applicant must document experience using applying knowledge of administrative concepts, principles and practices in the administrative support of a program office or service line; independently setting priorities, communicating in writing through preparation of written reports, policies