Supervisory IT Specialist

US Deputy Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology; Little Rock (AR); On-site; USD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

The Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Information and Technology, seeks a Supervisory IT Specialist to manage complex data systems and IT products, oversee day-to-day development, sustainment, and operational support, and supervise technical staff and vendor teams delivering mission-critical systems.

Responsibilities include planning, design, strategy, and ensuring system availability, data integrity, and timely delivery of IT solutions that meet federal standards and customer needs.

Qualifications

• Competencies in attention to detail, customer service, oral communication, and problem solving demonstrated through IT roles.
• Experience with government or enterprise IT processes is a plus.
• Ability to work with clients and translate requirements into technical solutions.

Responsibilities

• Provide program management for complex data systems and IT products.
• Oversee day-to-day development, sustainment, and operational support, including vendor coordination.
• Supervise technical staff and vendor teams delivering mission-critical data systems.

Skills

Attention to Detail

Customer Service

Oral Communication

Problem Solving

Job description

The position is in Office of Information and Technology (OIT), Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The incumbent serves as a Supervisory IT Specialist providing program management for complex data systems and IT products. The incumbent manages day-to-day development and operational support, including sustainment, new development, planning, design, and strategy, and supervises technical staff and vendor teams delivering mission-critical data systems for the Department. To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 10/28/2026.

You may qualify based on your experience as described below:

Basic Requirements

Experience: Experience must be IT related; the experience may be demonstrated by paid or unpaid experience and/or completion of specific, intensive training (for example, IT certification), as appropriate. For all positions individuals must have IT-related experience demonstrating each of the five competencies listed below. The employing agency is responsible for identifying the specific level of proficiency required for each competency at each grade level based on the requirements of the position being filled.

• 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.

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: Within the past five (5) years, the applicant has served as the program lead or senior technical authority for a mission-critical, high-availability enterprise system deployed in a cloud environment, built on an enterprise application stack that includes a Java-based application, a relational database, and one of more data replication, synchronization, or messaging mechanisms, with direct ownership of system sustainment data integration or synchronization with a partner organization, and leadership of the technical and/or vendor teams supporting IT.

Specialized Experience

You must possess a minimum of one (1) year of experience equivalent to at least the GS-13 level. Specialized experience for this position is defined as: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-13 level, leading the sustainment and modernization of a mission-critical, high-availability enterprise IT system. Experience must include: program and project management of complex, custom enterprise applications with critical interfaces, including responsibility for system availability, integrity, and data synchronization; providing technical direction over an enterprise application stack deployed in a cloud environment (Java application, relational database, data replication/synchronization, and ETL/ELT processing) sufficient to lead an engineering team and set technical priorities; incident management and issue resolution for production systems, including root-cause analysis, coordination of remediation, and outage prevention; planning and execution of system modernization and new development efforts, including migration planning, requirements definition, and lifecycle/sustainment management; oversight of program budget, acquisition planning, and contract/vendor management, including defining technical requirements, setting acceptable standards, tracking performance, and accepting or rejecting deliverables; and supervising or leading technical staff and/or vendor teams distributed across multiple locations, including assigning work, setting priorities, and coordinating cross-functional efforts.

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.

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/