Utility Systems Operator

US-Department-of-Veterans-Affair; Reno (NV); On-site; USD 52,000 - 76,000; Full time

Job summary

The US Department of Veterans Affairs in Reno is seeking an HVAC Technician responsible for operating and maintaining heating, cooling, and ventilation systems in VA Medical Center facilities. You will start and stop equipment, monitor meters and safety controls, and ensure safe, economical operation through regular inspection of instruments.

Applicants should demonstrate training or experience in working with mechanical systems; the role emphasizes adherence to safety standards and efficiency,

Responsibilities

• Operate and maintain heating, cooling, and ventilation systems in the VA Medical Center.
• Start and stop equipment and monitor meters and safety controls.
• Ensure systems operate safely and economically by inspecting meters, gauges, values, and instruments.

Tools

Equipment Assembly, Installation, Repair

Measuring Instruments

Operation of Equipment/Machinery

Technical Practices

Interpret Instructions, Specifications

Job description

This primary purpose of the position is to operate and maintain the machinery that provide heating, cooling, and ventilation in the VA Medical Center. Starts and stops equipment and monitors meters and safety controls. Ensures that the systems operate safely and economically by regularly inspecting meters, gauges, values, and instruments.

To qualify for this position,

applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

EXPERIENCE:

A specific length of training and experience is not required, but you must show evidence of training or experience of sufficient scope and quality of your ability to do the work of this position. Evidence which demonstrates you possess the knowledge, skills, and ability to perform the duties of this position must be supported by detailed descriptions of such on your resume. Applicants will be rated in accordance with the OPM Federal Wage System Qualification Standards.

SCREEN-OUT ELEMENT:

Your qualifications will first be evaluated against the prescribed screen out element, which usually appears as question 1 in the on-line questionnaire. Those applicants who appear to possess at least the minimal acceptable qualification requirement are considered for further rating; those who do not are rated ineligible and are eliminated. The potential eligibles are then rated against the remainder of the Job Elements:

• Equipment Assembly, Installation, Repair
• Interpret Instructions, Specifications (other than blueprint reading)
• Measuring Instruments
• Operation of Equipment/Machinery
• Technical Practices
• Without more than normal supervision

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.

Beginning September 27, 2025, Federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in length to comply with the Merit Hiring Plan. Resumes longer than two pages will result in ineligibility for further consideration for the position. USAJOBS will not allow you to upload or build resumes longer than two pages, and you will need to update the resumes in your profile before applying for a job. Resumes should include information relevant to the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies of the position to which you are applying. VA is unable to make assumptions about qualifications if not clearly listed.

Resumes must be legible so they can be reviewed for eligibility, minimum qualifications and other position requirements listed in the job announcement.

Your resume must be 5MB or less. We recommend saving and uploading your resume as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages. We also accept GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, TXT, PDF, ODT or Word (DOC or DOCX). We do not accept PDF portfolio files. We recommend using a sans-serif font size like Lato, if available. Other widely available options are Calibri, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, Open San Source Sans Pro, Roboto or Noro Sans. Make your page margins 0.5 inches. Consider using 14-point size font for titles and 10-point for the main text in your resume. The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started.