Program Analyst

Description:

This position is within the Program Evaluation and Resource Center (PERC) and is under the direct supervision of the Director of PERC. PERC conducts nationwide evaluations of VA treatment methods, services, and programs for mental health, substance use disorders, and suicide prevention, supports compliance with Congressional mandates, develops safe tools used by providers throughout Veterans Heath Administration (VHA), The program analyst in this position works at the national level.

Requirements:

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 02/13/2026.

Time-In-Grade Requirement : Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-14 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-13. 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. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment.

Preferred Experience:
This position is for a program analyst to work with data from the VA corporate data warehouse to support the Office of Mental Health and the Office of Suicide Prevention (including the Veterans Crisis Line). Candidates must have experience programing in SQL, preferably with data from a corporate data warehouse. The Ideal candidate will have experience creating data dashboards with mental health data specifically.

Selective Placement Factor:
Prepares data for unique data request to meet the needs of Senior Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Leadership and inform strategic decisions. Justification: Mental Health and Suicide Prevention are high priority areas and subject to intense stakeholder scrutiny and public accountability. This position requires elevated technical skills, strategic thinking, and management expertise.

You may qualify based on your experience as described below:

• Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-13 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Qualifying experience applying analytical and evaluative methods and techniques to issues or studies concerning the efficiency and effectiveness of a clinical program; experience planning, organizing, and developing studies or projects, making recommendations on operating programs and negotiating with others to accept and implement recommendations; and experience evaluating and making recommendations regarding health care delivery systems.

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:

• Customer Service
• Data Management
• Information Management
• Project Management
• Technical Problem Solving

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.

Physical Requirements: The work is primarily sedentary and requires only occasional travel.

Working Conditions: Almost all the work is performed in offices at VAPAHCS or in a typical virtual office setting. Occasionally, work may be conducted at other locations if the incumbent is on travel

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/ .