Communications Specialist

Summary

The My HealtheVet (MHV) Change Agent Coordinator serves as facility champion, leads facility teams to support existing and future Veteran communication initiatives, and coordinates local implementation, training, communications, outreach, web health content and support efforts. MHV is a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) sponsored website for Veterans, their families, advocates, and VA employees, with the goal of optimizing Veterans' healthcare.

Duties

The duties for this position include, but are not limited to: Responsible for establishing and managing communications plans that identify target audiences, appropriate messages, activities, and resources needed for effective communication, and effective communications plan for change management, incorporate multiple channels to manage expectations and disseminate project progress. Responsible for supporting and guiding facility VHA public affairs officers and stakeholders about My HeatheVet. Oversees MHV's online presence and web content and leads innovations to keep facilities MHV on the cutting-edge. Ensures accountability via written communication as it relates to MHV as each of these communication skills contributes importantly to the way VHA communicates with Veterans, Congress, our dedicated volunteers, the public and employees. Establishes and manages the training plans and design and perform needs assessments within the project relative to functional and training needs and project effectiveness. Works with EES to coordinate personnel and resources to evaluate the educational needs of Veterans and employees to develop MHV educational and training programs/classes. Based on the national MHV Program, develops and updates a facility-specific MHV implementation plan that includes developing a mission/vision statement, establishing a local team, leading team efforts, identifying local providers as champions, and developing MHV roles and responsibilities. Establishes, develops, and implements local MHV-related goals, strategies to meet goals, identifies responsible parties, tracks progress, including monitoring goals/activity status, and reports status/progress to medical center management. Formulates a marketing strategy from research, reports, products and organizational data. Designs, conducts and evaluates innovative means to advertise and market products of the MHV and Social Media Program. This includes creative writing and direct communication with all levels of personnel internal and external to the VAMC/HCS. Analyzes participation trends, customer markets, needs of the consumer and advises the VAMC/HCS leadership team on concerns and trends. Recommends specific approaches for managing special issues and findings. Represents the VAMC/HCS at forums, conferences, and meetings. Delivers presentations to all levels of the VAMC/HCS, service organizations, and veterans, family members and caregivers. Presentations are designed to inform the audience about MHV Program, MHV products, MHV capabilities, and health care issues. Work Schedule: Monday- Friday 8:00am-4:30pm, subject to change based on the needs of the facility. Telework: This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Communications Specialist/PD841010 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized. Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved. Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 10/19/2026. 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-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-09. 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. 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-09 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Leading implementation, adoption, sustainment, or outreach for a patient portal, secure messaging, telehealth, electronic health record function, or other digital-health program; Coordinating facility-, health-system-, regional-, or enterprise-level programs involving clinical, administrative, operational, technical, communications, and community stakeholders; Developing and implementing strategic communication, marketing, and outreach plans that increase awareness, enrollment, adoption, or effective use of health-care services or digital-health tools among Veterans, patients, caregivers, employees, and community partners; Designing, delivering, and evaluating training related to health-care services, patient engagement, technology, clinical workflows, business process changes, or outreach initiatives; and Using utilization data, participation trends, outreach results, customer feedback, performance measures, or program reports to assess results and recommend improvements. 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/.

Education

There is no educational substitution at this grade level.