Environmental Protection Specialist

Summary

This position is located in the Department of Veterans Affairs(VA), Veterans Health Administration (VHA), at the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System (SAVAHCS) in the Engineering Service, Environmental, Health and Safety section. Environmental Protection specialists, also known as GEMS (Green Environmental Management System) Program Managers, play an essential role in the GEMS Program and apply specialized knowledge of planning and administering environmental compliance and sustainability.

Duties

Major duties include: Plan and implement program policy and procedures ensuring compliance with environmental laws and regulations, as well as timely tracking of regulatory deadlines, shipping schedules, and hazardous waste locations and volumes. Manage environmental permits, ensuring that permits are written, followed, and modified as needed and completes all required actions to avoid violating permit requirements. Lead facility self-assessments, conduct significant surveys and inspections to determine compliance with applicable state, local, and federal environmental regulations and evaluate program implementation. Advise organizations and services on procedural methods and process improvements, lead sustainability evaluations that cover a wide variety of environmental aspects and impacts. Negotiate agreements on corrective action plans, potential monetary fees, and non-compliance orders with Federal, State, and local environmental agencies. Review how expansion, modification, closures of existing facilities and infrastructure and new construction of structures and infrastructure will impact the environmental footprint of the health care system. Serve as an expert on the interpretation of environmental regulations and technical issues. Lead and Subject Matter Expert on any new and emerging contaminant and pollution issues and is expected to coordinate all associated activities with reducing, removing, and preventing pollution. Advise senior level management officials within the health care system on the status of environmental programs and recommend changes in the process to meet new environmental requirements and/or reduce environmental impact. Advise other scientists, clinicians, and engineers from other services and organizations regarding environmental compliance and protection programs. Manage compliance and pollution prevention activities for both internal and external reporting requirements. Identify process improvement projects to reduce environmental impacts and take remedial actions to address any non-compliance issues or findings. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm Compressed/Flexible: Position not authorized a compressed schedule. Telework: This position is not authorized for telework. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Environmental Protection Specialist/PD14724O Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized. Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not authorized. 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, 10/23/2026. 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 and/or education 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: managing environmental programs; planning, organizing, implementing, and providing technical assistance for projects to resolve environmental problems; managing response to environmental emergencies; developing, implementing, and maintaining effective programs for the identification, collection, and disposal of hazardous wastes; measuring the effectiveness of existing environmental programs and recommending modifications to existing programs as needed to meet changing environmental requirements; determining compliance with environmental regulations and policies, permit requirements, contract clauses; and evaluating the effectiveness of hazardous property management systems. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have 3 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree which demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position, or related LL.M. (Transcript Required). OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education, or beyond LL.B or J.D., if related (Transcript Required). 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

A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.