Program Specialist (Employment Engagement Specialist)

Summary

This position is located in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Veterans Integrated Service Area (VISN) 2, Health Service Area (HSA) 2.1, at the Central Virginia VA Health Care System (CVHCS), organizationally aligned under the Engagement and Experience Office (EXO) within the Office of the Assistant Director. The position provides administrative coordination for interdisciplinary employee-engagement efforts throughout CVHCS, including support to the Richmond VAMC outlying facilities.

Duties

The Employee Engagement Specialist (EES) provides administrative support for the implementation of employee-engagement and employee-experience programming across Central Virginia VA Health Care System (CVHCS). They assist in maintaining a continuous and systematic process of developing, assessing, reviewing, revising, and evaluating engagement activities to ensure alignment with National VA Employee Engagement drivers. The ESS contributes to communicating and integrating the CVHCS employee-engagement strategic plan, mission, vision, and values into service-line strategies, goals, and initiatives. Work performed in this role directly supports organizational culture, employee well-being, and local engagement priorities under the direction of Engagement and Experience Office (EXO) leadership. Duties include but are not limited to: Partners with the EXO Chief to design, implement, evaluate, and continuously improve employee engagement programs aligned with the EXO Strategic Plan and National VA engagement priorities. Leads and oversees initiatives that promote employee engagement, wellness, experience, satisfaction, organizational health, employee voice, psychological safety, workplace culture, and organizational connection. Plans, coordinates, facilitates, and executes facility-wide events, campaigns, and engagement initiatives in collaboration with EXO support staff, service lines, and organizational stakeholders. Ensures engagement activities address the needs of the full CVHCS workforce, including clinic staff, second- and third-shift employees, and teleworkers. Uses quantitative and qualitative employee and Veteran experience data-including surveys, feedback tools, focus groups, and rounding data-to identify workforce needs, trends, satisfaction concerns, program issues, and improvement opportunities. Analyzes and integrates data from multiple sources to support strategic engagement planning, measure program effectiveness, identify organizational health trends, and develop evidence-based improvement strategies. Prepares and disseminates reports, briefings, dashboards, and resource materials for EXO and executive leadership, service lines, committees, chiefs, and supervisors. Publishes engagement-related reports and resources through the EXO SharePoint site and other facility-wide communications. Collaborates with the EXO data analyst, EXO Chief, and Executive Leadership to identify workgroups requiring Employee Driven Collaboration Plan (EDCP) support. Assists workgroups with All-Employee Survey (AES)-based goal planning, EDCP completion, and development of actionable, team-based improvements. Provides timely, professional guidance to employees and services regarding engagement resources, program availability, and improvement opportunities. Provides program oversight and subject-matter expertise for administrative functions supporting employee engagement. Develops and maintains accurate engagement communications and materials, including brochures, posters, newsletters, pamphlets, and other informational resources. Adheres to, updates, and assists in developing policies and procedures for facility-level employee engagement programs. Coordinates with the EXO Program Support Assistant on inventory control, maintenance, and purchasing of materials for engagement programs, outreach, and events. Cross-trains on EXO-managed data systems Provides backup administrative support to ensure office continuity, including: Contracting Officer Representative (COR) duties Timekeeping Automated Data Processing Application Coordinator (ADPAC) functions Document and package routing Work Schedule: Monday- Friday, 8:00am- 4:30pm Telework: This position may be authorized for ad-hoc telework, per VA policy. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Program Specialist (Employment Engagement Specialist)/PD502930 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-9 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-7. 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 at least one (1) full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level (GS-7) in the Federal Service, that is directly related to the work of the position and has equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties as a Program Specialist. Specialized experience includes but not limited to: managing complex employee engagement, patient experience, and providing administrative support within a large health care system. This includes knowledge of Engagement and Experience Office (EXO) initiatives; VHA policies, regulations, and compliance requirements; program planning, data analysis, process improvement, budgeting, personnel administration, contracting, and resource management. The position requires the ability to interpret policy; analyze, interpret and present data; resolve complex administrative issues, develop training and written products, coordinate initiatives with VISN and national offices, use VA information systems, and communicate effectively with employees, leadership, contractors, and external organizations., OR Education: Successfully completed two (2) years of progressively higher-level graduate education or masters or equivalent graduate degree or LL.B. or J.D., in a related field of the position to be filled. Education at the graduate level must have been obtained in an accredited college or university and must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of this position. NOTE: Transcripts must be submitted with application. Education cannot be credited without documentation, OR Combination: equivalent combination of successfully completed education and specialized experience directly related to the work of the position as outlined above that meets the requirements of the position. Only education in excess of the first year (18 semester hours) may be used to qualify applicants for the GS-09 level. NOTE: If using education combined with specialized experience to qualify, a copy of your transcript is required. Preferred Experience: Development of training and written products. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Attention to Detail Customer Service Decision Makin