Program Specialist (Employee Engagement Officer)

The Employee Experience Officer serves in the Experience Office at the Atlanta VA Health Care System (AVAHCS), a complex healthcare system comprising three medical centers and nineteen Community-Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs). The health care system delivers comprehensive care to Veterans across a large geographic service area and employs a diverse workforce across clinical and administrative services.

Qualifications:

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 06/11/2026.

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: Manage and coordinate all administrative aspects of a Service/Department. Gather data analyzes budget needs for a service. Plan and maintain a system of internal controls which assures that the fiscal management is maintained in accordance with accepted accounting practices, participate in the manpower utilization program assuring recruitment and retention within the approved ceilings.

OR,

• Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M., if related. Such education must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work.

OR,

• Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience at the GS-09 grade level and education beyond (2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B. or J.D., if related Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree.

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

• Attention to Detail
• Customer Service
• Decision Making
• Flexibility
• Integrity/Honesty
• Interpersonal Skills
• Learning
• Reading Comprehension
• Reasoning
• Self-Management
• Stress Tolerance
• Teamwork

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: This work is primarily sedentary with some walking, standing, bending and carrying of light office items is required. Work is performed in an office setting which is adequately lighted, heated and ventilated.

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/.

Responsibilities:

Program Specialist GS-11 - Serves as the health care system subject matter expert for employee experience and workforce engagement strategy, advising senior leadership on initiatives that impact employee engagement, workforce satisfaction, and employee well-being.

• Leads the development and implementation of enterprise workforce engagement strategies that support organizational priorities and strengthen organizational culture across the health care system.
• Designs and implements system-wide employee experience initiatives to improve workforce engagement, reduce burnout, enhance workforce resilience, and promote employee well-being.
• Provides strategic consultation to executive leadership regarding organizational culture transformation, workforce engagement strategy, and employee experience design.
• Integrates employee experience principles into workforce development initiatives, leadership engagement programs, and organizational performance improvement strategies.
• Conducts environmental scans and benchmarking studies to identify best practices in employee engagement, workforce well-being, and organizational culture.
• Leads cross-organizational initiatives requiring collaboration among clinical services, administrative programs, and executive leadership.
• Chairs the Employee Engagement Committee
• Facilitates workforce listening sessions, engagement forums, leadership workshops, and other activities designed to gather employee feedback and improve organizational culture.
• Represents the health care system in meetings, collaborative forums, and working groups addressing workforce engagement and employee experience initiatives.
• Develops project plans, establishes priorities, tracks milestones, and ensures timely execution of initiatives.
• Develops briefing materials, reports, and presentations for executive leadership regarding workforce engagement strategies and program outcomes.
• Serves as liaison between executive leadership and internal stakeholders to ensure alignment of workforce engagement initiatives across service lines and facilities.
• Manages, facilitates, and provides data with recommendations to leaders from the Atlanta Speaks platform for employee feedback to leadership.
• Leads analysis of workforce engagement data, including the All-Employee Survey (AES), ESignals feedback tools, workforce analytics dashboards, and other organizational assessment tools.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday - 7:30am - 4:00pm. Work Schedule is subject to change based on agency need.
Telework: Not Available
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Program Specialist (Employee Engagement Officer)/PD115090
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Salary : $78,972