Environmental Protection Specialist (GEMS)

Position is the GEMS Manager for at the Eastern Kansas Health Care System (EKHCS). Incumbent is a key official and advisor to the Manager, Occupational Health and Safety Service. The GEMS manager is the Green Environmental Management Systems (GEMS) Coordinator and is also responsible for managing Veterans Affairs Medical Centers (EKHCS) environmental program(s) and coordinating the efforts of EKHCS organizations that relate to environmental matters. 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/ . RESPONSIBILITIES: This 1 position, applicant may select either Leavenworth, KS or Topeka, KS as their duty location.

Duties include, but may not be limited to the following:

Administers the Green Environmental Management System (GEMS) program with responsibility for management of GEMS activities and internal reporting activities.

Advises senior level management officials within the facility on the status of environmental programs and recommends changes in the design of facility work programs to meet new environmental requirements.

Interacts with Federal, state, and local environmental agencies with respect to facility environmental issues.

Schedules and leads environmental audits to identify and evaluate program implementation and compliance activities.

Trains other employees and lower grade environmental staff, providing instruction on a variety of subjects related to specific and specialized environmental topics; adapts various available media to fit special and unique training requirements; and participates in the development of novel or innovative environmental training and promotion activities.

Evaluates, modifies, and implements pollution prevention alternatives to reduce the generation of waste.

Conducts or oversees the identification, collection, segregation, packaging, and manifesting of hazardous wastes.

Participates on the facility's GEMS committee.

Performs other related duties as required.

Work Schedule: 8:00AM - 4:30PM, Monday - Friday

Telework: Ad-hoc

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Environmental Protection Specialist (GEMS)/ PD095070

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, 07/31/2026.

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-9. 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-9 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: 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. NOTE: 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 OR,

Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree, or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree, or an LL.M. if related education. Transcripts 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 the first two years of progressively higher level graduate education (or 36 semester hours) to meet total experience requirements.

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

First Response

Attention to Detail

Strategic Thinking

Technical Competence

Environmental Engineering

External Awareness

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 requires the employee to carry a good deal of equipment and involves walking, standing, bending, climbing, or crawling during inspections, audits, and surveys.

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/ . SALARY: QuantitativeValue EMPLOYMENT TYPE: Other