Senior Human Services Benefits Program Specialist

The City of Alexandria is bordered by Washington D.C. and the Potomac River, Arlington and Fairfax counties, and Maryland. The small city has a cosmopolitan feel with 150,000 people living within its 15.75 square miles. At the Department of Community and Human Services, we provide essential safety net services to help city residents enjoy a sense of well-being, safety and self-sufficiency. Our behavioral health programs provide compassionate services that support self-determination and recovery. The beauty of our diverse and resilient people and our commitment to race and social equity, coupled with a historic district dating to 1749, charming waterfront, vibrant arts community and unique places for foodies and shopping, make the City of Alexandria a uniquely wonderful place to live, work and play. We invite all qualified candidates to learn more and apply for our Senior Human Services Benefits Program Specialist position. Benefit Programs Specialist III represents the advanced level in the occupational group. Employees are assigned advanced technical functions or projects that require considerable knowledge of all public assistance functions such as fraud or quality control case review. Employees in this class conduct the initial and ongoing eligibility determinations requiring advanced program knowledge, or provide quality control by examining cases completed by other eligibility workers for accuracy and uniformity. Work is performed independently in accordance with well-established guidelines and standards. The most complex situations are reviewed with the supervisor. The Benefit Programs Specialist III is distinguished from the Benefit Programs Specialist IV by the latter’s serving as a lead worker, providing guidance to other specialists, and supporting the supervisor by ensuring staff coverage, reviewing cases, and providing back-up supervision as required.  

General Statement of Duties:

The Senior Human Services Benefits Program Specialist is responsible for reading new and renewal cases to ensure accuracy, timeliness, and policy/procedural application, which also includes evaluating staff knowledge of all programs. The incumbent performs difficult professional and technical work involving case reading of the determination or re-determination of the eligibility of individuals for Federal, State, and Local financial or medical assistance programs. This includes all programs, including Medicaid, SNAP, TANF, and General Relief and Refugee Assistance for which the individual may apply or qualify.  The incumbent works within established policies, procedures, and guidelines with a high degree of independence, seeking supervisory assistance in complicated situations. Delivers state-provided training on benefit programs to new and existing staff, including the Virginia Case Management System (VaCMS), SNAP, Medical Assistance, and TANF, as well as other staff development initiatives. Develops and implements evaluative tools to identify knowledge gaps and assess the effectiveness of training, supporting continuous improvement and adherence to program requirements. This is a leadership position and provides coverage in the absence of the Supervisor. The distinguishing feature between the classes of Human Services Benefits Program Specialists is the complexity of work performed and the leadership responsibilities.

Examples of Duties:

• Serves as a senior-level eligibility worker with the primary function of reading and reviewing cases for both new and experienced Human Services Workers.

• Provides training to new and existing staff on policies and systems related to (VaCMS), SNAP, Medical Assistance, and TANF

• Stays current in related policy/guidance, current issues and innovations in local agency practices and trends, and new training industry practices and interprets local, State and Federal policies and data to ensure accurate case processing

• Conducts in-depth case reviews of workers processing applications for state and local financial and/or medical assistance programs.

• Ensure that cases meet compliance and are processed within federal, state, and local policy guidelines and procedures for initial and continuing eligibility for assistance.

• Identifies and assists with training on quality deficiencies and issues affecting compliance, including policy-related matters and VACMS contributory factors.

• Reviews casework of Benefit Programs Specialist ll.

• Assist with preparing cases for federal, state, and local audits.

• Determines timeliness and accuracy of the agency’s issuance of benefits following state and federal laws and policies.

• Reviews case actions from a random sample based on accurate interpretation of local, state, and federal policies.

• Reviews all points of the eligibility determin