Program Specialist

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 07/20/2026. 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-7 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-5. 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 GS-7: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-5 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Guiding, assisting, establishing, monitoring and tracking the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of programs; arranging meetings and preparing reports/communications; collecting and reviewing administrative data to identify, quantify and resolve organizational problems; utilizing automated systems to enter, update, revise, sort, and calculate data; employee timekeeping, budgetary and fiscal management; assigning, performing and reporting on provider audits.OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have one (1) full year of graduate level education or have superior academic achievement. 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 a bachelor's degree to qualify at the GS-7 level. Specialized Experience GS-9: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-5 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Guiding, assisting, establishing, monitoring and tracking the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of programs; arranging meetings and preparing reports/communications; collecting and reviewing administrative data to identify, quantify and resolve organizational problems; utilizing automated systems to enter, update, revise, sort, and calculate data; employee timekeeping, budgetary and fiscal management; assigning, performing and reporting on provider audits; training new staff on specific programs and training items; coordinating through the respective managers all the training programs as they relate to the staff, meeting all mandatory training requirements; purchasing for supplies and services; tracking and routing purchase requests. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have one 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. OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education in excess of the first year (18 semester hours) of graduate school may be used to qualify applicants for the GS-09 level. 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/.