Instructional Systems Specialist

Summary

The Instructional Systems Specialist recommends, initiates, plans for, acquires, develops, evaluates, maintains, and updates training programs and training systems for both Central Office and field operations employees in Insurance Service. This responsibility assumes the developmental programs and systems are being created and delivered for Insurance Service. The programs and systems created focus on developing measurable professional level, job-specific competencies within Insurance Service.

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Duties

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• Designs, develops, and implements training programs. These programs utilize all appropriate media (classroom, interactive television, videotape productions, computer based and web-based training).
• Teaches, coordinates and provides guidance to instructors and subject matter experts. Independently plans and oversees administration of day-to-day training integration and coordination activities, to include the development, justification and execution of training, education, and professional development.
• Identifies training needs using performance needs analysis tools, including but not limited to, surveys, focus groups and task analysis that provide feedback and priorities from employees, managers, supervisors, and program participants.
• Develops, reviews, and revises instructional materials for courses or occupations in accordance with specific learning objectives and/or employees to include lessons plans, training texts, presentations, guides, and all other instruction related materials.
• Analyzes, designs and develops training curricula for various position types in Insurance Service Central Office and field operations. Implements training delivery and evaluates learning outcomes to measure effectiveness and revise materials.
• Determines the learning objectives and task learning relationships, cluster learning events, organizes course content, and develops instruction design plans.
• Conceives and drafts training aids on new systems and components and reviews charts and drawings for technical accuracy. Reviews modifications to existing training to determine impact on training aids and lesson plans being used by stakeholders. Revises aids and courses and prepares instructions for revisions by SMEs.
• Plans and coordinates related training and development activities to ensure that component parts of major items and quantities specified will meet program requirements for training classes.
• Plans, promotes, and develops educational design strategies for educational programs/events and products by leading effective teams and providing clear direction. Evaluates program effectiveness by review of reports, direct observation, discussion with team members and consultation with customers.

Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level. The grade progression for this position is GS-13.

Work Schedule : Full time, Monday through Friday

Compressed/Flexible: Available (6:00am - 6:00pm).

Telework : This position is eligible for situational (ad hoc) telework only. The selectee is required to report to the official duty station each scheduled workday. Telework may be approved only on a case-by-case basis with supervisory approval. Routine or recurring telework is not authorized for this position.

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD# : Instructional Systems Specialist; PD42236A and PD42237A

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives : Not Authorized

Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Bargaining Unit: No

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the Agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the Agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your probationary period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Additional Conditions of Employment are as follows:

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• You may be required to serve a probationary or trial period
• Subject to background/security investigation
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements I-9 Acceptable Documents.
• Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement: 08/25/2026.

TIME-IN-GRADE REQUIREMENT : Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade at any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

• For a GS-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11 level.
• For a GS-13 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-12 level.
• If you are a current VBA employee requesting a reassignment or change to lower grade via this vacancy announcement, you must currently hold the GS-13 (or higher) and the promotion potential of your current position must be at least GS-13.

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. 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.

AND

This position has an Individual Occupational Requirement IOR/basic requirement. Applicants must clearly demonstrate in their application how the standards are met. Applicants who do not meet basic requirements will not receive further consideration.

BASIC REQUIREMENTS:

Degree: that included or was supplemented by at least 24 semester hours appropriate to the work of the position to be filled. The course work must have included study in at least four of the following five areas:

1. Learning theory, psychology of learning, educational psychology: Study of learning theories as they relate to the systematic design, development, and validation of instructional material.
2. Instructional design practices: Study of the principles and techniques used in designing training programs, developing design strategy and models, and applying design methods to the improvement of instructional effectiveness.
3. Educational evaluation: Study of the techniques for evaluating the effectiveness of instructional/educational programs, including developing written and performance tests and survey instruments, and determining reliability and validity of evaluation instruments.
4. Instructional product development: Study of the techniques appropriate for developing training materials, including identifying learner characteristics, specifying objectives, applying training strategy, validating training materials, and evaluating training.
5. Computers in education and training: Study of the application of computers in education and training, including selecting appropriate computer software.

NOTE: A copy of all college transcripts (marked unofficial/official ONLY) must be included in the application package. If selected, candidates will be required to furnish copies of all official transcripts prior to entry on duty.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENT:

GS-12 Grade Level:

Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-13 level or higher. Specialized experience is defined as: (1) designing, developing, or reviewing training curricula, course materials, instructional aids, and learning tools, and conducting evaluations to determine training effectiveness and learner performance.; (2) collecting, analyzing, and interpreting training related data, reports, and performance measures to identify trends and recommend improvements; and (3) administering or managing components of a training or learning program.

GS-13 Grade Level:

Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-13 level or higher. Specialized experience is defined as: (1) designing, developing, or reviewing training curricula, course materials, instructional aids, and learning tools, and conducting evaluations to determine training effectiveness and learner performance.; (2) collecting, analyzing, and interpreting training related data, reports, and performance measures to identify trends and recommend improvements; (3) administering or managing components of a training or learning program; (4) work in the occupation or subject-matter field requiring training or instructing others; and (5) effective communication skills across various audiences.

There is no education substitution for experience at the GS-12 or GS-13 grade levels.

Full vs. Part-Time Employment: Full-time employment is considered to be at least 35 hours per week. Part-time experience will be credited on a pro-rated basis. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate 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 is primarily sedentary, although some physical effort may be required to perform the duties of the position. The incumbent may sit to do much of the work. The nature of the work will place the incumbent often in a stressful situation and the incumbent must possess the maturity, and judgement to complete the work assignments. Some standing and walking is necessary.

For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at

Education

Transcript(s) MUST be submitted with your application in order to support the Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR).

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education to be credited towards qualifications. Provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

All education claimed by applicants will be verified upon appointment. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript to receive credit.

Additional information

Special Employment Consideration: VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply, including those eligible for hiring under 5 CFR 213.3102(u), Schedule A, Appointment of persons with disabilities [i.e., intellectual disabilities, severe physical disabilities, or psychiatric disabilities], and/or Disabled veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more. Contact the Agency Contact for information on how to apply under this appointment authority via the Selective Placement Coordinator.

Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) provides eligible displaced Federal/VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting your current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified (have a final rating of 85 or more) for this vacancy. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at ICTAP/CTAP - OPM.

Placement Policy: The posting of this announcement does not obligate management to fill a vacancy or vacancies by promotion. The position may be filled by reassignment, change to lower grade, transfer, appointment, or reinstatement. Management may use any one or any combination of these methods to fill the position. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

Veterans and Transitioning Service Members : Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer (TJO). Please visit the Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP), VA - The Fair Chance to Compete Act Reasonable

Accommodation (RA) Requests: If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a RA in your online application. Requests for RA for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for RA are made on a case-by-case basis. If you meet the minimum qualifications of the position, after notification of the adjudication of your request, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, based on your adjudication decision. You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments if you received the link after the close of the announcement. To determine if you need a RA, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments. RA Support

For more information on the "Who may apply" eligibility requirements, please refer to the OHRM document.

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

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A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

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Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.