Duties

The Deputy Executive Director (DED) works in parallel with the Executive Director (ED) in collaborating with executive level leadership to strategically link major VA initiatives with the Office of Secretary's priorities and those of external organizations including VA's stakeholders and oversight bodies, the Office of Management and Budget, etc. The incumbent must also have a tactical focus to engage with major initiatives and their leads to ensure their success through identification and mitigation of risk, monitoring of critical milestones, and coordination with key operational stakeholders. The incumbent:

Reviews program/initiative operating plans to ensure planned activities are linked to the VA's strategic plan and the resources and support required are available to deliver these activities successfully.

Manages the day-to-day execution of the program management reviews through the VA governance processes to ensure OSVA approved initiatives are on track with cost, schedule and performance milestones and risks are identified, and mitigated to achieve successful program/initiative outcomes.

Participates in the agency operational planning and evaluation processes to identify and mitigate risks, assess the impact of initiatives on current and future operating models and programs and provides input into the agency learning agenda and performance model.

Provides advice and counsel to the Executive Director, Assistant Secretary, and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary and for Enterprise Integration.

The incumbent of this position is involved in critical initiatives that underly the agency's continuous transformation. The success of these initiatives are often legislative imperatives and are broadly valued by VA's stakeholders. Therefore, the incumbent must possess a superior track record of expertise applying program management principles and methods. Critical decision making and ability to coordinate with leaders across the agency is also essential.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• US citizenship is required.
• One year probationary period required for initial SES appointment.
• Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service.
• Incumbents of this position will be subject to a background investigation commensurate with the risk and sensitivity level of the position.
• Successful completion of drug screening required.
• Public Financial Disclosure Report (SF-278) is required within 30 days of appointment.
• May be subject to reassignment geographically or organizationally.
• COVID-19 Vaccination Requirement as required by Executive Order 14043, for further details, refer to additional information below.

Qualifications

To meet the minimum qualifications, applicants must possess the following technical and executive core qualifications. These qualifications would typically be gained through progressively responsible management or executive level assignments such as director of a regional office, medical facility or program manager. An individual's total experience, education and volunteer work experience must demonstrate the ability to perform the duties of the position.

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; religious; 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.

MANDATORY EXECUTIVE CORE QUALIFICATIONS (ECQs): All applicants must submit a written narrative response to each of the following ECQs and include your name on each page. Your narrative must address each ECQ separately and demonstrate the underlying competencies in the narrative. Examples should be clear, concise, and emphasize your level of responsibilities; the scope and complexity of the programs, activities, or services you managed; program accomplishments; policy initiatives undertaken; level of contacts; the sensitivity and criticality of the issues you addressed; and the results of your actions. You should use action oriented leadership words to describe your experience and accomplishments and quantify your experience wherever possible to demonstrate your accomplishments (e.g., number of employees supervised; size of budget managed; amount of money saved, etc.). Applicants should use the Challenge, Context, Action and Results (CCAR) model below when responding to each ECQ:

• Challenge. Describe a specific problem or goal.
• Context. Describe the individuals and groups you worked with, and/or the environment in which you worked, to address a particular challenge (e.g., clients, co-workers, members of Congress, shrinking budget, low morale, etc).
• Action. Discuss the specific actions you took to address a challenge.
• Result. Give specific examples of measures/outcomes that had some impact on the organization. These accomplishments demonstrate the quality and effectiveness of your leadership skills.

Your narrative response should not exceed 10 pages, be typed in 12 point font with one-inch margins. It is recommended that you include 2 recent (not older than 10 years) examples per ECQ and draft your ECQs in a Word document before uploading into the system to ensure these guidelines are met. Information that exceeds these guidelines will not be reviewed. Detailed information on each ECQ, the underlying and fundamental competencies, sample narratives and a tips sheet for writing effective ECQs are available in the "Guide To Senior Executive Service Qualifications" GUIDE (opm.gov) at: http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/senior-executive-service/executive-core-qualifications/ .

1. Leading Change: The ability to bring about strategic change, both within and outside the organization, to meet organizational goals. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to establish an organizational vision and to implement it in a continuously changing environment. (Underlying Competencies: Creativity and Innovation, External Awareness, Flexibility, Resilience, Strategic Thinking, and Vision)

2. Leading People: The ability to lead people toward meeting the organization's vision, mission, and goals. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to provide an inclusive workplace that fosters the development of others, facilitates cooperation and teamwork, and supports constructive resolution of conflicts. (Underlying Competencies: Conflict Management, Leveraging Diversity, Developing Others and Team Building)

3. Results Driven: The ability to meet organizational goals and customer expectations. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to make decisions that produce high-quality results by applying technical knowledge, analyzing problems, and calculating risks. (Underlying Competencies: Accountability, Customer Service, Decisiveness, Entrepreneurship, Problem Solving and Technical Credibility)

4. Business Acumen: The ability to manage human, financial and information resources strategically. (Underlying Competencies: Financial Management, Human Capital Management and Technology Management)

5. Building Coalitions: The ability to build coalitions internally and with other Federal agencies, state and local governments, nonprofit and private sector organizations, foreign governments, or international organizations to achieve common goals. (Underlying Competencies: Partnering, Political Savvy and Influencing/Negotiation)

TECHNICAL QUALIFICATION (TQ)s: In addition, all applicants must submit a written narrative response to the following specific TQ(s). Please label and include your name on each page. Please give examples and explain how often you used your skills, the complexity of the knowledge possessed, the level of people you interacted with, the sensitivity of the issues you handled managing a large public or private sector organization that administers complex, rules-based benefits or services, etc. It is recommended that you draft your TQ(s) in a word document and then upload into the system.

TQ1: Demonstrated experience in providing direct oversight and successful execution of major initiatives/programs as identified by the highest levels of the agency/department (i.e., Office of the Secretary, Under Secretaries and Assistant Secretaries and external stakeholders, etc.) to achieve specified milestones and outcomes with the end goal of improving the value of services provided and balancing fiduciary responsibilities.

Education

This job does not have an education qualification requirement.

Additional information

COVID 19: As required by Executive Order 14043 , Federal employees are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 regardless of the employee's duty location or work arrangement (e.g., telework, remote work, etc.), subject to such exceptions as required by November 22, 2021. If selected, you will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and submit documentation of proof of vaccination before your start date. Per the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) , you are fully vaccinated for COVID-19, 2 weeks after receiving the requisite number of doses of a COVID-19 vaccine approved or authorized for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or that has been listed for emergency use by the World Health Organization. For Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, or AstraZeneca/Oxford, full vaccination is 2 weeks after receiving the second dose in a 2-dose series. For Johnson and Johnson (J&J)/Janssen, full vaccination is 2 weeks after an employee has received a single dose. Additional information regarding what documentation is needed and how you can request a legally required exception will be provided if you are selected for the position.

Due to COVID-19, VA is currently in an expanded telework posture. If selected, you may be expected to temporarily telework, even if your home is located outside the local commuting area. Once employees are permitted to return to the office, you will be expected to report to the duty station listed on this announcement. Management officials will provide information about returning to the official, pre-pandemic worksite, when applicable. At that time, you may be eligible to request to continue to telework depending upon the terms of your organization's telework policy and the duties of the position.

Veteran Preference does not apply to the Senior Executive Service.: https://www.opm.gov/faqs/topic/Senior-Executive-Service/index.aspx .

Drug Testing: All applicants tentatively selected for VA Senior Executive Service employment in any position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA.

Incumbents of this position will be subject to a background investigation commensurate with the risk and sensitivity level of the position.