Government and Policy, Healthcare, Other, Healthcare, Practitioner and Technician
Job Description
Data Scientist
Qualifications
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 01/02/2026.
Basic Requirements:
United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy
English Language Proficiency
In accordance with 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), no person shall serve in direct patient care positions unless they are proficient in basic written and spoken English
Individual Occupational Requirements: Degree: Mathematics, statistics, computer science, data science or field directly related to the position
The degree must be in a major field of study (at least at the baccalaureate level) that is appropriate for the position
(Transcript must be submitted)
OR Combination of education and experience: Courses equivalent to a major field of study (30 semester hours) as shown in paragraph above, plus additional education or appropriate experience
AND 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-13 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-12
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: Grade Requirements Specialized Experience GS-13: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-12 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization
Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Conduct program evaluation projects involving large and complex healthcare data sets, Develop and maintain electronic program monitoring tools for wide dissemination of data, Expertise with natural language processing to analyze data and interpret results
Experience in writing SQL code to accurately identify a patient cohort of interest in a corporate data warehouse (CDW) and populate a table for this cohort with diverse data such as demographics, diagnoses, appointments, and organizational encounters
Selective Placement Factor: In addition to the qualifications listed above, applicants must have the selective placement factor listed below
Applicants must have comprehensive computer programming knowledge and skills requiring independently writing SQL code, Corporate Data Warehouse (CDW) data extraction, and advanced data visualization software particularly Power BI
(Note: This experience must be reflective on your resume to receive credit)
You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Analytical Thinking Customer Service Data Management Database Administration Database Management Systems Research 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: Sedentary, some walking, sitting, standing and carrying of light items
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/.