Veterans Service Rep (Authorizer)

This position is located in the Department of Veterans Affairs, San Juan Regional Office (RO), Military Sexual Trauma (MST) Operations Center, which is remote. IMPORTANT-PLEASE READ BEFORE APPLYING: To meet the minimum eligibility requirements, applicants must be current, permanent employees of the MST Division or CTAP-eligible.

Major duties
As a Veterans Service Representative in the Military Sexual Trauma (MST) Operations Center, the incumbent is responsible for processing and authorizing claims for VA benefits and works as a member of one of the MST teams. Primary responsibilities include serving as the authorizer for claims; explaining benefit programs and entitlement criteria; conducting interviews and hearings; identifying issues, gathering relevant evidence, and adjudicating disability claims; inputting data necessary to generate the disability award and notification letter to veterans and claimants and their representatives describing the decision and the reason for it into various electronic data processing (EDP) systems; providing guidance on interpreting laws, regulations, and guidance; and, as required, serving as an advocate for veterans and their families. Additional tasks include: Make determinations as to the eligibility for the type of benefit sought, to include questions relating to adequacy of military service, medical evidence, and the evaluation of evidence of income, employability, dependence, and relationship Request examinations, re-examinations, or opinions to evaluate disabilities resulting from diseases or injuries Review claims cases to assure all issues have been addressed, applies and interprets VA laws, including veterans' case law, existing statutes and procedures, precedent rulings and state law in the adjudication process May conduct interviews in person or by phone with veterans, representatives and advocates to explain the full range of VA benefits and related programs Prepare and release correspondence for use by other federal, state and local agencies Utilize various electronic data processing systems to input data for processing claims and generating automated correspondence. Adjudicate award actions for compensation benefits to include release of retroactive, suspended, resumed, or terminated awards. – Authorizes, reviews, and approves the pending award action for technical accuracy, clarity, and thoroughness. Prepares Statements of the Case for authorization appeals. Prepares administrative decisions relating to Character of Discharge (COD), contested claims, line of duty, administrative error, etc. Mentors and develops Veteran Service Representative (VSR) Trainees Promotion Potential: None Work Schedule: Full-time, Monday-Friday 8:00 am – 4:30 pm Remote: Yes Position Description/PD#: Veterans Service Representative Authorizer GS-11: 02105A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required Bargaining Unit: Yes Salary: The salary range indicated in this announcement reflects the 2026 "Rest of US" Pay table. The actual salary range will be based on the applicable locality pay for the actual duty location. View the OPM 2026 Locality Pay Tables for more information.

Qualifications
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement10/22/2026. TIME-IN-GRADE REQUIREMENT: As a current Federal, GS employee, you must meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-11 position, you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-10 level. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. Submit an SF-50 showing your time-in-grade eligibility 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. MINIMUM QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS: You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-10 level or higher. Specialized experience is defined as: The ability to request relevant medical or administrative evidence to make eligibility determinations. Experience analyzing medical evidence, benefit and/or legal evidence to identify and recognize required actions for claim development and adjudication. Experience in explaining program benefit entitlements and requirements. Technical assignments related to claims or benefits processing or eligibility determinations. The interpretation of laws, rules and/or regulations and the analysis of documents to determine eligibility for benefits, quality assurance or perform auditor functions. Education Substitution: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must possess a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M., if related. (Must submit transcripts.) OR Combining Education & Experience: If you do not fully meet the length of experience and education described for a specific grade level (e.g., have six months of experience and some coursework but not a degree), the two can be combined to total 100% of the requirement. Click here for more information. Volunteer Experience: 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. 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; when including part-time employment in your resume, you must specify the average hours worked per week. Physical Requirements: The work normally involves mental rather than physical exertion. The work is mostly sedentary; however, there may be some walking, 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 http://://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

How to apply
Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application. To apply and be considered for this position, you must complete all required questionnaires and assessments and submit all required documentation as specified in the How to Apply and Required Documents section. To receive consideration, the complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. 10/22/2026 It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation are submitted before the closing date. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. (EST) on 10/22/2026 to receive consideration. It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation are submitted before the closing date. The application process is as follows: Click the Apply Online button. Answer the questions presented in the application and attach all necessary supporting documentation. Click the Submit Application button before 11:59 PM (ET) on the announcement closing date. If you are required to complete any USA Hire Assessments, you will be notified after submitting your application. The notification will be provided on your application submission screen and via email. The notification will include your unique assessment access link to the USA Hire system and the completion deadline. Additionally, in USAJOBS, you can click "Track this application" to return to your assessment completion notice. Access USA Hire using your unique assessment link. Access is granted through your USAJOBS login credentials. Review all instructions prior to beginning your assessments. You will have the opportunity to request a testing accommodation before beginning the assessments should you have a disability covered under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended. Set aside about two (2) hours to take the USA Hire Assessments; however, most applicants complete the assessments in less time. If you need to stop the assessments and continue later, you can reuse your unique assessment link. to take the USA Hire Assessments; however, most applicants complete the assessments in less time. If you need to stop the assessments and continue later, you can reuse your unique assessment link. Your responses to the USA Hire Assessments will be reused for one year (in most cases) from the date you complete an assessment. If future applications you submit require completion of the same assessments, your responses will be automatically reused. Visit the USA Hire Applicant Resource Center for practice assessments and assessment preparation resources at https://support-usahire.opm.gov/hc/en-us. To update your application, including supporting documentation: During the announcement open period, return to your USAJOBS account, find your application record, and click Edit my application. This option will no longer be available once the announcement has closed. To view the announcement status or your application status: Visit https://help.usajobs.gov/how-to/application/status. Your application status page is where you can view your application status, USA Hire assessment completion status, and review your notifications sent by the hiring agency regarding your application. Beginning September 27, 2025, Federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in length to comply with the Merit Hiring Plan. Resumes longer than two pages will result in ineligibility for further consideration for the position. USAJOBS will not allow you to upload or build resumes longer than two pages, and you will need to update the resumes in your profile before applying for a job. Resumes should include information relevant to the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies of the position to which you are applying. VA is unable to make assumptions about qualifications if not clearly listed. Resumes must be legible so they can be reviewed for eligibility, minimum qualifications, and other position requirements listed in the job announcement. Your resume must be 5MB or less. We recommend saving and uploading your resume as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages. We also accept GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, TXT, PDF, ODT, or Word (DOC or DOCX). We do not accept PDF portfolio files. The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started. Helpful Hints for Creating a Two-Page Resume: Prioritize most relevant and recent experience Use concise, results-focused language Align language from the job announcement Focus on demonstrating skills and competencies Remove outdated or unrelated experience Use the USAJOBS resume builder Additional guidance on this new requirement and resume-building tools can be found at: USA Jobs Help Center – Resume Page Limit Applicant Guidance on the Two-Page Resume Limit