About this role
Job Summary
This position serves as an Education Compliance Specialist (ECSS) on the Investigations, Compliance, and Enforcement team within the Program Oversight & Accountability Division and is located geographically disbursed across the United States and responsible for providing compliance oversight of educational and training institutions within an assigned portfolio in support of EDU's mission. This position reports directly to the Supervisory Program Oversight Specialist.
Qualifications
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement: 10/26/2026.
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-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07 level. For a GS-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-09 level. If you are a current VBA employee requesting reassignment or change to lower grade via this vacancy announcement, you must currently hold the GS-07 or higher and the promotion potential of your current position must be at least GS-11.
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.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENT
You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: GS-09 Grade Level: Specialized Experience: To qualify for the GS-09 level, resume must clearly demonstrate that the candidate has one full year of specialized experience comparable in difficulty and responsibility to at least the GS-07 level in the federal service. Example of qualifying experience include the following types of tasks performed on a regular and recurring basis: Demonstrates experience and knowledge of Federal and State laws, regulations, executive orders, agency rules and policies for benefit programs.
Demonstrates knowledge identifying issues and analyzes information to draw accurate conclusions, ensuring careful attention to detail. Dissects problems and information into their meaningful parts and uses logic and judgment to evaluate alternatives and develop solutions. Demonstrates knowledge of procedures for assessing, evaluating, and monitoring programs or projects for compliance with laws, regulations, and guidance. Demonstrates knowledge of generally accepted auditing standards, procedures, and reports. Education Substitution: Master's Degree or equivalent graduate degree, if related (You must provide transcripts); OR have two (2) full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree; or LL.B. or J.D., if related.
(You must provide transcripts.) OR Combination: A combination of specialized experience and education as described above. See below link for more details. GS-11 Grade Level: Specialized Experience: To qualify at the GS-11 grade, you must have one (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-9 level or higher. Specialized experience should include demonstrated experience and knowledge of Federal and State education laws, regulations, executive orders, agency rules and policies for VA Education benefits; identifying issues and analyzes information to draw accurate conclusions, ensuring careful attention to detail by dissecting information into their meaningful parts and uses logic and judgment to evaluate an organization's records management; Demonstrated experience with procedures for assessing, evaluating, and monitoring programs or projects for compliance with laws, regulations, and guidance; Knowledge of generally accepted auditing standards and procedures for conducting financial and/or record keeping reviews/audits.
Demonstrated experience providing management with detailed reports of discrepancies/findings based on review/audit. Education Substitution: Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree (You must provide transcripts); OR have three (3) full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M, if related. (You must provide transcripts). OR Combination: A combination of specialized experience and education as described above. See below link for more details 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; 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. 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 is mostly sedentary with occasional walking, bending, reaching and driving. 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/.
Major Duties
- Specific duties include: Prepares for compliance survey (audit) of an education and training program by examining and reviewing various informational sources.
- Examines education records for enrolled students and ascertains enrollment data and award actions.
- Verifies institution has provided appropriate forms for compliance with Equal Opportunity Laws, Conflicting Interest and other documents required for SAA program approval of Veteran education benefits.
- Conducts investigation and evaluations pertaining to compliance with provisions of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 404 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Age Discrimination Act of 1975.
- Interviews students and school administrators or employees during the course of investigation to substantiate or refute allegations.
- Complete assigned Targeted Risked Based Reviews (TRBR) and Risk-Based Surveys (RBS).
- Conducts entrance and exit-briefings at educational and or training establishments, delineating results of survey findings with School Certifying Officials.
- Prepares compliance survey report which indicates whether discrepancies found on a prior survey have or have not been corrected, report any discrepancy found on the current survey and explains what additional action, if any, is required.
- Record payment discrepancies to include direct overpayments or underpayments made to the educational institution on behalf of a GI Bill beneficiary.
- Refer institution approval and payment discrepancies for action, as appropriate, to other VA personnel, and/or other regulatory agency and provides recommendations in cases of egregious or negligent reporting errors or possible fraud.
- Assists with liaison visits to educational institutions and training establishments.
- Aids in the preparation and dissemination of necessary compliance information, conducts face to face training, addresses deficiencies found during a compliance survey, and presents at school conferences and workshops advising school officials about VA regulations and directives.
- Other duties as assigned.
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-11. Work Schedule: Full Time, Monday - Friday 8:00 am - 4:30 pm Compressed/Flexible: Available 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#: Education Compliance Survey Specialist; PD38798A and PD38799A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized. Financial Disclosure Report: Required. This position requires completion of a Confidential Financial Disclosure Report (OGE-450) under 5 C.F.R. § 2634.904(a). The selectee must submit the form before entering on duty and annually thereafter.
Requirements
As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary 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.