Research Computer Scientist

About the role

This position serves as a Without Compensation Research Computer Scientist within the Office of Research and Development (ORD). The VA Research Program strives to promote Veteran-centered care to improve patient experiences and outcomes across VA healthcare and community settings, and to advance value-driven care by providing Veterans the highest quality care at the lowest financial burden. Please note: There is no pay associated with this position.

Responsibilities

• The initial application review cut-off for this job announcement is 50 applications.
• The first 50 applications received will be considered first.
• Applications received after the initial cut-off number (50 applications) may not receive consideration unless otherwise requested by management.
• Develop programming specifications, designs, writes, tests and validates a variety of custom software applications to support a wide range of data collection and analysis needs for research studies.
• Apply relational databases and software development to research experience within the framework of health services research.
• Apply artificial intelligence (AI), natural language processing (NLP), machine learning and deep learning methodologies and applications to support health services research and quality improvement projects.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement – 10/10/2026. Qualification may be based on education and experience as described below. A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

• Basic Requirements
  • Bachelor's degree in computer science, or a bachelor's degree with 30 semester hours in a combination of mathematics, statistics, and computer science.
  • At least 15 of the 30 semester hours must have included any combination of statistics and mathematics that included differential and integral calculus.
  • All academic degrees and course work must be from accredited or pre‑accredited institutions.
• Experience
  • General experience in:
    • Developing programming specifications, designs, writes, tests and validates a variety of custom software applications to support a wide range of data collection and analysis needs or research studies.
    • Providing standardized documentation of programs, evaluation and modification.
    • Applying relational databases and software development to research experience within the framework of health services research.
    • Resolving unusual, novel and difficult problems relating to the collection of research data, particularly related to the use of existing VA datasets and the development of novel electronic data collection applications.
  • Experience includes paid and unpaid work, including volunteer work through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional, philanthropic, religious, spiritual, community, student, social groups).
  • 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.
  • A full year of work is considered to be 35‑40 hours per week; part‑time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities.
  • Applicants wishing to receive credit for