Senior Lead Veterans Claims Examiner.

About the role

The Senior Lead Veterans Claims Examiner works as a member of one of the teams in the Regional Offices Education Division and serves as primary contact and subject matter expert for the Veteran, adjudicating claims and authorizing payments.

Responsibilities

• Reviews and authorizes complex and unusual education benefit claims, ensuring accurate application of laws, regulations, and policies;
• Provides second-signature authorization for claims processed by GS-11 and below examiners;
• Provides technical training, guidance, mentorship, and interpretive instructions to lower-graded Veterans Claims Examiners;
• Performs quality reviews and ensures consistent adjudication practices;
• Evaluates complex or conflicting evidence, including military service documentation from multiple components, to determine sufficiency and validity in establishing benefit entitlement;
• Serves as final authority on unusual and complex claims requiring expert judgment;
• Independently develops facts and evidence, identifies legal and factual issues, researches precedent decisions, applies governing laws and policies, and drafts determinations, notices, and correspondence;
• Conducts interviews and outreach via phone, in person, or electronically with veterans, claimants, representatives, school officials, and DoD stakeholders.

Requirements

This vacancy announcement is open ONLY to current, permanent Buffalo VBA Regional Office employees and current/former VA employees who are CTAP eligible.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

As a current/former Federal, GS employee you must meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

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. 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.

For a GS-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11 level.

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.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENT: You may qualify based on your experience as described below:

GS-12 Grade Level:

• Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience at the GS-11 grade level in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience includes applying current laws, regulations, policies, and procedures governing VA education benefits to adjudicate and authorize a wide range of claims; independently addressing, evaluating, and resolving complex or unusual cases involving conflicting or incomplete evidence; and providing technical guidance, direction, or formal training to lower-graded examiners.
• Experience also includes reviewing claims for accuracy, completeness, and compliance with governing criteria; communicating workload status, program issues, and progress to supervisory or managerial personnel; and utilizing comprehensive knowledge of VA benefit programs, claims-processing requirements, and related educational entitlements to ensure accurate and timely benefit delivery.

Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), your responses on the application questionnaire, and your responses to all assessments required for this position.

You will be assessed on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics):

• Attention to Detail
• Decision Making
• Flexibility
• Integrity/Honesty
• Interpersonal Skills
• Learning
• Reading Comprehension
• Reasoning
• Self-Management
• Stress Tolerance
• Teamwork
• Technical Competence: Comprehensive knowledge, expertise and efficiency in the authorization of education claims.
• Decision Making: A high degree of independence, ingenuity, and resourcefulness in development of information and evaluation of evidence.
• Accountability: Ability to interpret overall direction and ensure others understand their role in the completion of tasks for the team.
• Planning and Evaluating: Ability to evaluate employee performance and recommend strategies to Supervisor for improved efficiency of the team.
• Self Management: Ability to project and manage a task independently.
• Oral and Written Communication: Ability to communicate orally and in writing; clearly explaining laws, regulations, data, trends, policies, procedures and concepts.