This position serves as an Electronics Technician responsible for the engineering, installation, and ongoing operational support of non-medical electronic equipment and systems and the Iowa City VA Health Care System.
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 07/09/2025. 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-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-10. 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. Electronics Technical Series, 0856, has Individual Occupational Requirements that is defined as: Work as a technician, instructor, inspector, or mechanic (civilian or military) that showed progression in theoretical and practical knowledge of electronic theory, and of the characteristics, function, operation, and capabilities of a variety of types of electronic equipment. This experience must have included the use of schematic diagrams, a variety of test equipment, and the application of appropriate electronic formulas involved in such duties as testing, troubleshooting, modifying, designing, calibrating, installing, maintaining, repairing, constructing, developing, and instructing on electronic equipment, or similar functions. Experience in developing policies, standards, and procedures for maintenance, installation, or similar functions, provided the work clearly shows that the applicant applied a specialized knowledge of the theories and principles of a variety of electronic systems or equipment. You may qualify based on your experience as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-10 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include what is stated above, as well as but are not limited to: Performing preventive and corrective maintenance to keep equipment and systems in reliable condition; Installing equipment in accordance with plans, specifications, and detailed instructions, or reinstalling repaired or modified systems; Fabricating electronic equipment in accordance with plans, specifications; Using computer hardware, operating systems and networking principles to allow for configuration, installation, interfacing and ongoing technical support of computer-driven electronic systems; Using a wide range of electronic equipment design/diagnostic tools, principles, standards, precedents, techniques, requirements, methods, applications, sources, and procedures; and utilizing different techniques to evaluate alternative approaches in recommending solutions to system problems and updates. Preferred Experience: Experience in a healthcare/hospital environment performing technical support and maintenance of electronic equipment and systems. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Communications Computers and Electronics Configuration Management Quality Management 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: You will be asked to participate in a pre-employment examination or evaluation as part of the pre-employment process for this position. Questions about demands or environmental factors may be addressed at the time of evaluation or examination. Physical Demands: The work can be physically demanding involving walking, sitting, crawling, climbing, standing, and long periods of intense concentration. Lifting of objects between 10 and 50 pounds is common, and on occasion lifting of 100 pound objects is necessary. Working on ladders with arms raised above head for extended periods of time is also common. Working Conditions: The work is performed in clinical, industrial, and office settings. Performance of duties will cause incumbent to access all areas of the health care facility. Potential hazards include voltage, contaminated equipment, or violent patients. Occasionally may be required to work in confined spaces, extreme heat and/or cold. 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/.
Major duties include, but are not limited to: Prepares both routine and special written reports covering systems and equipment tests, failures, maintenance records, inventories of equipment, parts and supplies, and fire alarms event histories. Develops lesson plans and conducts training for technical, clinical, and law enforcement staff. Acquires and organizes documentation to support systems and uses software to draft schematics or other technical drawings for assembly and fabrication of customized integrated and stand-alone systems. Serves in a consultative capacity to VA construction staff and construction contractors regarding protection of and/or maintenance of systems in occupied buildings. Coordinates with Project Planning staff, Facility Maintenance staff, and contractors. Uses basic knowledge of TCP/IP networking and telecommunications practices to work with OI&T staff and telecommunications contractors to establish, document, and maintain open channels of communication between the main site and all satellite facilities for equipment that is networked between sites. Researches, designs, configures, installs, modifies, upgrades, troubleshoots, repairs, aligns, programs, and integrates highly complex electronics systems and subsystems used throughout the health care system. Determines when safety systems are to be shut down to avoid false alarms while maintaining an acceptable level of protection for the building and its occupants. Performs timely shutdown and re-activation of the systems. These systems may include, but are not limited to, the following: Nurse call systems Simplex, duplex, network-based and mobile 2-way radio systems In-building cellular phone systems Closed circuit television including video over IP Campus-wide networked fire alarm systems Holdup and panic alarm systems Intrusion alarms Temperature monitoring systems and alarms Medical emergency alarms (code blue, code green, etc.) Televisions, television receiving and broadband distribution systems Access control systems Audio and radio paging systems Patient Elopement systems Building Management Systems May be subject to emergency call back if critical systems and backup systems fail. Acts tactfully and diplomatically in performing functions so there is no disturbance to essential medical center operations. Responsible for notifying the owning service and the Electronics Shop supervisor if equipment or systems should be taken out of service. Performs other related duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Electronics Technician/PD50588A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized The VA Midwest Health Care Network advocates for a Whole Health System of care in each of the Medical Centers. This is an approach to healthcare that empowers and equips people to take charge of their health and well-being and live their lives to the fullest. As an employee operating in a Whole Health System of care, you will operate in a model with three core elements, seeking to create a personalized health plan for each Veteran. This is done in the context of healing relationships and healing environments and a connection back to the Veteran's community. This aligns with the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Mission Statement to Honor America's Veterans by providing exceptional health care that improves their health and well-being.