Job Description

Summary

A Recruitment/Relocation incentive may be authorized for a highly qualified individual.

The position is a Health Physicist serving as the Radiation Safety Officer of KCVA with complex uses of radioactive material and complex uses of machines that produce ionizing radiation. The RSO is responsible for managing the facility's radiation safety program, ensuring the safety of patients, staff, and members of the public, and compliance with federal regulations and VHA requirements.

Learn more about this agency

Duties

Help

Duties of this position include, but are not limited to:

• Oversees a comprehensive program in support of the services or sections of Imaging, Nuclear Medicine, Radiation Oncology, and various medical and surgical specialties using radioactive material or ionizing radiation in clinical, academic, and research settings under a radioactive materials permit issued by the NHPP.
• Directs, supervises and conducts emergency response procedures for radiological emergencies
• Advises staff on unusual, complex and critical problems encountered and develops solutions when implementing new clinical programs, such as PET/CT or PET/MR and new radiopharmaceutical therapies, when designing new or remodeling existing clinical facilities such as PET/CT, PET/MR, or SPECT/CT imaging facilities and radiation oncology facilities, and when creating or revising facility policy and procedure
• Establishes and manages a comprehensive quality assurance program for diagnostic and interventional imaging equipment.
• Reviews equipment quality control parameters for imaging and therapeutic equipment including computed tomography, angiography, radiography, digital radiography and fluoroscopy, clinical linear accelerators, and positron emission tomography (PET), and possibly lasers, ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging.
• Provides oversight and evaluates the technical quality assurance program to determine its effectiveness and recommend and implement improvements.
• Designs and implements training programs in line with organizational strategies related to maintaining and improving safety.
• Adapts various available media to fit special and unique training requirements and participates in the development of novel or innovative safety training and promotion activities.
• Provides training and instruction to nursing staff, other clinical staff, and support staff such as Environmental Management Services (housekeeping) and dietetics personnel involved in the care of patients who have been administered therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals or undergoing brachytherapy.
• Evaluates the training and experience of the medical staff and other professional personnel relative to regulatory compliance requirements for the use of radioactive materials in clinical and research settings.
• Advises staff regarding safety and regulatory compliance aspects of biomedical research programs and facilities involving radioactive material and equipment producing ionizing radiation.
• In the case of research uses, reviews laboratory methods and the objectives of the research to ensure that the radiation risks to personnel are minimized and may advise principal investigators and facility research committees on other aspects of research uses such as appropriateness.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 7:30 am - 4:00 pm

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Health Physicist (Radiation Safety Officer)/ PD103750

Recruitment Incentives: You may qualify for a recruitment incentive in accordance with agency policy.

Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Help

Conditions of employment

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.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 05/29/2026.

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-13 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-12. 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.

You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below:

Basic Requirement (Individual Occupational Requirement):

• Education: To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have a successful completion of a full 4-year course of study in an accredited college or university leading to a bachelor's or higher degree that includes: natural science or engineering that included at least 30 semester hours in health physics, engineering, radiological science, chemistry, physics, biology, mathematics, and/or calculus.

OR,

• Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond courses as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or other education; or certification as a health physicist by the American Board of Health Physics, plus appropriate experience and other education that provided an understanding of sciences applicable to health physics comparable to that described above.

AND

• Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-12 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Plans, directs, leads, and executes the radiation safety and medical health physics programs in a technical, scientific, and administrative scope of function with responsibility for all diagnostic, therapeutic and research modalities that require the use of ionizing radiation; Advises ancillary staff, researchers, technical, and medical personnel in the safe use of radioactive materials and devices producing ionizing radiation;. Reviews experimental procedures specific calculations and development of risk wording, occupational dosimetry determinations for employees, and evaluation of data regarding patient absorbed radiation dose; Offers consultation and advice to other onsite and offsite senior technical experts because of the position-specific responsibilities in the various associated disciplines.

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:

• Attention to Detail
• Customer Service
• Decision Making
• Flexibility
• Integrity/Honesty
• Interpersonal Skills
• Learning
• Reasoning
• Self-Management
• Stress Tolerance
• Teamwork

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: Work requires the operation, setup and movement of testing devices and lead shielding. Work also requires that the incumbent be able to meet the physical demands to manage the radioactive waste storage program and handle radioactive generators. Physical requirements include the ability to stand for long periods of time, bend, stoop, crouch and lift moderately heavy equipment and devices (up to 50 pounds unaided). Manipulation of 55-gallon waste drums weighting 100 to 200 pounds is necessary.

For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at .

Education

There is no educational substitution at this grade level.

A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: .

If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education.

Additional information

Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.

The following will be communicated to applicants for VA employment in a testing designated position and will also be included in all VA vacancy announcements for such positions: All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drugs use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA.

The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be well-qualified, applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors if applicable, and must be proficient in most of the requirements of the job. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website which can be found at .

Receiving Service Credit for Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. VA may offer newly-appointed Federal employee's credit for their job-related non-federal experience or active duty uniformed military service. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed.

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

If you are unable to apply online and request information about the Alternate Application process, please contact the Agency Contact listed for this Job Opportunity Announcement (JOA).

Expand Hide additional information

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

Benefits

Help

A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

Review our benefits

Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.

Job Tags

Similar Jobs