Entry Level Healthcare Informatics Jobs in Portland, OR

Summary
This position is located at the Portland VA Health Care System, in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The primary purpose of the position is to improve the quality, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care by integrating clinical and information processes necessary to achieve successful adoption and application of new technologies throughout the VHA.
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Duties
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Duties include, but may not be limited to the following:

• Uses communication, education, and leadership to support comprehension of and adaptation to organizational updates.
• Guides the evolution of clinical software and processes by ensuring clinical software are available for staff use in addition to training on these programs.
• Contributes to the development of software enhancements, guides process improvement activities, and partners with colleagues working on information technology (IT) for the better provision of patient care by clinical and business staff.
• Cultivates a healthy working relationship between the Office of Information and Technology (OIT) and Health Informatics, allowing for routine dialog to enable the sustainment and optimization of our health IT solutions and workflows, for the benefit of all staff and Veterans.
• Evaluates content quality and assures access to knowledge resources, eliminating redundancy in duplicate data sources, and improving information interoperability across the organization.
• Applies statistical (quantitative information derived mathematically), machine learning (use of artificial intelligence to derive knowledge from data to predict outcomes), visualization (representation of data via a chart or other image), inferencing (a way to understand cause-and-effect relationships) and other techniques to enable decision support.
• Utilizes or develops reports and information tools using a variety of methods and tools such as Structured Query language (SQL), SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) from the VISN and the VA Corporate Data Warehouse.
• Enables healthcare capabilities and the evolution of technology adjoined to the electronic health record (EHR) to deliver quality care by developing, implementing, monitoring, maintaining, and optimizing informatics tools and access to them.
• Serves as a subject matter expert in the visual depiction of process flow diagrams, assisting end-users with correct interpretation of symbols and diagrams that reflect their work activities.
• Ensures clinical input in the development and management of the VHA business architecture.
• Participates in actions to evaluate, test, and report on errors found when working with systems and applications.
• Applies a true end-to-end process to evaluate workflows, identify issues, develop solutions based on best practice guidelines, and resolves and communicates changes to maintain and optimize processes that deliver Health Information Technology (HIT) solutions.
• Uses communication, education, and leadership to support comprehension of and adaptation to organizational updates.
• Performs activities that support the management and delivery of educational experiences using information solutions and technology in all areas of healthcare.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00 am - 4:30 pm or 7:30 am - 4:00 pm (Pacific Standard Time)
Telework: Not Available.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Program Analyst (Informatics)/PD99399-S and PD99398-S
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized.
Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved.
Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required.
Requirements
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Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• 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 (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-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.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• Complete all application requirements detailed in the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1 or 2-year trial 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 trial 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 time in grade and specialized experience requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement, 07/29/2026.
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 within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement.

• For a GS-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-09.
• For a GS-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the 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.
You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below:
To qualify for this position at the GS-11 level, you must meet one of the following:
Specialized Experience: You must have at least one (1) full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level (GS-9) in the Federal Service, that is directly related to the work of the position and has equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties at the developmental level; Experience in communicating among stakeholders to facilitate and support organizational change; applying a wide range of established practices, theories, and emerging information in relation to health care delivery, informatics, and applications; independently completes analytical projects related to process improvement; experience with data life cycle to include data design, collection, and management to input, retrieve, analyze, summarize, and present information; and knowledge and use of national database architecture and file structure.
~OR~
Education: Successfully completed a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree, or three (3) full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree, or an LL.M. if related that demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of this position. NOTE: Transcripts must be submitted with application. Education cannot be credited without documentation.
~OR~
Combination: Equivalent combination of successfully completed education and specialized experience directly related to the work of the position as outlined above that meets the requirements of the position. Only education in excess of a master's or equivalent graduate education may be used to qualify applicants for the GS-11 level. NOTE: If using education combined with specialized experience to qualify, a copy of your transcript is required.
To qualify for this position at the GS-12 level, you must meet one of the following:
Specialized Experience: You must have at least one (1) full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level (GS-11) in the Federal Service, that is directly related to the work of the position and has equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties at the independent level; Experience in performing a full range of data analysis, to include collecting, evaluating, and synthesizing of data; applies an end-to-end process to evaluate workflows, identify issues, and develop solutions based on best practice guidelines; experienced knowledge and use of national database architecture and file structure, analytical techniques, and clinical applications development techniques; acquainted with technologies that are likely to benefit healthcare delivery processes to troubleshoot functionality issues and develop solutions; and ensures the success of multidisciplinary teams to lead and manage informatics-related projects.
NOTE: One (1) 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.
Preferred Experience: 3 or more years' experience as a Program Analyst.
Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.
The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS-11 to GS-12.
You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:

• Cost-Benefit Analysis
• Decision Support
• Research

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: The work is usually sedentary, but it requires periods of walking, standing, bending, or climbing, and employees may carry light items such as books, instruments, laptops, and other similar materials.
Work Environment: The work is conducted in office, conference room, and clinical/hospital patient care settings. Typically, the work is hazard-free, not requiring any special equipment or clothing. The employee is in on-call status as needed and works flexible hours to meet the needs of the facility end user.
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/.
Education
There is no educational substitution at GS-12 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: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. 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. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.
Additional information
During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions.
This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.
This position is in the Excepted Service and does not confer competitive status.
If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement.
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.
Per the OCHCO Bulletin Interim titled Interim Implementation Guidance for New Hybrid Title 38 Occupations Established Under Public Law (P.L.) 117-3