Executive Chief Biomedical Engineer Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Summary
VA X_Labs is a specialized innovation incubator designed to accelerate high-tech, personalized Veteran care. Originally launched at VA Puget Sound in 2020, it partners with academia and industry to bring advanced manufacturing into everyday clinical operations. The incumbent plays a critical role to plan, develop, and influence customer discovery and engagement activities surrounding the potential development of medical devices and other emerging technologies utilized in health care.
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Duties
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This position is aligned under the Office of the Deputy Director, receiving supervision from the Chief of X_Labs (Formerly known as VA Ventures). The incumbent will achieve assigned professional objectives that supplement the core objectives to fulfill requirements for the Biomedical Engineering Career Field.
FUNCTION OR SCOPE OF ASSIGNED DUTIES:

• Participate in medical device product development projects as the portfolio management representative, guide the team on alignment with strategic goals of the project. Advise development team on how customer requirements influence the product development process and ensure that design verification activities confirm the design output meets the design input for the project and that design validation activities are appropriate to show through objective evidence that the devices developed meet user needs.
• Create and implement processes for portfolio tracking, including oversight of selection and monitoring and evaluation of pilot technologies and special initiative projects.
• Review systems to ensure proper documentation, fidelity, and post-pilot assessments are conducted, guaranteeing initiatives are managed in alignment with portfolio management best practices and VA priorities.
• Develop VHA enterprise-level criteria and procedures for medical device design development, testing, manufacturing, and deployment, ensuring Veterans receive treatments with the highest levels of safety and efficacy.
• Collaborate with clinical staff members in the design and development of medical devices, and must be capable of comprehending surgical approach, patient anatomy, and potential complications that might impact the safety and efficacy of the device. Likewise, must be able to communicate engineering and regulatory principles in a manner understandable by clinical staff.
• Ensure all documentation, including electronic records, comply with standards for quality management and data security in alignment with medical device regulations.
• Integrate lessons learned and stakeholder feedback into future initiatives and maintain repository control over all pilot project documentation and outcomes.
• Act as a subject matter expert and strategic influencer for the identification, pilot, and potential roll-out of emerging medical technologies and special initiatives. Demonstrate deep clinical insight, enabling translation of clinical workflows and needs into actionable design requirements and project inputs.
• Actively engage and communicate with multidisciplinary clinicians and hospital staff, employing shadowing and direct observation when needed to inform product development.
• Provide authoritative guidance on regulatory, compliance, and technology adoption challenges, effectively driving organizational buy-in and adoption of new enterprise-wide initiatives, while addressing resistance and fostering stakeholder consensus.
• Provide engineering expertise and advice to VA X_Labs strategic planning teams, both within VAPSHCS and to additional VA hospitals across the enterprise and is a key member of the planning team for short, medium, and long-term goals.
• Assignments often require using expertise in advanced manufacturing and engineering to solve unique problems by applying experimental theories, researching possible solutions from fields outside of engineering, and collaborating with stakeholders in different disciplines to accomplish assignments.
• Must be able to learn new technology and identify trends in advanced manufacturing and can communicate this information in the capacity of both an advisor and influencer to administrative, clinical, and technical staff both within and outside of VHA. Must be able to speak with representatives of the media or professional associations in moderately unstructured settings.
• Have knowledge of the FDA's quality system regulation, electronic records, registration and listing requirements, as well as different pathways to provide devices to patients (510(k), expanded access, and IDE exemptions).
• Contribute to the advancement of VA X_Labs technology both within the Federal sector and in the private sector through independent research and written and oral presentations, including preparation of technical, informational, analytical, and graphical documentation and scientific manuscripts. Presentations are to a broad audience, both within and external to VA, ranging from national conferences to inter-agency meetings to briefings to VHA leadership.
• Supervise a team of Clinical and development engineers tasked with customer engagement and customer discovery activities.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, negotiable (0600-1800).
Telework: Ad-hoc.
Virtual: This is a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 000000.
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized.
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized.
Requirements
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Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA.
• 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.
• Must pass pre-employment physical evaluation.
• 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 all requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement.
BASIC REQUIREMENTS.
Citizenship. Be a citizen of the United States. (Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy).
Education and/or Experience. The individual must meet either item (1) or (2) below to meet this requirement:

• (1) Bachelor's Degree or Higher in Engineering. To be creditable, the curriculum must be from a school of engineering with at least one curriculum accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), as a professional engineering curriculum. Examples of acceptable engineering degrees include: Biomedical Engineering, Clinical Engineering, Bioengineering, Biomechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Biochemical Engineering. Titles may vary from educational institutions and change over time. OR,
• (2) Certification as a Certified Clinical Engineer (CCE) and a bachelor's degree not listed above.

English Language Proficiency. Biomedical Engineers must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).
GRADE REQUIREMENTS.
Grade Determinations. In addition to the basic requirements for employment listed above, the following education and experience criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates:
Supervisory Biomedical Engineer (Clinical), GS-13.
(a) Experience. Completion of at least one year of experience equivalent to the next lower level, and must fully meet the KSAs at that level.
(b) Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs:
i. Knowledge of the management of overall department resources, i.e., finances, space, equipment, supplies, and staffing at the local level.
ii. Ability to draft and/or recommend local policies and/or directives related to healthcare technology management.
iii. Ability to balance multiple responsibilities, set priorities, delegate tasks, meet multiple deadlines, analyze organizational problems, and develop and implement effective solutions.
iv. Ability to analyze organizational and operational problems to develop and implement solutions that result in efficient operations, and use data effectively to manage workload, quality, performance, and productivity within the area of responsibility.
v. Skill in interpersonal relationships in leading and dealing with employees, team leaders, and managers, both within and outside the biomedical engineering program, to include conflict management, dispute resolution, mediation, or reasonable accommodations.
Assignment. For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity (difficulty), range of variety, and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. At this level, employees are supervisors and are at the facility level. The supervisory biomedical engineer (clinical) is responsible for the professional and administrative management of a facility biomedical engineering program. Such individuals have responsibility supervising technical staff, including lower level engineers, biomedical engineering technicians, and other staff. The range of supervisory responsibility includes development of performance standards and performance evaluations; recommendations for appointments, awards, advancements, and when appropriate, disciplinary actions; and identification of continuing training needs etc. The supervisory biomedical engineer (clinical) is responsible for financial management of budget resources allocated to support quality assurance and maintenance activities necessary to assure the facility's medical equipment is available for patient care activities. The supervisory biomedical engineer (clinical) is responsible for compliance and reporting of medical device cyber security and isolation for facilities under their management oversight.
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-13.
Physical Requirements: There are no physical requirements for this occupation per OCHCO Communications email to VA Handbook 5019, updated on 4/17/2026.
Education
IMPORTANT: This position has a positive education or training requirement. An unofficial copy of college transcripts showing completion of the required degree or program is required and must include the name of the school, your name, date conferred or completed, and degree or certificate type.
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
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. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. 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.
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.
VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply. The he