Lead Pharmacy Technician

This position is located within the Fayetteville NC VA Coastal Health Care System Pharmacy. The lead pharmacy technician performs duties independently which consist of significant scope, complexity and leads at least three GS-07 or more technicians. This position may be in Inpatient, Outpatient, or other specialized areas of the pharmacy at the facility level.

VA Careers - Pharmacy: https://youtube.com/embed/Fn_ickNBEws

Lead Functions:
The lead pharmacy technician assists pharmacy supervisor in quality improvement activities by participating in medical center and service process assessment and action teams and continually seeks to improve services.

a. Assess workload volume throughout the day, identify backlogs, and makes staffing adjustments as needed to meet organizational goals. b. Identify areas of duplication of efforts and develop solutions to streamline processes, reduce waste, cost savings, and improve patient care. c. Responsible for organizing and assisting the pharmacy technician team to ensure assigned tasks are timely and accurately completed for their program area. d. Coordinate day-to-day maintenance and operation of pharmacy area equipment and automation. e. Promote harmonious relationships within the work environment and support the needs of the team and customer. f. Listens to informal complaints of employees and other customers in a helpful and timely fashion. If not able to remedy a situation, the lead will notify the pharmacy supervisor. g. Assists in training and orientating new and existing pharmacy technicians and students on policy and procedures. h. Identify and report developmental and training needs to ensure safety and quality control for their program area. i. j. Develops training schedules and assists in maintaining documentation for all pharmacy technicians and students. Effectively evaluates pharmacy activities to assist management to obtain short- and long-range objectives and goals. k. Conduct technician meetings to assure proper updates of departmental and hospital communications. l. Assist in the development of policies and procedures and participate in departmental goal planning and quality improvement activities. m. Maintain competence by participating in staff development programs. n. Serves as on-line back up to other pharmacy technicians within the designated area of pharmacy.

Quality and Regulatory Duties:
a. Incumbent assists in preparation of national, local, and special accreditations of pharmacy service. (Joint Commission, Inspector General, Controlled Substance Inspections, Drug Enforcement Agency) This includes documentation record updates, development of specific training and preparation of staff and compliance of policy and procedures. b. Incumbent proactively evaluates and analyzes data for self-driven (independent) performance improvement projects, workload analysis and statistical reports.




Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 8:00am-4:30pm

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.

Basic Requirements:

• United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
• English Language Proficiency. Pharmacy Technician candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).
• Education or Experience.

(1) None required.

(2) For all grade levels and positions that accept both education and experience to qualify, equivalent combinations of qualifying education and experience that total at least 100% are qualifying. The combined percentage is determined by adding total qualifying experience as a percentage of the experience required for the grade level to the education as a percentage of the education required for the grade level.

Certification. For positions above the full performance level, the employee must pass a national certification exam and hold an active national certification through either:

(1) Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB), Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT).

OR

(2) National Healthcareer Association (NHA), Certified Pharmacy Technician (ExCPT).


May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria).

Pharmacy technicians employed in VHA on the effective date of this qualification standard are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the title, series and grade held, including positive education and licensure/certification/registration that are part of the basic requirements of the occupation. For employees who do not meet all the basic requirements in this standard but who met the qualifications applicable to the position at the time they were appointed to it, the following provisions apply:

(1) Employees may be reassigned, promoted up to and including the full performance (journey) level or changed to lower grade within the occupation but may not be promoted beyond the journeyman level or placed in supervisory or managerial positions.

(2) Employees in an occupation that requires a licensure/certification/ registration only at higher grade levels must meet the licensure/ certification/registration requirement before they can be promoted to those higher grade levels.

(3) Employees who are appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of the qualification standard may not have their temporary appointment extended or be reappointed on a temporary or permanent basis until they fully meet the basic requirements of the standard.

(4) Employees who are converted to title 38 hybrid status under this provision and subsequently leave the occupation lose protected status and must meet the full VA qualification standard requirements in effect at the time of re-entry to the occupation.

(5) Employees initially grandfathered into this occupation who subsequently obtain additional education and/or licensure/certification/registration that meet all the basic requirements of this qualification standard must maintain the required credentials as a condition of employment in the occupation.

Grade Determinations: Pharmacy Technician, GS-08.

(1) Experience. Candidates must possess one year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level and demonstrate the KSAs below.

(2) Certification. For positions above the full performance level, the employee must pass a national certification exam and hold an active national certification through either:
(a) PTCB as a CPhT.

OR

(b) NHA as a ExCPT.


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-8. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS-8 to GS-8.

Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Service.

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/.

• 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 examination.
• 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.