Title: Director, Virginia State Veterans Cemeteries

State Role Title: Gen Admin Manager II

Hiring Range: $135,000-$145,000 commensurate with experience

Pay Band: 6

Agency: Dept of Veterans Services

Location: Virginia Veterans Cemetery

Agency Website: www.dvs.virginia.gov

Recruitment Type: General Public - G

Job Duties

The Virginia Department of Veterans Services (DVS) is seeking a highly motivated, results-driven leader to be the next Director of Virginia State Veterans Cemeteries. You will lead a 40+ member team operating three state veterans’ cemeteries that provide a final resting place for our veterans and eligible family members —places of honor, dignity, respect, and remembrance.

You will join a high-caliber leadership group at DVS that administers to the life cycle needs of Virginia’s nearly 700,000 Veterans and their families/survivors. This organization is continually listed among the very best in the nation in the quality of service and programs. Our state veterans’ cemeteries have been a leader in this highly recognized group. This is only achievable through the high standard of our agency, a talented and passionate workforce, and the support by our executive and legislative branches over the past 97 years.

Our standard for excellence assures that the selectee will be strongly supported in maintaining a high level of performance. Our three cemeteries have each received national recognition for operational excellence. They are beautiful and provide the most dignified and honorable presentation richly deserved by our Veterans and families.

The Virginia Veterans Cemetery (Amelia) opened in 1997, the Albert G. Horton, Jr. Memorial Veterans Cemetery (Suffolk) in 2004, and the Southwest Virginia Veterans Cemetery (Dublin) in 2011. In conjunction with national cemeteries in Culpeper and Quantico, Virginia and in Mountain Home, Tennessee, we serve the nearly 700,000 veterans (and their families) who call Virginia home.

Virginia’s three state veterans’ cemeteries are the honored final resting place for veterans from World War II to the present, and as of September 2024, over 31,000 veterans and family members have been laid to rest. We conduct over 2,000 services per year. Virginia does not have a residency requirement to be buried in a state veterans cemetery, nor do we charge any burial fees.

The Suffolk cemetery is the 2nd busiest veteran’s cemetery in Virginia (after Arlington) and the third busiest state veteran’s cemetery in the nation.

The Dublin cemetery earned the NCA Operational Excellence Award in 2023. Your mission will be to ensure that the Suffolk and Amelia cemeteries meet the same standard on their 2026 NCA inspection.

Virginia was the first state in the nation to bury a Reserve Component member under the Burial Equity for Guard and Reserve Act of 2021. Our state veterans’ cemeteries enjoy the stellar support of Executive and Legislative branch leaders, veterans and their families, and the broader community.

The Director will be based at the Amelia Cemetery but will make regular trips to the Dublin and Suffolk cemeteries, with some overnights required.

Duty hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30 am to 5:00 pm. You may be required to work occasional weekends. Required to work on Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and Wreath Day each year. May be required to work overtime, weekends, and holidays when necessary to meet the needs of the cemetery.

A relocation stipend is authorized.

This is an amazing opportunity for an experienced veteran’s cemetery leader. You will be the DVS subject matter expert on all thing’s cemetery-related and will have the full support of the entire DVS leadership team. Come and join our team!

Job Duties:
The Director of Virginia State Veterans Cemeteries leads a team of over 40+ team members that proudly operate Virginia’s three state veterans’ cemeteries. Key job responsibilities include:
• Ensuring management of cemetery operations, including burial and committal services, in accordance with federal, state, and DVS laws and regulations;
• Ensuring military funeral honors are provided per regulations and customs of the armed forces for all veterans who have honorably served;
• Overseeing the determination of burial eligibility;
• Developing and managing the cemeteries’ budget;
• Overseeing all training to ensure personnel meet or exceed proficiency standards;
• Advising veterans and their family members of the federal and state benefits to which they may be entitled;
• Evaluates and identifies training objectives and needs of cemetery personnel;
• Ensuring active engagement with the community through various outreach efforts;
• Ensuring cemetery grounds meet or exceed federal and state standards; and
• Ensuring that maintenance of cemeteries grounds and equipment is done in strict compliance with state and federal laws and regulations.

Minimum Qualifications

• Significant years of leadership experience at a national or state veterans cemetery.
• Veteran of the Armed Forces of the United States of America.
• Demonstrated ability to set goals and objectives, and to lead, motivate, train, supervise, hold accountable and manage cemeteries personnel in furtherance of agency goals and objectives.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and manage budgets and contracts.
• Demonstrated ability to manage the maintenance and operation of cemetery grounds, buildings, and infrastructure.
• Thorough understanding of federal and state veterans' benefits-¬ including but not limited to veteran's death and survivor benefits.
• Thorough knowledge and understanding of the military and/or veteran's communities.
• Demonstrated ability to interact successfully with federal, state, and local government officials, and with superiors, coworkers, subordinates, and the veteran population.
• Demonstrated ability to build partnerships at the strategic and operation levels.
• Ability to compose, organize, and produce a variety of complex informational materials for executive and legislative branch briefings, reports, and public relations events.
• Ability to present ideas and concepts in an effective manner both orally and in writing.

Additional Considerations

Graduation from a college or university with coursework in business, public administration, and/or an equivalent combination of training and experience in cemetery operations and leadership.
• Experience in leading and managing construction projects – Virginia’s state veterans cemeteries are built in phases, with additional burial capacity added when needed.
• Graduate of the NCA Cemetery Director Development Program.

Special Instructions

You will be provided a confirmation of receipt when your application and/or résumé is submitted successfully. Please refer to “Your Application” in your account to check the status of your application for this position.

The Commonwealth of Virginia offers the following State benefits: health insurance, vacation leave, sick leave, family/personal leave, paid state holidays, short-term disability benefits, retirement plans, enrollment in the Virginia Retirement System, and access to Employee Assistance Programs. We offer a competitive salary. Relocation assistance is authorized

Contact Information

Name: DVS HR Team

Phone: No Calls

Email: Recruitment@dvs.virginia.gov

In support of the Commonwealth’s commitment to inclusion, we are encouraging individuals with disabilities to apply through the Commonwealth Alternative Hiring Process. To be considered for this opportunity, applicants will need to provide their AHP Letter (formerly COD) provided by the Department for Aging & Rehabilitative Services (DARS), or the Department for the Blind & Vision Impaired (DBVI). Service-Connected Veterans are encouraged to answer Veteran status questions and submit their disability documentation, if applicable, to DARS/DBVI to get their AHP Letter. Requesting an AHP Letter can be found at AHP Letter or by calling DARS at 800-552-5019.

Note: Applicants who received a Certificate of Disability from DARS or DBVI dated between April 1, 2022- February 29, 2024, can still use that COD as applicable documentation for the Alternative Hiring Process.