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U.S. Citizens, Nationals or those who owe allegiance to the U.S.

Clarification from the agency

You must be a U.S. Citizen or U.S. National. Foreign nationals or legal permanent residents are not eligible for consideration. This is a 21st Century Cures Act authority announcement. Traditional federal rules regarding rating, ranking, and veterans' preference do not apply.

Duties

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• This position serves as the Director, Office of Produce Safety, providing policy expertise on produce safety matters throughout the FDA. The incumbent has the highest level of scientific and regulatory expertise related to produce safety and assumes responsibility for the work intended to formulate FDA policies that are of national and international scope and significance, such as the development of regulations, guidance, polices, strategies and programs designed to manage microbial risks in fresh and processed produce.
• The work of this position involves the highest technical expertise and leadership related to substantive activities involved in the full range of the promotion and advancement of food safety practices in the growth, harvest, and processing of produce. Provides executive leadership and managerial direction to professional, technical, and support personnel engaged in a variety of activities related to the planning, development, execution, and coordination of microbial food safety activities.
• As principal advisor to the Director of Office of Microbiological Food Safety (OMFS), analyzes and provides authoritative evaluation and recommendations concerning the initiation, curtailment, consolidation, or decentralization of programs and in the efficient deployment of allocated resources.
• Assists the Director of Office of Microbiological Food Safety (OMFS) and leads as required the organizational structuring of functional responsibilities and work assignments to ensure the effective, efficient, and economical use of personnel and resources for OPS. Identifies staffing needs and assist in recruiting and retaining high quality managers and personnel.
• Evaluate budget estimates and justifications for the office and makes appropriate recommendations to the Director of Office of Microbiological Food Safety (OMFS).
• Ensures that the organizational structure of the Office provides for uniformity, optimum effectiveness, and operational efficiency.
• Analyzes and defines significant obstacles to program accomplishments and recommends changes and initiates action to ensure effective resources utilization and the elimination of unnecessary duplication. Promotes and encourages intra- and inter-Program cooperation to achieve program objectives.
• At the request of the Director of Office of Microbiological Food Safety (OMFS), serve as the Agency representative, agency officials and others in testifying before Congress and in meetings with Congressional staff, other Federal agencies, regulated industry, and other stakeholders.
• Collaborates with executive within Office of Microbiological Food Safety (OMFS) in the formulation, development, and execution of short- and long-range goals related to the planning, development, execution, and coordination of microbial food safety initiatives.
• Manages the personnel and financial resources of the Office ensuring that resources are allocated and utilized in accordance with the identified priorities and core functions of the Super Office, Office of Microbiological Food Safety.
• Directs strategic planning, policy development, and management, oversight, coordination, and facilitation in the safety of produce and processed foods.
• Develops policy, regulations, guidance, and similar documents for matters within the scope of the responsibility of the Office.
• Provides expert advice to Office of Microbiological Food Safety (OMFS) leadership, other key officials, and directs major FDA initiatives for produce safety as well as provides expertise in food safety to federal and state partners as well as international bodies.
• Provides technical and regulatory support for farm and facility inspections, compliance and enforcement actions, and recalls.
• Serves as a nationally and internationally recognized expert on produce and/or process food safety, the incumbent provides authoritative guidance on FDA positions and actions with regard to national and international initiatives.
• Serves engages with other federal agencies, such as those within the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and international entities, such as Health Canada. The Director regularly interacts with representatives from the industry, and other scientific professionals in areas related to produce and processed food safety.
• Serves as a spokesperson for FDA on these subject matters in a variety of settings and for a range of audiences, including regulated industry, advocacy groups, other Federal agencies, state and local regulators, and officials from other governments.
• The incumbent recommends regulatory and policy positions, along with alternatives. These decisions concentrate on complex, long-range, emerging, potentially controversial and precedent-setting regulatory challenges related to food safety.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

• U.S. Citizenship requirement or proof of being a U.S. National must be met by closing date.
• The candidate selected for this position will serve under a career or career-conditional appointment within the competitive service.
• Direct Deposit: You will be required to have all federal salary payments electronically deposited into a bank account with a financial institution of your choice.
• FDA participates in e-Verify: All new hires must complete the I-9 form; this information will be processed through e-Verify to determine your employment eligibility. If a discrepancy arises, you must take affirmative steps to resolve the matter.
• Males born after December 31, 1959, must be registered with the Selective Service. Please go to http://www.sss.gov for more information.
• One-year probationary period may be required.
• Financial Disclosure may be required.
• Ethics Clearance may be required.
• Background Investigation Requirement: All employees must pass a security investigation. Failing to pass the background check may be grounds for removal or legal action. If hired, you may be subject to additional investigations at a later time.
• Certification of Accuracy: All information concerning eligibility and qualification is subject to investigation and verification. False representation may be grounds for non-consideration, non-selection, or appropriate legal action.

Qualifications

In order to qualify for the Director of Office of Produce Safety position which falls under the 0601 occupational Series, you must meet the following requirements by 11:59 pm EST on 08/07/2025:

Basic Qualification Requirements:

Have a bachelor's degree or higher in a science, technology, engineering, medical, health, or mathematic field, or business administration or business analytics, computer science, systems engineering, information systems, operations management, or biotechnology, or bioinformatic. The degree must be from an accredited program.

OR

Have a combination of education and experience directing major initiatives designed to manage microbial risks in fresh and processed produce and other processed foods and provides technical expertise in the area of produce safety to federal and state partners as well as international bodies.

NOTE: Applicants must submit all relevant transcripts that demonstrate you possess the required education to meet the Basic Qualifications.

AND

IN ADDITION TO MEETING THE BASIC REQUIREMENTS OUTLINED ABOVE, APPLICANTS MUST ALSO MEET ONE OF THE FOLLOWING MINIMUM YEARS OF EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS. (A TRANSCRIPT WILL BE REQUIRED)

Have a bachelor's degree and have 7 years of comparable experience directing major initiatives designed to manage microbial risks in fresh and processed produce and other processed foods and provides technical expertise in the area of produce safety to federal and state partners as well as international bodies.

OR

Have a master's degree and have 6 years of comparable experience directing major initiatives designed to manage microbial risks in fresh and processed produce and other processed foods and provides technical expertise in the area of produce safety to federal and state partners as well as international bodies.

OR

Have a Doctorate and/or J.D. degree and have 4 years of comparable experience directing major initiatives designed to manage microbial risks in fresh and processed produce and other processed foods and provides technical expertise in the area of produce safety to federal and state partners as well as international bodies

OR

Have a MD, DO, DDS, DPM, or DVM degree and 4 years of comparable experience directing major initiatives designed to manage microbial risks in fresh and processed produce and other processed foods, and provides technical expertise in the area of produce safety to federal and state partners as well as international bodies.

OR

11 years of comparable experience directing major initiatives designed to manage microbial risks in fresh and processed produce and other processed foods and provides technical expertise in the area of produce safety to federal and state partners as well as international bodies.

NOTE: Applicants must submit all relevant transcripts that demonstrate you possess the required education to meet the Basic Qualifications.

Education

Pay careful attention to the Qualifications and Education sections to identify vacancies where a transcript is required. Even if you hold a similar position or are a current employee, you are not exempt from transcript requirements.

TRANSCRIPTS: Positions which are scientific or technical in nature often have very specific educational requirements. You must submit an official transcript, unofficial transcript, or a list including courses, grades earned, completion dates, and quarter and semester hours earned.

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities, see the Foreign Education section below for additional requirements.

Electronic Transcript Caution: If you have obtained your transcripts electronically, the file might contain security measures that could prevent our application system from reading the file. Therefore, you should consider asking the institution to provide the file in a non-secured electronic format. Alternatively, you could scan or take a photo of the printed copy of the transcript. If your uploaded transcript cannot be read by our system, you may receive consideration and credit for the information we can access.

See the Application Manager Documentation for tips on submitting your paper-based documents.

Foreign Education: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show that the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. For further information, visit the U.S. Department of Education website for Foreign Education Evaluation.

To be acceptable, the foreign credential evaluation must include/describe at a minimum, the following information: (1) The type of education received by the applicant; (2) The level of education in relation to the U.S. education system, and state that its comparability recommendations follow the general guidelines of the International Evaluation Standards Council; (3) The content of the applicant's educational program earned abroad, and the standard obtained; (4) The status of the awarding foreign school's recognition and legitimacy in its home country's education system; and (5) Any other information of interest such as what the evaluation service did to obtain this information, the qualifications of the evaluator, and any indications as to other problems such as forgery.

Note: Some positions require the completion of specific courses or a specified number of credit hours. Therefore, the foreign credential evaluation should provide information similar to that of an official transcript, to include a list of the courses taken, quarter and/or semester hours awarded, the cumulative grade point average (GPA), honors received, if any, date degree awarded.

Applicants can request an evaluation from a member organization of one of the two national associations of credential evaluation services listed below:

1. National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES)
2. Association of International Credentials Evaluators (AICE)

Credential evaluations are not free, and applicants are responsible for the cost of the selected service.

For more information about this requirement, please visit the U.S. Department of Education website for Foreign Education Evaluation.

Additional information

The application limit, if applicable, for this advertisement is: No Limit.

Additional Conditions of Employment:

• Pre-employment physical required: No
• Drug testing required: No
• License required: No
• Mobility agreement required: No
• Immunization required: No
• Bargaining Unit: No
• Telework eligible position: Telework is at the discretion of the supervisor.
• Financial disclosure statement, OGE-450, required: Please be advised that this position may be subject to FDA's prohibited financial interest regulation and may require the incumbent of this position to divest of certain financial interests. Applicants are advised to seek additional information on this requirement from the hiring official before accepting this position.

This position may require financial disclosure reporting and will be subject to FDA's prohibited financial interest regulation. If you are hired, you may be required to divest of certain financial interests. You are advised to seek additional information on this requirement from the hiring official before accepting any job offers. For more information please visit the FDA Ethics web page: https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/jobs-and-training-fda/ethics.

Additional Information:

• Additional selections may be made for similar positions within the commuting area(s) of the locations listed through this vacancy announcement.
• Incentives may be authorized; however, this is contingent upon funds availability. If authorized, certain incentives will require you to sign a service agreement to remain in the Federal government for a period of up to 3 years. Note: This statement does not imply nor guarantee an incentive will be offered and paid. Incentives include the following: moving expenses, recruitment or relocation incentive; student loan repayment, superior qualifications appointment, creditable service for annual leave for prior non-federal work experience or prior uniformed military service, etc.
• If you are serving, or have served in the last 5 years (from 08/07/2025) as an Executive Branch political, Schedule C, or Non-career SES appointee, HHS/FDA may be required to obtain approval by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) prior to beginning employment. You can find out if you have held one of these appointment types by looking at your Standard Form 50s in your Electronic Official Personnel Folder (eOPF), in Section 5 where the legal authorities are listed. If you have served or are currently serving, you must provide a copy of your SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action, documenting this appointment. In addition, you will be required to respond to the question in the assessment and certify your responses to the questionnaire. See Political Appointee FAQ - OPM for more.

Applicants selected for this position will be subject to reasonable suspicion and post-accident drug testing upon hiring. To demonstrate commitment to the HHS goal of a drug-free workplace and to set an example for other Federal employees, employees not in a testing designated position may volunteer for unannounced random testing by notifying their Drug-free Federal Workplace Program Point of Contact upon hiring.

All requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement (08/07/2025); only education and experience gained by this date will be considered. You must continue to meet all requirements throughout the entire hiring process.

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

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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.

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.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

This is a Title 21 announcement. Traditional rating and ranking of applications, and veterans' preference does not apply to this vacancy. You will be evaluated against the basic qualifications and if found qualified, you will be referred to the Hiring Manager for consideration.

If you are referred to the hiring manager for consideration, you may be further evaluated based on an interview; review of requested work samples, writing samples, most recent performance evaluation(s), or professional references; or results of an oral presentation or work-related test.

Failure to comply with any of the additional assessment requirements will result in removal from further consideration.

Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your eligibility.

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