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Health Scientist
Summary
This position is being filled under a stream-lined hiring authority, Title 21 of the United States Code (21 US Code 379d-3a) as amended by the 21st Century Cures Act of 2016, section 3072 and the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, Section 3624. The candidate selected for this position will serve under a career or career-conditional appointment and be paid under the provisions of this authority. This position is being recruited based on the Title 21 Pay Table 1, Band D.
Learn more about this agency
This job is open to
The public
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
- Provides expert scientific support in the review, analysis and evaluation of scientific data.
- Leads, plans, and conducts comprehensive reviews of data and background materials related to submissions for critical foods or nutrition initiatives. The findings from these efforts inform decision-making on individual cases and contribute to the development and modification of policies and procedures within the incumbent's area of expertise, ultimately impacting the marketing of products by the regulated industry.
- Evaluates new and reformulated infant formulas (both non-exempt and exempt infant formulas), including the use of new ingredients, label claims for special benefits of formula for infants, and nutrition and adverse event-related outcome data for infants; and/or nutrition composition, scientific rationale, and data submitted in support of food labeling regulations and policies. May also coordinate and guide the work of other staff members in this area.
- Provides expert scientific review of petitions or notifications and supporting data. Determines if submitted data are sufficient to resolve any health questions; request any additional data needed; and recommends acceptance or rejection of petitions or notifications. May also coordinate and guide the work of other staff members in this area.
- Serves as a primary reviewer of material developed for regulatory documents (e.g., policy statements, guidance documents, regulations). Also serves as the primary reviewer of memoranda and communications for industry-developed submission reviews and responses to industry inquiries.
- Advises Office management on the need for, and types of, additional research necessary to clarify or resolve issues. Advise Office management on other recommended actions that may be needed to address issues. Recommended actions can involve proposed regulations, strategy documents, policy statements, formal guidelines, letters to regulated industry, or various combinations of actions. Supports all conclusions and recommendations with a scientific rationale.
- May brief Center/Office stakeholders (e.g., policy makers, regulated industry) on scientific and regulatory interpretations, analyses, and/or implications.
- Makes decisions regarding such things as interpretation of considerable data, planning of work, or refinement of the methods and techniques to be used. Uses considerable judgement to interpret voluminous data or data that are incomplete or conflicting, or of questionable accuracy, and modify standard methods, practices, or techniques or existing guides to address current and evolving problems or issues.
Requirements
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.
- 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.
- Probationary periods are required for new employees appointed to competitive service positions for the first time; or reinstated employees who return after a break in service of 30-days or more and who have not completed a probationary period.
Qualifications
In order to qualify for the Health Scientist position which falls under the 0601 occupational Series, you must meet the following requirements by 11:59 pm EST on 04/17/2026:
Minimal Qualifications Requirements for the Health Scientist, AD-0601-00
Education: A Bachelors degree or higher level degree: major study in an academic field related to the medical field, health sciences or allied sciences appropriate to the work of the position.
OR
In addition, to qualify for the Band D level, applicants must meet the qualification requirements below.
Band D - Minimum Relevant experience and/or Education Requirements:
A. I have a Doctorate degree and also have 2 years of relevant experience in providing scientific and regulatory expertise related to infant formula and infant formula ingredients; Serves as scientific-regulatory subject matter expert in matters related to infant formula chemistry and composition; Plans, conducts, and directs technical reviews in the scientific fields of nutrition, chemistry, biology, food science.
B. I have a Master's degree and also have 4 years of relevant experience in providing scientific and regulatory expertise related to infant formula and infant formula ingredients; : Serves as scientific-regulatory subject matter expert in matters related to infant formula chemistry and composition; Plans, conducts, and directs technical reviews in the scientific fields of nutrition, chemistry, biology, food science.
C. I have a Bachelor's degree and also have 5 years of relevant experience in providing scientific and regulatory expertise related to infant formula and infant formula ingredients; Serves as scientific-regulatory subject matter expert in matters related to infant formula chemistry and composition; Plans, conducts, and directs technical reviews in the scientific fields of nutrition, chemistry, biology, food science.
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.
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:
- National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES)
- Association of International Credentials Evaluators (AICE)
For more information about this requirement, please visit the U.S. Department of Education website for Foreign Education Evaluation.
Additional information
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.
- 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 04/17/2026) 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.
All requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement (04/17/2026); 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
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.
Required Documents
Resume: At a minimum, your resume should list the position title, employer name, start and end dates (including month and year), salary (or grade and step), hours worked per week, and a list of duties performed or accomplishments, for EACH position listed. A CV (curriculum vitae) may not contain enough information to meet these resume requirements.
- USAJobs - What to Include
- USAJobs - Page Limit
Your two (2) page RESUME showing all relevant work experience (paid and unpaid) including: duties performed; full name and address of each employer; start and end dates (month/day/year); work schedule (part-time, full-time, number of hours if intermittent); salary; and any completed education and training (program title, subject area, number of hours completed, and completion date).
Transcripts: If the position has an education requirement or you are qualifying based on education, unofficial transcripts or a list of courses must be provided. See the Qualifications and Education Requirements section of this announcement.Professional Licensure: If the position has a licensure requirement, a copy of your professional license must be provided. See the Qualifications and Education Requirements section of this announcement.
Additional Documents (if applicable):
- Cover Letter
- DD-214/ Statement of Service
- Disability Letter (Schedule A)
- Disability Letter (VA)
- License
- Other supporting documentation not listed above
- PCS Orders
- Performance Appraisal
- Professional Certification
- Resume
- Separation Notice (RIF)
- SF-15
- SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action
- Transcript
Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.
If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:
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.
Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.
How to Apply
In accordance with Executive Order 14170, applicants are encouraged to respond to the four short, free-response, essay questions in the questionnaire. Answers to these questions are optional and will not be scored or rated. Your answers will be reviewed by the hiring manager and agency leadership if you are referred for selection consideration. You will be asked to certify that your responses are written in your own words and that you did not use a consultant or artificial intelligence (AI) tool (such as ChatGPT or Copilot).
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.
To apply for positions with the Food & Drug Administration, you must have a https://secure.login.gov/ account, and be signed in to that account, before you click "Apply Online". See the USAJOBS Help Site article "How does the application process work?" for more on this process. Additionally, you must provide a resume and any required supporting documentation listed on the announcement, and you must complete all assessment questionnaires BEFORE 11:59 pm Eastern Time on the closing date of this announcement, 04/17/2026. We recommend that you start the application process early enough that you can complete and submit your application before this deadline.
Please note that you cannot submit documentation or make changes to your application after the close date.
If you would like to learn how to use USAJOBS including: accessing and managing your account, adding saved documents, building a resume, or starting an application; we recommend you visit the USAJOBS How To site, and read up on any topic that you need help with. This site is located at: https://help.usajobs.gov/how-to. Additionally, if you need technical assistance with USAJOBS (such as account issues) please visit the main USAJOBS Contact us at: USAJOBS - Contact us FDA's Applicant Help Desk is not able to support USAJOBS-related issues.
The Food & Drug Administration uses a system called Application Manager (USA Staffing) to post jobs and accept applications. If you are not familiar with Application Manager or you encounter any difficulty with the site, we recommend that you visit the Applicant HELP Site at:
https://appsupport-usastaffing.opm.gov/hc/en-us
. This help site contains step-by-step instructions for completing the application process, submitting documentation, and completing questionnaires, and should be very helpful to you!You are encouraged to apply online. Applying online will allow you to review and track the status of your application. The FDA will provide reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities who are not able to apply online. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application process, please contact the Applicant Help Desk. Decisions on granting a reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis.
If after reviewing the USAJOBS and Application Manager help sites, you're not able to find the answer to your question or concern, or if you wish to request a reasonable accommodation, please contact the FDA Applicant Help Desk at 866-807-3742, or e-mail ERIC@fda.hhs.gov.The Applicant Help Desk is staffed between the hours of 7am and 6pm Eastern Time, Monday through Friday, except for government holidays. If you contact the Applicant Help Desk, please provide the following Vacancy Identification Number (VIN) 12921760 so that we may assist you faster.
To preview the application questionnaire, click the link below.
https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12921760
Agency contact information
10903 New Hampshire Ave
Silver Spring, MD 20993
US
Next steps
Once the online questionnaire is received you will receive an acknowledgement email that your submission was successful.
You will receive application status updates via email and via USAJOBS as the process unfolds.
Overview
- 0601 General Health Science
- Suitability/Fitness
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