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Food Safety and Inspection Service

PUBLIC HEALTH SPECIALIST

Multiple Locations $106437 - $138370 PA GS Closes Oct 21, 2026
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Summary

Applicants must meet the following qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement: Time in grade: You must have completed one year at the GS-12 grade or its equivalent in the federal service. Individual Occupational Requirements: You must meet the following basic education requirement for the 0601 series to qualify for this position. Additional information regarding this requirement can be found by clicking the 0601 hyperlink above: Bachelor's or graduate/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. In addition to the basic education requirement, you must meet the following specialized experience requirements (your resume MUST show demonstrated experiences of these requirements): You must demonstrate within your resume in detail your experience in the following areas at the GS-12 level or equivalent: Working on projects involving bioinformatics or complex data analytics (initiating, planning, designing or leading projects). Writing scientific manuscripts, investigation reports, guidance documents, standard operating procedures (SOPs) or policy documents. Working with database software, statistical analysis systems, bioinformatic software or operating systems. Examples of these systems include, but are not limited to: Tableau, BioNumerics, CLC Genomics Workbench, Microsoft SQL Management Studio. Experience updating laboratory policies or procedures using data analysis, study design process, or data presentation. Applying scientific data interpretation to update laboratory policies or procedures. Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Major Duties

Provide leadership and direction in the collection, analysis, and assessment of epidemiologic, microbiologic, and trace-back evidence linking FSIS-regulated products to reports of illness, injury, allergic reaction, and other public health events.
Guide the development of briefing documents, investigation summaries, technical reports, and presentations to support situational awareness and decision making of key FSIS and USDA executives.
Represent FSIS as a speaker and senior subject matter expert at national or international meetings, conferences, seminars, and training sessions.
Lead activities aimed at program evaluation, process improvement and strengthening partnerships with Federal, State, and local public health and/or agriculture jurisdictions to promote coordination during investigations and other collaborations.
Represent FSIS and/or oversee FSIS engagement in interagency workgroups, committees, and task forces as a recognized spokesperson and expert on relevant FSIS policies, priorities, and programs.
Communicate recommendations to leadership and OPHS led groups (such as the FSIS Health Hazard Evaluation Board and the FSIS Hazard Identification Team) charged with assessing potential hazards and emerging food safety issues.
Make decisions or recommendations of significantly changing, or developing, important public health policies or programs.
Coordinate FSIS response during foodborne illness investigations and ensure internal and external partners understand FSIS objectives, data quality, and reporting needs, assignments, and deadlines.
Communicate in both oral and written presentations which include presenting seminars and publishing articles in professional journals.
Oversee and conduct ad-hoc and periodic data queries to analytically describe developments, trends, and outcomes relevant to foodborne hazard surveillance and response.

Required Documents

The following documents are required for your applicant package to be complete. Encrypted documents will not be accepted. Failure to submit required, legible documents may result in loss of consideration. Resume that includes: Personal Information: name, address, contact information; Education; Work Experience related to this position as described in the major duties including work schedule, hours worked per week, dates of employment; title, series, grade (if applicable); other qualifications. Resume cannot exceed 2 pages. Your application may be disqualified if you include any of the information listed here: What should I leave out of my resume? If education is required or being used to qualify, you must submit a copy of all relevant college transcripts. An unofficial copy is sufficient with the application if it includes your name and the necessary course information; however, if you are selected, official transcripts will be required prior to entering on duty. Education must have been successfully obtained from an accredited school, college or university. If any education was completed at a foreign institute, you must submit with your application evidence that the institute was appropriately accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as equivalent to U.S. education standards. There are private organizations that specialize in this evaluation and a fee is normally associated with this service. For a list of private organizations that evaluate education, visit the NACES website. All transcripts must be in English or include an English translation. Current and former Federal employees: Most recent non-award Notification of Personnel Action (SF-50) showing you are/were in the competitive service, highest grade held (or promotion potential) on a permanent basis, position title, series and grade AND Most recent performance appraisal (dated within 18 months) showing the official rating of record, signed by a supervisor, or statement why the performance appraisal is unavailable. A performance plan is not an acceptable substitute. Surplus or displaced employees eligible for CTAP, RPL, or ICTAP priority must provide: proof of eligibility (RIF separation notice, notice of proposed removal for declining a transfer of function or directed reassignment to another commuting area, notice of disability annuity termination), SF-50 documenting separation (as applicable), current performance appraisal with rating of at least "Fully Successful" or equivalent, and your most recent SF-50 noting position, grade level, and duty location with your application per 5 CFR 330. We cannot accept documents after the announcement has closed

How to Apply

Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application. To apply and be considered for this position, you must complete all required questionnaires, assessments, and required documentation as specified in the How to Apply and Required Documents section. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on the closing date of the announcement to receive consideration. Resumes must not exceed two pages. The application process is as follows: Click the Apply Online button. Answer the questions presented in the application and attach all necessary supporting documentation. Click the Submit Application button prior to 11:59 PM (ET) on the announcement closing date. If you are required to complete any USA Hire Assessments, you will be notified after submitting your application. The notification will be provided in your application submission screen and via email. The notification will include your unique assessment access link to the USA Hire system and the completion deadline. Additionally, in USAJOBS you can click "Track this application" to return to your assessment completion notice. Access USA Hire using your unique assessment link. Access is granted through your USAJOBS login credentials. Review all instructions prior to beginning your assessments. You will have the opportunity to request a testing accommodation before beginning the assessments should you have a disability covered under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended. Set aside at least 3 hours to take the USA Hire assessments; however, most applicants complete the assessments in less time. If you need to stop the assessments and continue later, you can re-use your unique assessment link. Your responses to the USA Hire Assessments will be reused for one year (in most cases) from the date you complete an assessment. If future applications you submit require completion of the same assessments, your responses will be automatically reused. Visit the USA Hire Applicant Resource Center for practice assessments and assessment preparation. To update your application, including supporting documentation: During the announcement open period, return to your USAJOBS account, find your application record, and click Edit my application. This option will no longer be available once the announcement has closed. To view the announcement status or your application status: Click on this: https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/how-to/application/status/. Your application status page is where you can view your application status, USA Hire assessment completion status, and review your notifications sent by the hiring agency regarding your application. Please verify that documents you are uploading from USAJOBs transfer into the Agency's staffing system as there is a limitation to the number of documents that can be transferred. However, once in the Agency's staffing system, you will have the opportunity to upload additional documents. Uploaded documents must be less than 5MB and in one of the following document formats: GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, PDF, TXT or Word (DOC or DOCX). Do not upload Adobe Portfolio documents because they are not viewable. Please ensure your resume does not exceed two pages. Applicants who submit a resume that exceeds two pages will be removed from consideration.