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Physical Scientist

Department of Health and Human Services
Food and Drug Administration
Center for Tobacco Products
This job announcement has closed

Summary

This position is located at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), Office of Science (OS), Division of Nonclinical Science (DNCS) located in Beltsville, Maryland.

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
08/05/2022 to 09/06/2022
Salary
$74,950 to - $116,788 per year
Pay scale & grade
RG 11 - 12
Location
Many vacancies in the following location:
Beltsville, MD
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
25% or less - You may be expected to travel for this position.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Term - 5 years
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Excepted
Promotion potential
12
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Other
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Trust determination process
Announcement number
FDA-CTP-22-SF-11588326-SM
Control number
669325700

This job is open to

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The public

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

Clarification from the agency

This position will be filled through Food and Drug Administration Title 42(g) Staff Fellows program. The initial appointment may be made for varying periods not in excess of 5 years. Such appointments may be extended or renewed for varying periods not to exceed 5 years for each period. You must be a U.S. Citizen or non-citizen with an appropriate work visa. Appointments and/or extensions of non-citizens may not exceed the duration of their visas.

Duties

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  • Assist in the planning and conducting of studies and investigations concerning computational processes of the environmental impact analysis of regulated products
  • Assist in reviewing assigned tobacco products to determine the adequacy of the results from chemical, biological, environmental science, and/or other studies concerned with environmental exposure determinations of product reports and applications.
  • Assist in assignment-related information to Agency scientists and other staff.
  • Assist in developing and writing reports on study findings and recommendations.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • Citizenship Requirement: Open to U.S. Citizens and non-citizens. Public Filer financial disclosure statement required, see the Additional Information section for details!
  • Non-Citizens must have an appropriate work visa. Appointments and/or extensions of non-citizens may not exceed the duration of their visas.
  • This is an Excepted Service position under Title 42g. Applications will be accepted from qualified US Citizens or non-citizens with valid work visas. No previous Federal experience is required.
  • Veterans Preference DOES NOT APPLY to positions advertised under Title 42-g hiring regulations.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Selective Service Registration: All applicants born male, on (or after) 12/31/1959, must be registered with the Selective Service System OR have an approved exemption. Visit www.SSS.gov for more info.
  • Public Filer financial disclosure statement required, see the Additional Information section for details!
  • Prohibited financial interest restrictions apply. Employees designated as public or confidential filers, and their spouse or minor children, may not hold financial interests in FDA significantly regulated organizations.
  • 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.
  • You must meet ALL requirements by the closing date of this announcement to be considered. Only education and experience attained by this date will be considered. You must continue to meet all requirements through the hiring process.
  • 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.
  • Males born on, or after, December 31st 1959 must be registered with the Selective Service System or have an approved exemption. Visit www.SSS.gov for more info.

Qualifications

The position of Staff Fellow - Physical Scientist falls under 1301, occupational series. To qualify for this position, which is equivalent to the RG-1301-11 and RG-1301-12, grade level in the Federal service you must meet the requirements below by 11:59 pm EST on 09/06/2022

BASIC REQUIREMENTS:

A. Degree: physical science, engineering, or mathematics that included 24 semester hours in physical science and/or related engineering science such as mechanics, dynamics, properties of materials, and electronics.

OR

B. Combination of education and experience -- education equivalent to one of the majors shown in A above that included at least 24 semester hours in physical science and/or related engineering science, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

AND

Earned a doctoral-level degree from an accredited institution of higher learning, including: Ph.D., M.D., D.V.M., D.D.S., D.M.D., Sc.D., or other research doctoral-degree widely recognized in U.S. academe as equivalent to a Ph.D.

NOTE: Applicants must submit all relevant transcripts/foreign evaluation that demonstrate you possess the required education to meet the Basic Requirements.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

Specialized Experience

Specialized experience is experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled.

For RG-11
  • You must possess one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the RG-09 in the Federal Service which includes, assisting in reviewing, evaluating, and conducting, scientific studies and life cycle assessment related to environmental impact on tobacco and/or other regulated products; and reviewing and evaluating scientific information to determine validity and providing recommendation on scientific findings.

OR
  • Earned a doctoral-level degree from an accredited institution of higher learning, including: Ph.D., M.D., D.V.M., D.D.S., D.M.D., Sc.D., or other research doctoral-degree widely recognized in U.S. academe as equivalent to a Ph.D.
For RG-12
  • You must possess one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the RG-11 in the Federal Service which includes, performing in reviewing, evaluating and conducting scientific studies, preparing life cycle analysis on environmental impact on tobacco and/or other regulated products; and providing scientific analysis on study designs, recommending new and revised guidelines for regulated products.

All qualification requirements must be met by 11:59 pm (Eastern Time) on 09/06/2022. If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your responses when compared to your background information, you may be deemed ineligible or your score may be adjusted to more accurately reflect your skills and abilities. You must continue to meet all requirements through the hiring process. You may be asked to provide additional information at a later time. All interview requests and selection decisions are at the full discretion of the hiring office.

NOTE: It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation is submitted prior to the closing date . To verify your application is complete, log into your USAJOBS account, https://my.usajobs.gov/Account/Login, select the Application Status link and then select the More Information link for this position. The Details page will display the status of your application, the documentation received and processed, and any correspondence the agency has sent related to this application. Your uploaded documents may take several hours to clear the virus scan process.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Qualifications are based on breadth/level of experience. In addition to describing duties performed, applicants must provide the exact dates of each period of employment (from MM/YY to MM/YY) and the number of hours worked per week if part time. As qualification determinations cannot be made when resumes do not include the required information, failure to provide this information may result in disqualification. Applicants are encouraged to use the USAJOBS Resume Builder to develop their federal resume.

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, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Education

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

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.

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:

Applicants using part, or all of their education completed outside of the U.S. to meet the qualification requirements, must have their foreign education evaluated by an accredited organization to ensure that the foreign education is comparable to education received in accredited educational institutions in the U.S. We will only accept the completed foreign credential 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

For some advertisements, the Food & Drug Administration receives hundreds, even thousands, of applications from job-seekers. Because of this high level of interest in positions with the FDA, the agency reserves the option of setting an application number limit.

When an application limit is set, USAJOBS will close the vacancy at 11:59 pm Eastern Time on either:(A) the day the limit is reached,

-OR-

(B) the pre-defined closing date of 09/06/2022, whichever comes first. If the limit is reached before 11:59 pm ET, all applications in excess of the limit will continue to be accepted until 11:59 pm ET.

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

For more information about announcement closing, see: https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/faq/job-announcement/expiration/

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 Position: 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.
All requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement (09/06/2022); only education and experience gained by this date will be considered. You must continue to meet all requirements throughout the entire hiring process.

How you will be evaluated

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

Once the job opportunity announcement closes (at 11:59 pm ET on 09/06/2022, a review of your resume and supporting documentation will be conducted, the information will be compared against your responses to the assessment questionnaire to determine your eligibilityfor Federal employment, and then whether you are qualifiedfor this particular position. If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your responses when compared to your background information, you may be deemed ineligible.

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. These assessment methods/tools may also be listed under Key Requirements.

Qualification determinations will be based on the information provided in your application and the requirements of the position. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your eligibility.

To preview the assessment questionnaire, click this link: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/11588326

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