Clarification from the agency

NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. For more information, refer to Required Documents below. Area of Consideration- Eligible applications will be reviewed and referred in the following order: 1. Current permanent VA employees of the Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center 2. All other VA employees

Videos

The Supervisory Dietitian (Chief, Nutrition and Food Services) provides executive leadership and oversight for all clinical nutrition, food operations, and administrative functions within the Nutrition and Food Services department. Typical duties include but are not limited to:

• Providing full administrative and technical supervision to supervisors and staff in clinical nutrition, food production, food service, and administrative support.
• Establishing performance standards, evaluating employee performance, counseling staff, addressing conduct issues, and managing all personnel actions.
• Defining competency requirements, identifying training needs, and ensuring staff maintain current technical and leadership knowledge.
• Developing and managing budget and staffing requirements to support organizational needs, program growth, and national priorities.
• Leading strategic planning and developing goals that integrate clinical nutrition and food operations to improve quality, safety, and Veteran satisfaction.
• Implementing and overseeing performance improvement programs to ensure delivery of high-quality, cost-effective nutrition and food services.
• Developing and updating policies and procedures, and ensuring regulatory and accrediting-body compliance.
• Overseeing planning for new initiatives, space redesign, equipment needs, and changes in patient care delivery.
• Ensuring compliance with dietary supplement requirements, purchasing agreements, and relevant contracting procedures.

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 07:00am-3:30pm but work schedule may be adjusted to meet the needs of the service.
Telework: Available (Ad-hoc).
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: PD000000
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized.
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized.

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

Basic Requirements:

• United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
• Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) or Registered Dietitian (RD) - Must be registered with the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR) the credentialing branch of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics formerly known as the American Dietetic Association (ADA).

Current VHA Dietitians that qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision may not be promoted to a higher grade if they do not meet the current RDN/RD requirements.

GS-14 Supervisory Dietitian (Chief, Nutrition and Food Services) Grade Determinations:

• Experience. One year of Supervisory Dietitian experience equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-13).
  • Examples of experience include but are not limited to:
    1. Provides leadership and guidance, with wide latitude for the exercise of independent judgment, to ensure the variety of activities of the department are closely coordinated, integrating clinical nutrition and food operations
    2. Develops budget and staffing requirements to manage organizational changes and ensure national directives and goals/objectives are met
    3. Developing and updating policies and procedures and establishing and overseeing a system for regulatory compliance
    4. Implement a performance improvement program to improve delivery of quality continually, safe and cost effective food and nutrition care to all patients/residents, ensuring the dissemination of nutrition-related research and quality improvement within the department and facility.
• Knowledge, Skills and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs:
  1. Knowledge of security measures within food operations to ensure patient and staff safety.
  2. Knowledge of organizational structure to assess impact on program operations.
  3. Skill in ensuring regulatory requirements are met.
  4. Skill in leading a group of professionals to facilitate collaboration and organizational development.
  5. Skill in leading managers to establish strategic goals.
  6. Ability to oversee the planning of new initiatives addressing patient care delivery systems and system reorganizations.
  7. Ability to lead efforts in business administration to include budgeting, contracting and purchasing.

Preferred Experience: Previous experience as a Nutrition and Food Service Chief.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

Physical Requirements: The work required does not inherently include any physical requirements essential for successful job performance that could not otherwise be performed with accommodation or workplace adjustment. A pre-placement physical examination is not required.

How you will be evaluated

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

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Your application, resume, C.V., and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect consideration for employment.

Your full resume/CV may be uploaded without page limitation into the 'Other' document upload field.

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; religions; 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.

The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate's abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.