Director

Food Safety and Inspection Service; United States; On-site; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Food Safety and Inspection Service seeks a Director for SPARKS in the Office of the Administrator. The role identifies, integrates, tests and deploys prototype systems and analytics tools to improve mission outcomes.

The selectee will stay at their current duty station and coordinate across executive program components to drive innovation with emerging technologies, including ML, cloud-native tools, and advanced data visualization.

Qualifications

• Time-in-grade: 52 weeks of service at the next lower grade level for promotion eligibility (example: 52 weeks at GS-14 for GS-15).
• One year of specialized experience demonstrating development to deliver prototype systems, dashboards, analytics platforms, and automation tools.
• Translating complex operational challenges into actionable technical requirements and user stories via stakeholder engagement, workflow mapping, and needs assessments.
• Coordinating across executive program components to drive innovation with emerging technologies (ML, LLMs, cloud-native tools, automation, data visualization).
• Applying strong program and project management to plan short- and long-term implementations and establish evaluation criteria.

Responsibilities

• Lead identification, integration, testing and deployment of prototype systems and analytics within FSIS.
• Engage stakeholders to map requirements and translate them into actionable deliverables.
• Drive innovation through emerging technologies such as ML, cloud-native tools, and advanced data visualization.

Job description

This position is in the Office of the Administrator (OA). This position acts as the Director of the Strategic Prototyping and Rapid Knowledge Staff (SPARKS) which is responsible for identifying, integrating, testing and associated applications within FSIS to leverage currently available technology enhancing mission success. Note: For this position, the selectee will remain at their current duty station.

Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement including time-in-grade restrictions, specialized experience and/or education, as defined below. Time in Grade: Current federal employees applying for a promotion opportunity must meet the time in grade requirement of 52 weeks of service at the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the position being filled (e.g. one year at the GS-14 grade level for consideration for the GS-15 grade level.) For the GS-15 level: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience (equivalent to the GS-14 level) that demonstrates the statements below:

• Executing development to deliver prototype systems, dashboards, analytics platforms, and automation tools that address operational needs.
• Translating complex operational challenges into actionable technical requirements and user stories through stakeholder engagement, workflow mapping, and needs assessments.
• Exercising independent technical judgment to define project scope, choose toolsets/approaches, and determine deployment strategies.
• Coordinating across executive program components Driving innovation with emerging technologies, such as machine learning, large-language models (LLMs), cloud-native tools, automation, and advanced data visualization, in a complex, evolving environment.
• Applying strong program and project management to plan short- and long-term implementations, establish evaluation criteria, and improve efficiency/effectiveness.

For more information on how to qualify for this position, 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.