Senior Director of Field Operations, Bureau of Food Safety and Community Sanitation

NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

The NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene seeks an Administrative Staff Analyst to oversee food safety inspections and manage staff within the Bureau of Food Safety. This role is crucial for ensuring public health standards in a vibrant city with a diverse food service industry. Candidates should possess strong analytical and leadership skills, alongside a Bachelor's degree in a relevant field.

Benefits

Loan forgiveness eligibility

Remote work options

Qualifications

• Experience in public health or environmental health.
• Strong leadership and management skills.
• Ability to analyze data and develop protocols.

Responsibilities

• Oversee inspection programs for food service establishments.
• Manage staff development and training activities.
• Respond to environmental health emergencies.

Skills

Analytical Skills

Communication

Leadership

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Public Health or related field

Job description

Open to candidates who meet the minimum qualification requirement for Administrative Public Health Sanitarian or permanent DOHMH employees who are permanent in the civil service title of Administrative Staff Analyst due to the active promotional civil service list of Administrative Staff Analyst.

Established in 1805, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (the NYC Health Department) is the oldest and largest health department in the country. Our mission is to protect and improve the health of all New Yorkers, in service of a vision of a city in which all New Yorkers can realize their full health potential, regardless of who they are, how old they are, where they are from, or where they live.

As a world-renowned public health agency with a history of building transformative public health programming and infrastructure, innovating in science and scholarship to advance public health knowledge, and responding to urgent public health crises from New York City’s yellow fever outbreak in 1822, to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are a hub for public health innovation, expertise, and programs, and services. We serve as the population health strategist, and policy, and planning authority for the City of New York, while also having a vast impact on national and international public policy, including programs and services focused on food and nutrition, anti-tobacco support, chronic disease prevention, HIV/AIDS treatment, family and child health, environmental health, mental health, and racial and social justice work, among others.

Our Agency’s five strategic priorities, building off a recently-completed strategic planning process emerging from the COVID-19 emergency, are:

1. To re-envision how the Health Department prepares for and responds to health emergencies, with a focus on building a “response-ready” organization, with faster decision-making, transparent public communications, and stronger surveillance and bridges to healthcare systems
2. Address and prevent chronic and diet-related disease, including addressing rising rates of childhood obesity and the impact of diabetes, and transforming our food systems to improve nutrition and enhance access to healthy foods
3. Address the second pandemic of mental illness including: reducing overdose deaths, strengthening our youth mental health systems, and supporting people with serious mental illness
4. Reduce black maternal mortality and make New York a model city for women’s health
5. Mobilize against and combat the health impacts of climate change

Our 7,000-plus team members bring extraordinary diversity to the work of public health. True to our value of equity as a foundational element of all of our work, and a critical foundation to achieving population health impact in New York City, the NYC Health Department has been a leader in recognizing and dismantling racism’s impacts on the health of New Yorkers and beyond. In 2021, the NYC Board of Health declared racism as a public health crisis. With commitment to advance anti-racist public health practices that dismantle systems that perpetuate inequitable power, opportunity and access, the NYC Health Department continues to work in and with communities and community organizations to increase their access to health services and decrease avoidable health outcomes.

PROGRAM AND JOB DESCRIPTION:

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) is one of the premier local health departments in the world and works to protect and promote the health of all New Yorkers by combating racial inequities, promoting social justice, and building capacity. The Environmental Health Division works to prevent, and control illness and injury related to environmental health risks through outreach and education, surveillance, and enforcement. The division's Bureau of Food Safety and Community Sanitation (BFSCS) protects the public from a broad range of hazards that may pose a threat to health or safety, including hazards related to food safety wherever meals are served to the public, including restaurants, cafeterias, mobile food vending units, schools, senior centers, and soup kitchens; second-hand smoke in workplaces, including restaurants and bars, and most other enclosed public areas; and conditions at senior centers.

New York City is home to a world-famous, vibrant food service industry that includes nearly 27,000 restaurants serving its residents and visitors. Ensuring proper sanitation in food service establishments is important to public health, including for the prevention of food-borne illness. The Department has a long history of public health innovation including requiring high food safety standards; using the restaurant setting to combat chronic disease; offering outreach, education, and communication programs for industry and consumers; and developing technology to create efficiencies, encourage industry best practices, enable research, and promote transparency.

DUTIES WILL INCLUDE BUT NOT BE LIMITED TO:

• Oversee the inspection program for all food service establishments that include restaurants, mobile food vending, public and private schools, senior centers, shelters, food commissaries, including the pre-permit inspection process, routine cyclical and letter grade inspections, and complaint inspections. Make determinations about enforcement action for establishments failing to comply with legal requirements.
• Oversee the Bureau's enforcement and preventive programs by evaluating systems, including statistical analysis, setting priorities, overseeing scheduling, ensuring that established targets are met, and adjusting targets as appropriate to meet bureau's objectives.
• Oversee the response to complaints through the 311 and Correspondence Tracking System and ensure that staff address these complaints, including, but not limited to, emergency response capabilities within BFSCS to ensure rapid and efficient and expert response to environmental emergencies, such as power outages or water main breaks, collaborating with senior management to provide expert opinion in field operation and deployment of staff.
• Use data and data infrastructure to accomplish mandates, measure performance, and to improve output as well as utilizing data to assess staff skills and deficiencies to improve organizational deliverables.
• Develop written protocols and procedures for implementing policies and the enforcing applicable regulations; create Compliance Guidelines for the regulated industry and ensure all staff involved in implementing policies and procedures are appropriately trained. Arrange for routine inspections, sweeps, and complaint-generated inspections of the Smoke-Free Air Act and ensure violations of the NYS Clean-Indoor Air Act and the New York City Smoke-Free Air Act are followed up and remedied.
• Manage the Bureau's staff development and training activities to meet NYSDOH requirements and Bureau's objectives. Oversee the coordination, development, and implementation of training for the bureau.
• Develop written protocols and procedures for implementing policies and the enforcing applicable regulations; create Compliance Guidelines for the regulated industry and ensure all staff involved in implementing policies and procedures are appropriately trained.
• Manage supervisory and office staff of the Bureau of Food Safety, ensuring programs, procedures, processes, publications, and training materials are accurate, relevant, and updated as required, and that programs are provided with proper resources including trained staff.
• Represent the Department and Bureau at high-level departmental, inter-agency, and extra-agency meetings as necessary, and provide training and workshops for the regulated community.
• Manage emergency response capabilities within the Bureau to ensure efficient, rapid, and expert response to food-related emergencies, such as outbreaks of listeria, salmonella, or other food hazards, collaborating with senior management to provide expert opinion in field operation and deployment of staff.
• Participate in the periodic revision of the New York City Health Code to ensure it remains aligned with current food safety science, best practices, and applicable laws, regulations, and guidance, serving to protect and promote the health of all New Yorkers.

**IMPORTANT NOTES TO ALL CANDIDATES:

Please note: If you are called for an interview, you will be required to bring original documentation such as:

• A document that establishes identity for employment eligibility, such as: a valid U.S. Passport, Permanent Resident Card/Green Card, or Driver’s license.
• Proof of Education according to the education requirements of the civil service title.
• Current Resume
• Proof of Address/NYC Residency dated within the last 60 days, such as: Recent Utility Bill (i.e., Telephone, Cable, Mobile Phone)

Additional documentation may be required to evaluate your qualification as outlined in this posting’s “Minimum Qualification Requirements” section. Examples include college transcript, experience verification, or professional trade licenses.

If selected, you will be contacted to schedule an on-boarding appointment, during which you will need to produce the original documents and your original Social Security card.

**LOAN FORGIVENESS:

As a prospective employee of the City of New York, you may be eligible for federal loan forgiveness programs and state repayment assistance programs. For more information, visit StudentAid.gov/PSLF.

Final appointments are subject to Office of Management & Budget approval.

This position may be eligible for remote work up to two days per week, pursuant to the Remote Work Pilot Program.