Clarification from the agency

Open to all US Citizens NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this occupational series. For more information, refer to Required Documents below.

This Supervisory Dietitian (Food Operations), GS-13 assignment are experts in food focused nutrition and provide supervision of a complex Veteran-Centric food operation which consists of four distinct sections (Informatics, Food Service, Production and Nutrition Communications Center).

Scope of Assigned Duties:

• Provides food-operations-specific leadership, serving as professional and technical advisor to staff and other health care professionals.
• Has oversight over HR staffing, employee relations and labor relations in Food Service Operations.
• Exercises a full range of supervisory and personnel management authorities and responsibilities in planning, directing, and assessing work of subordinate staff.
• Establishes a training plan for the food operations section.
• Develops and leads food operations.
• Establishes strategic goals and ensures priorities align with the strategic plan of the NFS department, VISN and national programs.
• Leads the continuous quality improvement effort in Food Service Operations.
• Identifies and prioritizes problems, sets long and short-term goals, develops action plans and analyses data to evaluate progress to improve outcomes.
• Develops and updates policies and procedures and establishes and oversees a system for regulatory compliance. Coordinates food service operation policies and procedures with clinical nutrition management, nursing and other services, as applicable.
• Manages the budget and other resources, anticipating future trends and inflation, new service opportunities, recommendations for growth, efficiencies and strategic efforts are factored into resource requests and brought to the Chief.
• Directs staff in management of contracts, subsistence, supply purchasing for NFS and submits reports to the NFS Chief.
• Solicits support and/or negotiates with facility managers to influence decisions to support food operations section success.
• Works closely with the Supervisory Dietitians to support the department, cover the work within NFS and execute the activities of the department.
• May perform other related duties as assigned which are appropriate for this grade and assignment.

Work Schedule: Mon-Fri 7:30 AM to 4:00 PM
Telework: Ad-Hoc
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #:FSPD99515S
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required
Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases
Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year)Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior [work experience] or military service experience.
Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment, up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child.
Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment, full time employees with a total family income below $144,000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66.Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA
Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement)

Notifications:

• This position is a Not Bargaining Unit position.
• This position is covered by locality-based comparability pay.
• The incumbent may be required to travel to other VA campuses and CBOC's.
• Internal employees are treated as external when they apply to the external announcement.
• Narrative responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) may be required from the selectee in order to proceed with the appointment.
• Current and former Federal employees must submit copies of their most recent SF-50, (Notice of Personnel Action). The SF-50 must identify the position title, series, grade, step, tenure and type of service (Competitive or Excepted). In some cases, more than one SF-50 may be required to show a higher grade previously held.

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 dentification 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)
• Non-credentialed Dietitians must have fulfilled each of the following:
  • Earned a bachelor's or higher degree from a U.S. regionally accredited college or university or foreign equivalent. Foreign Education: To be creditable, college and/or university degrees earned outside the U.S and its territories must be evaluated by ACEND and meet ACEND's International Dietitian Education standards which are designed to provide graduates with the knowledge and competencies to sit for the CDR credentialing exam. ~AND~
  • Completed an ACEND accredited experiential or supervised practice program and provide a verification statement from the program director that conveys eligibility to take the CDR registration exam as a prospective RDN. A list of ACEND accredited programs are located on the ACEND website or at ACEND Accredited Programs Directory.

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.

Grade Determinations:

GS-13 Supervisory Dietitian (Food Operations)

Experience: One year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level. Knowledge, Skills and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs:(a) Knowledge of business administration practices such as budget planning, contracting and food and supply purchasing to operate a food service program successfully.(b) Skill in written communication including policy development and standard operating procedures.(c) Skill in strategic planning to develop goals, objectives and action plans.(d) Skill in analyzing data to monitor progress towards improving and sustaining outcomes.(e) Ability to supervise subordinate staff (i.e., plan, organize, delegate, direct, control and review activities and performance).(f) Ability to negotiate.

Assignment: For all supervisory assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity, difficulty, variety and be performed by the incumbent as a major duty at least 25% of the time. The incumbent must spend 25% or more of their time providing administrative and technical supervision over staff who are at the full performance level or above. Employees in this Supervisory Dietitian Food Operations assignment report to the NFS Chief. They supervise a complex Veteran-Centric food operation consisting of four distinct sections (Informatics, Food Service, Production and NCC). Supervisory Dietitians make decisions based on intricate and unrelated information and assumptions from inconclusive or variable data in all aspects of food operations. They provide food-operations-specific leadership and exercise a full range of supervisory and personnel management authorities and responsibilities in planning, directing and assessing the work of subordinate staff. Supervisory Dietitians establish a training plan for the food operations section. They develop and lead food operations, establish strategic goals and ensure priorities align with the strategic plan of the NFS department, VISN and national programs. Supervisory Dietitians identify and prioritize problems, set long and short-term goals, develop action plans and analyze data to evaluate progress to improve outcomes. They are responsible for developing and updating policies and procedures and establishing and overseeing a system for regulatory compliance. Supervisory Dietitians manage the budget and other resources, anticipating future trends and inflation, new service opportunities, recommendations for growth, efficiencies and strategic efforts are factored into resource requests and brought to the Chief. They direct staff in the management of contracts, subsistence, supply purchasing for NFS and submitting reports to the NFS Chief. Supervisory Dietitians solicit support and/or negotiate with facility managers to influence decisions to support food operations section success. They collaborate closely with the clinical nutrition section to enhance the Veteran dining experience and to support the strategic goals of the clinical nutrition section and NFS.

Preferred Experience: None

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.

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.

To apply for this position, you must provide a complete Application Package which includes:

• Resume

Special Note for Applications: To complete your application, please use the following link https://vacareers.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/Resume.docx to download the standard Clinical Resume Document. This one-page document does not need to be modified and must be uploaded into the two-page restricted 'Resume' document upload field.

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

The following documents are accepted, and may be required if applicable to your eligibility and/or qualifications for this position. Please ensure you have included all documents required for your application, such as a copy of your transcript (if using education to qualify), SF-50's (current/former Federal employees), etc.

• Cover Letter
• DD-214/ Statement of Service
• Disability Letter (Schedule A)
• Disability Letter (VA)
• License
• Other (1)
• PCS Orders
• Performance Appraisal
• Professional Certification
• Resume
• Separation Notice (RIF)
• SF-15
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action
• Transcript

Veterans' Preference: When applying for Federal Jobs, eligible Veterans should claim preference for 5pt (TP), 10pt (CP/CPS/XP), or for Sole Survivor Preference (SSP) in the questionnaire. You must provide a legible copy of your DD214(s) which shows dates and character of service (honorable, general, etc.). If you are currently serving on active duty and expect to be released or discharged within 120 days you must submit documentation related to your active duty service which reflects the dates of service, character of service (honorable, general, etc.), and dates of impending separation. Additionally, disabled veterans and others eligible for 10-point preference (such as widows or mothers of eligible Veterans) must also submit an SF-15 "Application for 10 Point Veteran Preference" with required proof as stated on the form. Documentation is required to award preference. For more information on Veterans' Preference, please visit Feds Hire Vets - Veterans - Job Seekers - Veterans' Preference.

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