Consumer Safety Officer (Planning)

This position is located in the Office of Inspections and Investigations (OII), Office of Human and Animal Drug Inspectorate (OHADI), Division of Human and Animal Drug Foreign Inspectorate (DHADFI), Human and Animal Drug Foreign Operations Branch (HADFOB). The incumbent serves as a Consumer Safety Officer and is responsible for assisting in planning, establishing, directing, and implementing the International Inspection Programs.

Major duties
Serves as the headquarters authority on drug inspection techniques. Provides a focal point within FDA to whom the headquarters and field service may turn for authoritative guidance and consultation regarding inspection and investigation methods and procedures necessary to accomplish compliance objectives. Selects appropriate methods for inclusion in nationwide investigative processes and procedures. Ensures that descriptive material communicate in sufficient detail to satisfy the needs of the operating investigators. Receives and resolves inquiries in this regard. Conducts research to develop improved inspectional techniques requisites for coping with advances in manufacturing technology and bulk distribution practices. In making these studies, explores backgrounds, conditions, and goals with program officials and subject matter specialist in the Centers and in the field. Reviews and determines the usefulness of employee suggestions emanating from FDA field employees. Endorses with recommendations for acceptance in whole or in part, or furnishes reasons outlining basis for rejection. Assists the Branch Chief in performing the following: Appraises and evaluates the overall effectiveness of the international inspection programs and develops new concepts as needed; maintains, coordination with appropriate FDA units such as the Office of the Commissioner, Associate Commissioner for Inspections and Investigations, Assistant Commissioner for Partnerships and Policy, and the medical products center. Assures that the administrative elements of the program are met, such as obtaining of passports and visas; obtaining technical assistance for the field and headquarters units; contact with other federal, health and consumer protection agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health; contacts with foreign embassies and ministries of health, and a variety of other offices. Selects appropriately qualified investigators to conduct inspections and provide technical support. Provides oversight, evaluation and coordinates foreign inspection work for the operating investigators while they are actively participating in the program conducting international inspections. This includes review and appropriate forwarding of inspectional reports. Performs at least one foreign inspection trip annually assigned by division management. Performs other duties as assigned.

Qualifications
The position of Consumer Safety Officer (Planning) falls within the 0696 occupational series. To qualify for this position at grade GS-13, you must meet Time-in-Grade requirements by 11:59 pm EST on 11/09/2026. Basic Requirements for Consumer Safety Series 0696: Applicants must meet one of the following requirements. 1. A bachelor's or graduate/higher level degree in quality assurance or a related degree that included at least 30 semester hours in one or a combination of the following: consumer laws, biological sciences, food science, chemistry, pharmacy, physical sciences, food technology, nutrition, medical science, engineering, epidemiology, veterinary medical science, legal investigations, law enforcement, or related scientific fields that provided knowledge directly related to consumer safety officer work. The 30 semester hours may include up to 8 semester hours in statistics, or course work that included the principles, theory, or practical application of computers or computer programming. OR 2. Combination of education and experience–courses consisting of at least 30 semester hours in the fields of study described in paragraph A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. Minimum Qualifications: 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. The specialized experience must demonstrate one year of full-time work experience, or the equivalent if part-time (for example, an employee working 20 hours per week for a 12-month period should be credited with 6 months of experience.) Experience may have been obtained in either the federal service or its equivalent with state or local government, the private sector, or nongovernmental organizations. GS-13: You must have 1 year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-12, in the Federal service, which includes: researching firm histories and conducting pre-inspection preparation using OSAR, eDRLS, CMS, and other relevant FDA/OII databases to support risk-based inspection planning; independently conducting foreign and domestic pharmaceutical inspections in accordance with FDA drug compliance programs; managing multiple concurrent assignments, organizing competing priorities, and completing tasks thoroughly and on time; and coordinating across teams through oral and written communication to support the planning and execution of foreign drug inspections. In accordance with Office of Personnel Management policy, federal employees are assumed to have gained experience by performing duties and responsibilities appropriate for their official series and grade level as described in their position description. Experience that would not normally be part of the employee's position is creditable, however, when documented by satisfactory evidence, such as a signed memorandum from the employee's supervisor or an SF-50 or SF-52 documenting an official detail or other official assignment. The documentation must indicate whether the duties were performed full time or, if part time, the percentage of times the other duties were performed. It is expected that this documentation is included in the employee's official personnel record. In order to receive credit for experience in your resume that is not within the official series and grade level of your official position, you must provide a copy of the appropriate documentation of such experience as indicated above. PHS Commissioned Corps Officers interested in performing the duties of this position within the Commissioned Corps may apply online to this announcement. Candidates will be referred to (CC) personnel and not as candidates for conversion to a permanent career or career-conditional appointment. 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://secure.login.gov/ 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. You must submit supporting documentation to verify your eligibility to apply for this vacancy. For internal applicants an SF-50 will be required. If Educational requirements are listed, you must submit a Transcript, even if you occupy the series/grade in question. See the Required Documents section for full details…

How to apply
In accordance with Executive Order 14170, applicants are encouraged to respond to the four short, free-response, essay questions in the questionnaire. Answers to these questions are optional and will not be scored or rated. Your answers will be reviewed by the hiring manager and agency leadership if you are referred for selection consideration. You will be asked to certify that your responses are written in your own words and that you did not use a consultant or artificial intelligence (AI) tool (such as ChatGPT or Copilot). Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution. To apply for positions with the Food & Drug Administration, you must log into https://secure.login.gov/ account and be signed in to that account before you click the "Apply Online" button. See the USAJOBS Help Article "How does the application process work?" for more on this process. Additionally, you must provide a resume and any required supporting documentation listed on the announcement, and you must complete all assessment questionnaires BEFORE 11:59 pm Eastern Time on the closing date of this announcement, 11/09/2026. We recommend that you start the application process early enough that you can complete and submit your application before this deadline. Please note that you cannot submit documentation or make changes to your application after the deadline, and in most cases, only experience and education obtained by this date will be considered. If you would like to learn how to use USAJOBS including: accessing and managing your account, adding saved documents, building a resume, or starting an application; we recommend you visit the USAJOBS How To site, and read up on any topic that you need help with. This site is located at: https://help.usajobs.gov/how-to. Additionally, if you need technical assistance with USAJOBS (such as account issues) please visit the main USAJOBS Contact us at: USAJOBS – Contact us FDA's Applicant Help Desk is not able to support USAJOBS-related issues. The Food & Drug Administration uses a system called Application Manager (USA Staffing) to post jobs and accept applications. If you are not familiar with Application Manager or you encounter any difficulty with the site, we recommend that you visit the Applicant HELP Site at: https://appsupport-usastaffing.opm.gov/hc/en-us. This help site contains step-by-step instructions for completing the application process, submitting documentation, and completing questionnaires, and should be very helpful to you! You are encouraged to apply online. Applying online will allow you to review and track the status of your application. The FDA will provide reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities who are not able to apply online. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application process, please contact the Applicant Help Desk. Decisions on granting a reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis. If after reviewing the USAJOBS and Application Manager help sites, you're not able to find the answer to your question or concern, or if you wish to request a reasonable accommodation, please contact the FDA Applicant Help Desk at 866-807-3742, or e-mail ERIC@fda.hhs.gov The Applicant Help Desk is staffed between the hours of 7am and 6pm Eastern Time, Monday through Friday, except for government holidays. If you contact the Applicant Help Desk, please provide the following Vacancy Identification Number (VIN) 13101845 so that we may assist you faster. See https://help.usajobs.gov/working-in-government/unique-hiring-pathson USAJOBS for more information about various ways you may be eligible to apply! In addition to meeting the eligibility requirements you must have sufficient past experience to demonstrate minimum qualifications for this position. PHS Commissioned Corps Officers interested in performing the duties of this position within the Commissioned Corps may apply online to this announcement. Candidates will be referred to (CC) personnel and not as candidates for conversion to a permanent career or career-conditional appointment. Be sure that any files you upload as supporting documentation are free of security or compression features which render such documents unreadable to our system. To preview the application questionnaire, click the link below. https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13101845