This position is located with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service (ARS), Poultry Research Unit, Mississippi State, MS. In this position, you will conduct and maintain a continuous program for research operations with live animals including animal care, feed manufacturing, and animal waste management.

Duties

Manages poultry in experimental programs, facilities, equipment and human resources to solve complex research problems related to poultry production. Promotes awareness and assures compliance with required standards for animal well-being, safety, biocontainment in poultry research operations. Manages incubators for research trials for both management and disease research in poultry. Independently manages poultry research operations improve the accuracy, adequacy, timeliness and validity of data. Supervises staff who care for the animals and their specialized housing facilities, keeps records for the feeding and care, operate the incubation and hatching facilities, collect samples, and poultry housing sanitation.

Requirements

• You must be a US Citizen or US National.
• Males born after 12/31/1959 must be Selective Service registered or exempt.
• Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check.
• Subject to one year supervisory/managerial probationary period unless prior service is creditable. New USDA supervisors must successfully complete all components of the required training program before the end of their probationary period.
• Direct Deposit: Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to their financial institution.
• Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit https://www.e-verify.gov/
• A motor vehicle driver?s license is required.
• Changes in work schedules may be required to meet operational and contractor demands outside of normal working hours.
• The incumbent must carry a mobile phone or radio to maintain communications capabilities at the work site.
• The incumbent is on-call in the event of an animal emergency and must be able to respond on-site with 30 minutes to maintain animal health and welfare.

Qualifications

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 time-in-grade (TIG) requirement of 52 weeks of service at the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the position being filled. Basic Requirements Degree: animal science, dairy science, poultry science; or a related discipline or field of animal science that included at least 30 semester hours in the basic biological and agricultural sciences, and 20 semester hours in animal science. For animal scientist positions, at least 10 of the required 20 semester hours in animal science must have been in courses dealing with the breeding, feeding, production, and management of livestock, and the care and preparation of their products. OR Combination of education and experience: courses equivalent to a major in the basic biological and agricultural sciences, including a minimum of 20 semester hours in appropriate animal science subjects, as described in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. Most universities offering appropriate programs confer degrees in "animal science" rather than in "animal husbandry," although some universities still confer degrees in "animal husbandry." Therefore, reference to course work in respective animal, dairy, or poultry husbandry, where applicable, may be considered synonymous with corresponding course work in animal, dairy, or poultry science. Graduate Education: To be qualifying, graduate study must have been in animal, dairy, or poultry science; or in a specialized subject-matter area of science directly related to these sciences, such as feeds and feeding or nutrition, breeding, and development, physiology, or genetics, where the curriculum or pattern of training placed major emphasis on one of the recognized specialized subject-matter areas of animal, dairy, or poultry science. Graduate study in related disciplines or fields of science, such as agronomy, microbiology, biochemistry, biophysics, and dairy, food, or fiber technology (if it dealt with pertinent products or their production) may also be qualifying, provided the graduate work placed a sufficient amount of emphasis on one of the recognized fields or subject-matter areas of animal, dairy, or poultry science. Evaluation of Education: Course work in such subjects as agronomy, animal, dairy, or poultry science, biology, botany, zoology, microbiology, physiology, genetics, and biochemistry may be used to meet the general 30-semester-hour requirement in the basic biological and agricultural sciences. Course work in such subjects as zoology, embryology, animal breeding or genetics, physiology, biochemistry, and any phase of animal, dairy, or poultry science may be used to meet the 20-semester-hour requirement in animal science. Course work in animal science includes those subjects dealing with the specific kinds and classes of livestock, e.g., cattle, swine, sheep, or fur bearers, their breeding and development, nutrition, management, and utilization; and the qualities and uses of their products, e.g., meat, wool, or leather. Course work in dairy science includes those subjects dealing with the specific kinds and classes of dairy animals; their nutrition and management; the utilization of their products; and courses dealing with the establishment of lineages, various phases of a dairy operation, milk quality, etc. Course work in poultry science includes those subjects dealing with the kinds and classes of poultry; their breeding and development; the establishment of specific strains; their nutrition and management; the utilization of their products; and courses dealing with specific areas peculiar to poultry science, such as genetic or environmental factors, or rearrangement of cycles. Additional Requirements In addition to meeting the basic requirements described above, applicants must also meet additional qualification requirements as stated below. Specialized Experience: Specialized experience is experience directly related to the position to be filled. Specialized experience must be described for each grade level advertised. The specialized experience requirements for this position are: Qualifying experience for GS-11 includes one year of specialized experience comparable to GS-09 which is directly related to the work of this position and which has equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position. For this position, specialized experience is independently managing poultry research operations to improve the accuracy, adequacy, timeliness and validity of data; managing experimental programs, facilities including a research feed mill for pelleting and biological isolation units, equipment and human resources to solve complex research problems related to poultry production; and collecting biological samples from live poultry including tracheal swabs, venous blood sampling, and cloacal swabs for microbial analysis. OR Education: Successful completion of three (3) years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. or Ph.D. equivalent doctoral degree, if directly related. Related degrees may include animal science, animal husbandry, zoology, or genetics. OR A combination of education and specialized experience as described above. 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.

Education

Please see above for education qualification requirement information.

Contacts

• Address Agricultural Research Service 141 Experimental Station Road Stoneville, MS 38776 US
• Name: Ehila Melton
• Phone: 5716694043
• Email: [email protected]