This position is located in the United States Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), Crops & Specialty Surveys Section in Washington, DC. In this position, you will serve as the Section Head and will be responsible for reviewing and evaluating survey program operations and activities including planning, organizing, and directing the staff assigned to work on NASS Crop and Specialty surveys.

Duties

Establish and maintain close working relationships in the field of Crop and Specialty Surveys with other organizational units of NASS, other agencies of the Department and State and Federal Governments, universities, and private organizations. Provide technical advice and assistance to the statisticians in the Regional Field Offices who plan, work, and train for the Crop and Specialty Surveys. During field travels, consult with the field personnel on program plans, participates in State training schools, observe field operations during the data collection process, and participate in the editing and processing of field office survey data. Responsible for planning, directing, and coordinating the implementation and execution of approved policies, programs, and other activities of the Section. Work closely with the Statistics Division in the planning of programs involving new data collection methods and procedures and related quality control and evaluation procedures. Serve as consultant and advisor to the Branch Chief, Division Director, and other officials on matters pertaining to Crop and Specialty Surveys. As required, participate in presenting and justifying the program of the Branch as it relates to data collection for Crop and Specialty Surveys.

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-NASS 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/

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: that included 15 semester hours in statistics (or in mathematics and statistics, provided at least 6 semester hours were in statistics), and 9 additional semester hours in one or more of the following: physical or biological sciences, medicine, education, or engineering; or in the social sciences including demography, history, economics, social welfare, geography, international relations, social or cultural anthropology, health sociology, political science, public administration, psychology, etc. Credit toward meeting statistical course requirements should be given for courses in which 50 percent of the course content appears to be statistical methods, e.g., courses that included studies in research methods in psychology or economics such as tests and measurements or business cycles, or courses in methods of processing mass statistical data such as tabulating methods or electronic data processing. OR Combination of education and experience: courses as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. The experience should have included a full range of professional statistical work such as (a) sampling, (b) collecting, computing, and analyzing statistical data, and (c) applying statistical techniques such as measurement of central tendency, dispersion, skewness, sampling error, simple and multiple correlation, analysis of variance, and tests of significance. AND In addition to meeting the basic education requirement above, all applicants must meet the following minimum qualification requirements: GS-14: 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-14 includes one year of specialized experience comparable to GS-13 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 experience planning and executing agricultural survey projects; using mathematical, statistical, and estimating methods to analyze survey data; and providing technical guidance and direction to statisticians or support employees. 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 National Agricultural Statistics Service 1400 Independence Avenue, SW Washington, DC 20250 US
• Name: Sydney Teague
• Phone: 703-259-9455
• Email: [email protected]