The Senior Space Food Scientist serves as a system manager for space food systems and integration lead providing expertise in overall management of the food system provisioning, production, and delivery to support crew. This includes working with other government agencies, commercial, and international partners to ensure safe and reliable food systems. Additionally, the incumbent provides leadership of advanced space food technology development for future exploration missions.

Duties

Provides leadership in space food development and integration efforts to meet Agency space food system requirements and objectives. Manages NASA space food laboratories resources/capabilities to support crew nutritional needs for programs. Manages space food provisioning, inventory, and usage rates for program. Develops, implements, and manages technical, cost and schedule ensuring food deliverables support milestones while providing greatest possible shelf life of food items. Certifies Space Food System readiness for Flight, per NASA procedural requirements. Monitors contracted team in the Space Flight System Laboratory, Space Food Research Facility, and the Health Stabilization Program. Identifies risks related to space food system cost, schedule, and technical performance. Recommends risk mitigations efforts and priorities; solicits funding for high priority efforts and implements mitigation strategies. Works with government agencies, commercial, and International Partners ensuring food system deliveries for launch on non-NASA vehicles meet requirements and need dates. Establishes the necessary import permits for IP foods shipped into the US. Develops requirements and standards for advanced space food systems. Identifies technology and research gaps. Works to ensure development efforts occur in a timely manner to support integration with flight projects. Pursues and enables collaborations with other projects and organizations, internal and external, to advance food science technologies that support exploration. Communicates and manages risks of space food systems. Provides technical management of research and technology development portfolio focused on enabling shelf stable, sustainable, nutritious, and highly acceptable space food systems while minimizing impacts to mass, volume, power, and crew time. Fosters a culture of engagement, diversity, inclusiveness, excellence and innovation. Champion NASA's commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility to create an environment that promotes a commitment to safety, integrity, and teamwork.

Requirements

• Current Federal employees must meet qualifications, time in grade, and 90 days after competitive appointment requirements by the closing date of the announcement.
• If selected, you will be required to complete a financial disclosure statement.

Qualifications

In addition to the Basic Education Requirement (in the Education section below), to qualify for this position you must meet the requirements below and have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade, which has equipped you with the particular competencies needed to successfully perform the duties of the position described above. NASA utilizes OPM-approved qualification and rating requirements specific for Aerospace Technology (AST) positions which recognizes NASA's unique aerospace work. The specific qualifications and minimum education requirements are further described below and within the education section of the job announcement. To qualify for GS-14, you must have one year of directly related specialized experience equivalent to the GS-13 level: Leading a space food development program to support crew nutritional and shelf life requirements; Certifying space food system readiness and providing oversight in laboratories and research facilities; Managing space food inventory and systems and advancing food science technologies that support exploration. Your resume must include a clear and detailed narrative description, in your own words, of how you meet the required specialized experience. Experience statements copied from a position description, vacancy announcement or other reference material constitutes plagiarism and may result in disqualification and losing consideration for the job. NASA prohibits the use of artificial intelligence (AI) or AI-assisted tool in drafting application and assessment responses. Please visit https://www.nasa.gov/careers/how-to-apply/#Artificial-Intelligence to review NASA's guidance on the use of AI tools during the application process.

Education

Basic Education Requirement: You must have successfully completed a bachelor's degree with a major in one of the following:
a) Engineering from a college or university that has ABET accredited engineering programs
b) Physical Science, Mathematics, Life Science or other field of Science
c) Computer Science that included 30 semester hours or 45 quarter hours of course work in any combination of mathematics, statistics and computer science with at least half of those hours in mathematics and statistics courses that included differential and integral calculus; and that provided an in-depth knowledge of theoretical and practical applications of computer science, including digital computer system architecture and system software organization, the representation and transformation of information structures, and the theoretical models for such representations and transformations.

If you did not complete a qualifying bachelor's degree, you may be eligible if you have obtained a graduate degree in an AST qualifying field, as listed above.

Degrees in engineering technology are not considered qualifying for this position.

Engineering degrees earned within the United States: Engineering degrees earned within the United States must be from a college or university that has at least one ABET accredited engineering program. To find out if a school has at least one ABET accredited program, please visit http://www.abet.org.

Engineering degrees earned outside the United States: Engineering degrees earned outside the United States must be recognized by a Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA), often known as accords. These are non-governmental agreements among organizations that accredit academic degree programs. MRAs recognize the substantial equivalence of mature accreditation systems and programs accredited by signatory organizations within their jurisdictions. For a listing of Signatories, please visit, https://www.abet.org/global-presence/mutual-recognition-agreements/is-your-program-recognized/.

Science and other related degrees earned within the United States: Science and other related degrees must have been awarded from colleges or universities that are accredited by recognized accrediting organizations. For a list of schools that meet this criteria, go to http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/.

Science and other related degrees earned outside the United States: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show that the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs. These education credentials must be deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

All degrees must have been received in the year of, or any year subsequent to the original date of accreditation.

Contacts

• Address Johnson Space Center 2101 NASA Parkway Houston, TX 77058 US
• Name: NASA Shared Services Contact Center
• Phone: 1-877-677-2123
• Email: [email protected]