Department of Agriculture

Agricultural Program Specialist (DETAIL/TEMP PROMOTION NTE 1 YEAR)

Salt Lake City, Utah, Seattle, Washington, Phoenix, Arizona, Los Angeles, California, San Francisco, Full time

Agricultural Program Specialist (DETAIL/TEMP PROMOTION NTE 1 YEAR)

Department: Department of Agriculture

Location(s): Salt Lake City, Utah, Seattle, Washington, Phoenix, Arizona, Los Angeles, California, San Francisco, California, Denver, Colorado, Washington, District of Columbia, Miami, Florida, Atlanta, Georgia, Chicago, Illinois, Indianapolis, Indiana, New Orleans, Louisiana, Boston, Massachusetts, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Kansas City, Missouri, Albuquerque, New Mexico, New York, New York, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Portland, Oregon, Austin, Texas

Salary Range: $142488 - $185234 Per Year

Job Summary: This position is located in the Farm Service Agency, Deputy Administrator for Farm Programs, Program Delivery Division. The incumbent of this position serves as a Team Lead assisting and leading in the facilitation and management of special projects and assigned tasks and activities as directed by the Director, Deputy Director and/or Branch Chief of the Program Delivery Division. Applications will be accepted only from current permanent FSA employees with competitive status.

Major Duties:

  • Has management authority and input into and influences both technical and administrative decisions and therefore, influences program development and delivery as well as program direction and priorities.
  • Develops overall operating policies and procedures for the automation of farm programs, complying with mandates of Certification and Accreditation.
  • Analyzes program trends and recommends appropriate actions to ensure continued effectiveness of operations and attainment of program objectives.
  • Provides and leads the facilitation and information gathering of input, recommendations and technical requirements on issues spanning the entire scope of the organization’s activities.
  • Provides leadership, project management, oversight and guidance on the delivery of complex business solutions in a complex, geographically dispersed matrix organization.
  • Formulates, develops and recommends business processes including operating policies, procedures and regulations for assigned programs and functionality.
  • Develops and recommends changes in program policies for more efficient and effective processes and accomplishments of program objectives.
  • Assist in preparing budget and appropriations justifications and data analysis for Section programs.
  • Participates in or conducts meetings and serves as liaison with Agency and interagency groups to provide technical guidance and information on assigned programs

Qualifications: In order to qualify, you must meet the eligibility and qualifications requirements as defined below by the closing date of the announcement. For more information on the qualifications for this position, visit the Office of Personnel Management's General Schedule Qualification Standards. Your application and resume must clearly show that you possess the experience requirements. If education is required or being used to qualify, you must submit a copy of your transcripts. Basic Requirement: GS-1145 Series: Education: Undergraduate Education: Major study -- economics, agricultural economics, marketing, business administration, animal or poultry science/husbandry, agronomy, soil science, or related curricula dealing with the production and distribution of farm products. Graduate Education: Major study -- dairy science, agricultural marketing, domestic agricultural development, farm management, agronomy, or other agricultural specialty areas.OR Experience: Experience that demonstrated: Knowledge of the laws and regulations governing agricultural stabilization and conservation programs and of the particular application of national policies and objectives at the State level; Understanding of farming practices and customs in the United States, and of the economic needs of farm communities at the State level; Knowledge of current State and Federal agricultural trends; and Ability to establish and maintain effective relationships with representatives of public and private organizations, farmers' associations, and others, and to interpret regulations, programs, and policies affecting them. In addition to meeting the basic requirement, you must also possess experience and/or directly related education listed below. Specialized Experience Requirement For the GS-14 grade level: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-13 grade level in federal service or comparable experience not gained through federal service. Specialized experience is defined as: Applying technology to analyze, evaluate and implement agricultural programs; Analyzing legislation to determine its impact on program operations and software delivery; Establishing and maintaining effective relationships with representatives of FSA State and County Offices, public and private organizations, farmers' associations, and/or others; Writing business user requirements in order to obtain a level of effort in order to secure funding to implement automated systems, working with IT developers and testers to implement automated applications for use by FSA State and County Offices, conducting training on automated applications, writing directives and/or procedure and trouble-shooting software issues. 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. Time-in-Grade Requirement: If you are a current federal employee in the General Schedule (GS) pay plan and applying for a promotion opportunity, you must meet time-in-grade (TIG) requirements of 52 weeks of service at the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the position being filled. You must meet this requirement by the closing date of this announcement.

How to Apply: Please read the entire announcement and all instructions before you begin. You must complete this application process and submit all required documents electronically by 11:59p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on the closing date of this announcement. Applying online is highly encouraged. We are available to assist you during business hours (normally 8:00a.m. - 4:00p.m., Monday - Friday). If applying online poses a hardship, contact the Agency Contact listed below well before the closing date for an alternate method. All hardship application packages must be complete and submitted no later than noon ET on the closing date of the announcement to be entered into the system prior to its closing. Resumes must not exceed two pages. This agency provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities on a case-by-case basis; contact the Agency Contact to request this. To begin, click "Apply" and follow the instructions to complete the Assessment Questionnaire and attach your resume and all required documents. Please verify that documents you are uploading from USAJOBs transfer into the Agency's staffing system as there is a limitation to the number of documents that can be transferred. However, once in the Agency's staffing system, you will have the opportunity to upload additional documents. Uploaded documents must be less than 5MB and in one of the following document formats: GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, PDF, TXT or Word (DOC or DOCX). Do not upload Adobe Portfolio documents because they are not viewable. Encrypted documents will not be accepted. Failure to submit required, legible documents may result in loss of consideration. Please ensure your resume does not exceed two pages. Applicants who submit a resume that exceeds two pages will be removed from consideration. Our office cannot be responsible for incompatible software, your system failure, etc.

Application Deadline: 2026-01-02