Supervisory Agricultural Commodity Grader (Cotton) (Assistant Area Director)

Supervisory Agricultural Commodity Grader (Cotton) (Assistant Area Director)

Department: Department of Agriculture

Location(s): Abilene, Texas

Salary Range: $89508 - $116362 Per Year

Job Summary: The Cotton Classing Office administers assigned programs on cotton and related commodities provided for in legislative and administrative requirements in connection with standards, marketing services, and allied regulatory responsibilities. As Assistant Area Director of a large, complex classing office, you will assist the Area Director in directing, administering, and carrying out programs and activities assigned to the office.

Major Duties:

• The duties may include, but are not limited to:
• Participates in the formulation of programs within the assigned territory and in national policies by contributing ideas, suggestions, and recommendations with respect to the cotton classing services
• Responsibility for the classification of samples submitted in connection with the Program’s cotton classification program.
• Oversees the High Volume Instrument (HVI) operations to insure that readings are within tolerances, instruments are properly calibrated, and repairs are made on a timely basis.
• Represents the Program in assigned geographical area in contacting state and local officials on the Smith-Doxey Act, other applicable governing legislation, and other assigned functions.
• Shares responsibility with the Area Director for direct and indirect technical and administrative supervision of the personnel assigned to the classing office.
• Plans and assigns the work of the group with the assistance of subordinate supervisors so as to minimize the backlog of samples to be classed.
• Reviews the work of field representatives, including their market information reports.

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. FOR THE GS-12 LEVEL: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience (equivalent to the GS-11 grade level) that demonstrates: Interpreting and applying grading standards. Supervising and reviewing graders work. Independently makes borderline grading determinations. There is no education substitution for this grade level. 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.

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 in order to be entered into the system prior to its closing. Resume cannot 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. Step 1: Create a USAJOBS account (if you do not already have one) at www.usajobs.gov. It is recommended that as part of your profile you set up automatic email notification to be informed when the status of your application changes. If you choose not to set up this automatic notification, then you will have to log into your USAJOBS account to check on the status of your application. Step 2: Create a Resume with USAJOBS or upload a Resume into your USAJOBS account. You may want to customize your resume to ensure it documents duties and accomplishments you have gained that are directly related to this position in order to verify that qualifications are met. In addition, your resume must support your responses to the online questionnaire (you may preview the online questionnaire by clicking on the link at the end of the How You Will Be Evaluated section of the job announcement). Step 3: Click "Apply Online" and follow the prompts to complete the Occupational Questionnaire and attach any additional documents that may be required. You can update your application or documents anytime while the announcement is open. Simply log into your USAJOBS account and click on "Application Status." Click on the position title, and then select "Update Application" to continue. NOTE: 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. Applicants who submit a resume that exceeds two pages will be removed from consideration.

Application Deadline: 2026-01-06