Supervisory Chemist (Forensic)

Summary

About the Position: This is a Direct Hire Authority (DHA) solicitation utilizing the DHA for STEM Positions and Cyber Security and related positions' to recruit and appoint qualified candidates to positions in the competitive service. Serves as Chief, Certification Section of the Forensic Toxicology Drug Testing Laboratory (FTDTL).

Duties

• Approve, modify, or reject formal requests prepared by subordinate supervisors for promotions, reassignments, awards, selections, etc.
• Conduct and analyze scientific testing performed by lower graded scientists and providing scientific validation of results.
• Interpret the chromatography and quantitative confirmation results from the highly specific analytical instrumentation in relation to testing human urine aliquots for selected drugs of abuse or drug metabolites.
• Ensure compliance with Federal Law and established laboratory quality control and quality assurance criteria and ascertain the identity and accuracy of quality control specimens in both screening and quantitative analytical reports.
• Determine the disposition of specimens whose chain of custody documents contain errors or omissions, in accordance with acceptable practices and sound judgment.
• Initiate special testing requests and/or requests for testing that is completed at other laboratories
• Prepare and certify memoranda required for the different types of validity and steroid testing.
• Read, comprehend, and interpret scientific journal reports, studies, and articles in the field of forensic urine drug testing to maintain current expertise in the execution of their duties.
• Provide expert guidance on confirmatory testing and MS-based screening related troubleshooting and matters of interpretation of specimen results and of experimental data from new method development.
• Develop, write, and maintain highly technical Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) based on strict regulatory guidance, and ensuring exact compliance by all subordinates.
• Assign work to subordinate supervisors.
• Establish division goals and priorities; evaluate results; and, maintain control through reviews, briefings, reports, or observations to identify where program adjustments are needed to meet mission requirements.

Qualifications

Who May Apply: Only applicants who meet one of the employment authority categories below are eligible to apply for this job. You will be asked to identify which category or categories you meet, and to provide documents which prove you meet the category or categories you selected. See Proof of Eligibility for an extensive list of document requirements for all employment authorities. This job is open to the public. U.S Citizens are eligible apply to this job. In order to qualify, you must meet the education and/or experience requirements described below. 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). You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience; if qualifying based on education, your transcripts will be required as part of your application. Additional information about transcripts is in this document. To qualify based on your experience, your resume must describe at least one year of experience which prepared you to do the work in this job. For GS-13: Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-12 grade level in the Federal service which includes: 1) conducting and analyzing of scientific testing to provide scientific validation of results; 2) analyzing of complex scientific testing results, screening and confirmation; 3) interpreting the quantitative results from the highly specific analytical instrumentation (such as gas or liquid chromatograph/mass spectrometer) to test human urine samples for selected drugs of abuse or drug metabolites; 4) utilizing in-depth knowledge of the field of chemistry, pharmacokinetics and toxicology to solve problems. Individual Occupational Requirements Basic Requirements: Degree: physical sciences, life sciences, or engineering that included 30 semester hours in chemistry, supplemented by course work in mathematics through differential and integral calculus, and at least 6 semester hours of physics. or Combination of education and experience -- course work equivalent to a major as shown in A above, including at least 30 semester hours in chemistry, supplemented by mathematics through differential and integral calculus, and at least 6 semester hours of physics, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

Education

FOREIGN EDUCATION: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been 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: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html.

How to apply

To apply for this position, you must complete the online questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section above. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 09/07/2026 to receive consideration Follow the prompts to select your resume and/or other supporting documents to be included with your application package. As a reminder, your resume must be two pages or less and must support the specialized experience described in this announcement. Resumes exceeding two pages will be removed from consideration. For additional information, refer to the 'Required Documents' section. You will have the opportunity to upload additional documents to include in your application before it is submitted. Your uploaded documents may take several hours to clear the virus scan process. After acknowledging you have reviewed your application package, complete the Include Personal Information section as you deem appropriate and click to continue with the application process. You will be taken to the online application which you must complete in order to apply for the position. Complete the online application, verify the required documentation is included with your application package, and submit the application. Your resume selected in USAJOBS will be included, but you must re-select other documents from your USAJOBS account or your application may be incomplete. It is your responsibility to verify that your application package (resume, supporting documents, and responses to the questionnaire) is complete, accurate, and submitted by the closing date. Uploaded documents may take up to one hour to clear the virus scan. Additional information on how to complete the online application process and submit your online application may be found on the USA Staffing Applicant Resource Center. To verify the status of your application, log into your USAJOBS account (https://www.usajobs.gov/applicant/profile/dashboard/), all of your applications will appear on the Welcome screen. The Application Status will appear along with the date your application was last updated. For information on what each Application Status means, visit: https://help.usajobs.gov/how-to/application/status.