Compliance Specialist

Summary

The Compliance Specialist for the OIEA Enforcement Operations Staff (EOS) develops and executes Agency-wide criminal, civil, and administrative enforcement programs, and administrative actions. Major duties are criminal and civil prosecutions, program surveillance, policy guidance, coordination with agencies, preparing responses to violation reports, imposing civil monetary penalties, and refusal and withdrawal of Federal Inspections services to uphold food safety and regulatory compliance.

Duties

• Conduct complex enforcement casework in federal and USDA administrative court systems, providing technical and program expertise to support criminal, civil, administrative, and compliance actions.
• Review, analyze, and evaluate investigative, compliance, surveillance, and program evaluation reports for statutory or regulatory violations, ensuring sufficiency of evidence, accuracy, and consistency.
• Coordinate with Regional and District Offices, CID investigators, OIG, and other partners to resolve deficiencies in reports and ensure recommended actions align with statutory and policy authorities.
• Prepare referrals and recommendations to OGC, DOJ, U.S. Attorneys, and other entities for criminal, civil, administrative, and civil penalty actions, including product seizure and related enforcement work.
• Draft proposed legal and administrative documents including legal complaints, legal settlement agreements, legal plea agreements, notices of warning, “Present Your Views” letters, and related enforcement correspondence.
• Provide technical assistance, subject-matter guidance, and enforcement expertise to CID, OFO, OGC, OIG, and other federal, state, and local partners to support investigations and compliance outcomes.
• Maintain ongoing liaison and working relationships with U.S. Attorneys, OGC, OIG, compliance divisions, District Offices, and other agencies to facilitate coordinated enforcement strategies.
• Participate in the development, evaluation, and improvement of enforcement and compliance programs, including recommending operational changes, process improvements, and new or revised program instructions.
• Draft and contribute to enforcement protocols, directives, guidelines, bulletins, and regulations supporting compliance, investigative, and enforcement activities.
• Communicate statutory authorities, enforcement processes, case disposition criteria, and food safety principles to regulated entities and public audiences to support understanding and compliance.
• Represent FSIS in meetings, presentations, and outreach activities with regulated industry, government agencies, academic institutions, trade associations, consumer groups, and other stakeholders.

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 the time in grade requirement of 52 weeks of service at the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the position being filled. Specialized Experience: You must have at least one year of specialized work experience equivalent to the GS-12 grade level in the Federal service performing duties which include: Utilizing meat, poultry, egg, humane slaughter, and related statutes, regulations, and policies to identify and assess alleged violations and make recommendations for enforcement or legal action; Working with due process and procedural requirements to initiate and execute enforcement or legal action; Experience with operations and activities of regulated and allied food manufacturing, processing, distribution, and related industries; Knowledge of food safety, animal and food science, hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP), sanitation standard operating procedure (SSOP), sanitation performance standards (SPS), and pathogen reduction regulations; Conducting inspections, investigations, compliance reviews, administrative enforcement activities, and/or recall activities, and assessing compliance or noncompliance; Preparing case evidence, case files, and case reports to support regulatory, enforcement, and/or legal actions; Gathering facts; analyzing factors, relevant issues, and data; identifying noncompliance, violations, or trends; and developing corresponding findings, conclusions, and recommendations; Communicating with industry officials and/or their representatives; communicating statutory, regulatory, food safety, compliance, and/or investigative findings orally to industry and/or government officials; and Drafting written correspondence, decision documents, reports, and other technical documents on regulatory, compliance, investigative, and enforcement matters. 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

There are no educational requirements or substitutions for experience for this position.

How to apply

Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application. To apply and be considered for this position, you must complete all required questionnaires, assessments, and required documentation as specified in the How to Apply and Required Documents section. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on the closing date of the announcement to receive consideration. Resumes must not exceed two pages. The application process is as follows: Click the Apply Online button. Answer the questions presented in the application and attach all necessary supporting documentation. Click the Submit Application button prior to 11:59 PM (ET) on the announcement closing date. If you are required to complete any USA Hire Assessments, you will be notified after submitting your application. The notification will be provided in your application submission screen and via email. The notification will include your unique assessment access link to the USA Hire system and the completion deadline. Additionally, in USAJOBS you can click "Track this application" to return to your assessment completion notice. Access USA Hire using your unique assessment link. Access is granted through your USAJOBS login credentials. Review all instructions prior to beginning your assessments. You will have the opportunity to request a testing accommodation before beginning the assessments should you have a disability covered under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended. Set aside at least 3 hours to take the USA Hire assessments; however, most applicants complete the assessments in less time. If you need to stop the assessments and continue later, you can re-use your unique assessment link. Your responses to the USA Hire Assessments will be reused for one year (in most cases) from the date you complete an assessment. If future applications you submit require completion of the same assessments, your responses will be automatically reused. Visit the USA Hire Applicant Resource Center for practice assessments and assessment preparation. To update your application, including supporting documentation: During the announcement open period, return to your USAJOBS account, find your application record, and click Edit my application. This option will no longer be available once the announcement has closed. To view the announcement status or your application status: Click on this: https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/how-to/application/status/. Your application status page is where you can view your application status, USA Hire assessment completion status, and review your notifications sent by the hiring agency regarding your application. 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. Please ensure your resume does not exceed two pages. Applicants who submit a resume that exceeds two pages will be removed from consideration.