Supervisory Dietitian (Chief, Nutrition and Food Services)

01Basic Requirements

United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy. Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) or Registered Dietitian (RD) - Must be registered with the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR) the credentialing branch of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics formerly known as the American Dietetic Association (ADA).

Current VHA Dietitians that qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision may not be promoted to a higher grade if they do not meet the current RDN/RD requirements.

02Grade Determinations

Supervisory Dietitian (Chief, Nutrition and Food Services), GS-14. Experience. One year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level. Knowledge, Skills and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs: Knowledge of security measures within food operations to ensure patient and staff safety. Knowledge of organizational structure to assess impact on program operations. Skill in ensuring regulatory requirements are met.

Skill in leading a group of professionals to facilitate collaboration and organizational development. Skill in leading managers to establish strategic goals. Ability to oversee the planning of new initiatives addressing patient care delivery systems and system reorganizations. Ability to lead efforts in business administration to include budgeting, contracting and purchasing. Assignment.

For all supervisory assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity, difficulty, variety and be performed by the incumbent as a major duty at least 25% of the time. The incumbent must spend 25% or more of their time providing administrative and technical supervision over administrative staff who support NFS operations and both a GS-13 Supervisory Dietitian (Food Operations) and GS-13 Supervisory Dietitian (Clinical Nutrition).

Supervisory Dietitians in this assignment serve as Chief NFS for a complex NFS department. Chief NFS provides leadership and guidance, with wide latitude for the exercise of independent judgment, to ensure the diverse activities of the department are closely coordinated, integrating clinical nutrition and food operations. They exercise a full range of supervisory and personnel management authorities with responsibilities in planning, directing and assessing the work of supervisors and subordinate staff.

Chief NFS establishes performance standards and evaluates overall performance of employees, defines competency requirements, identifies developmental and training needs and takes necessary actions to ensure subordinate personnel maintains and enhance technical and leadership expertise. They serve as the technical advisor and subject matter experts in nutrition and food operations.

Chief NFS develops budget and staffing requirements to manage organizational changes and ensure national directives and goals/objectives are met. They communicate and advocate with executive leadership for resources. Chief NFS develop the NFS strategic plan establishing service priorities that address the goals and strategic direction of the medical center, VISN and national programs.

They are responsible for accomplishing priorities and ensuring compliance with VHA directives and medical center policy and procedures. They oversee planning of endeavours addressing patient care delivery systems and system reorganizations for new or redesigned operational space, equipment requirements, etc. Chief NFS ensures adherence to the National Dietary Supplement and Subsistence Prime Vendor contracts. They designate the Contracting Officer Representative to negotiate purchase agreements for NFS contracts.

Chief NFS actively supports, promotes and oversees the implementation of NFS initiatives at the facility level and engages other service chiefs as needed to ensure success. They participate in VISN and National level NFS initiatives and are responsible for all action items for NFS.

Chief NFS evaluates overall NFS effectiveness through the review of operations, quality assurance, performance improvement and benchmarks, making decisions based on intricate and unrelated items of information from inconclusive or variable data. They facilitate and support NFS participation in performance improvement studies, ensuring the dissemination of nutrition-related research and quality improvement within the department and facility.

Chief NFS leads efforts to provide food-forward, Veteran-centric dining options. They implement security measures in all NFS areas to protect against theft, reduce the risk of food terrorism and maintain Veteran and staff safety. Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

03Physical Requirements

See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Service for requirements

Major duties and responsibilities include but are not limited to: - Oversees all human resource functions for the department.

Holds staff accountable for performance and conduct. - Establishes performance standards and evaluate overall performance of employees. - Develops budget and staffing requirements to manage organizational changes and ensure national directives and goals/objectives are met. - Communicates and advocates with executive leadership for resources. - Develops the NFS strategic plan establishing service priorities which address the goals and strategic direction of the medical center, VISN and national programs. - Develops and updates policies and procedures, establishes, and oversees a system for regulatory compliance. - Ensures NFS compliance with accrediting bodies, standards, and action items. - Implements security measures in all NFS areas to protect against theft, reduce the risk of food terrorism and maintain Veteran and staff safety. - Ensures the dissemination of nutrition related research and quality improvement within the department and facility. - Directs resource distribution for food, supply, and labor costs, focusing on benchmarks, delegating resource management to others as appropriate. - May perform other related duties which are appropriate for this grade and assignment.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday; 8:00am - 4:30pm Telework: ADHOC Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: PD99498S Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized