Lead Chemist

Full Job Description

This position is located in Silver Spring, MD in the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), which is responsible for carrying out the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, passed by Congress in 2009.

Commonly called the Tobacco Control Act, the law gives the CTP broad authority to regulate the manufacturing, distribution, and marketing of tobacco products.

The incumbent serves as a Lead Chemist in the Office of Science, Division of Product Science. The position of Lead Chemist falls under the 1320 occupational series.

To qualify for this position at grade GS-14, you must meet https://help.usajobs.gov/faq/pay/time-in-grade requirements by 11:59 pm EST on 03/13/2026. Basic Education Requirement: A.

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 B.

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 (must submit transcripts).

AND; Minimum Qualifications: Specialized experience is experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled.

The specialized experience must demonstrate one year of full-time work experience , or the equivalent if part-time (for example, an employee working 20 hours per week for a 12-month period should be credited with 6 months of experience.) Experience may have been obtained in either the federal service or its equivalent with state or local government, the private sector, or nongovernmental organizations.

GS-14: One year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-13 grade level in the Federal service, which includes serving as serves as a technical authority by applying established chemical and scientific principles to provide expertise and advice on the evaluation of tobacco products; provides consultation and recommendations to program leadership and scientific staff on chemistry and chemical reactions of tobacco products and serves as a technical authority by applying established chemical and scientific principles to provide expertise advice in the areas of chemistry.

In accordance with Office of Personnel Management policy, federal employees are assumed to have gained experience by performing duties and responsibilities appropriate for their official series and grade level as described in their position description.

Experience that would not normally be part of the employee's position is creditable, however, when documented by satisfactory evidence, such as a signed memorandum from the employee's supervisor or an SF-50 or SF-52 documenting an official detail or other official assignment.

The documentation must indicate whether the duties were performed full time or, if part time, the percentage of times the other duties were performed.

It is expected that this documentation is included in the employee's official personnel record.

In order to receive credit for experience in your resume that is not within the official series and grade level of your official position, you must provide a copy of the appropriate documentation of such experience as indicated above.

If you are applying based on some other qualifying eligibility (i.e.

you are not applying as a current Federal employee), you must meet the specific requirements of the eligibility you are claiming, and must have sufficient past experience to demonstrate that you are minimally qualified for this position.

See https://help.usajobs.gov/working-in-government/unique-hiring-paths on USAJOBS for more information about various ways you may be eligible to apply!

PHS Commissioned Corps Officers interested in performing the duties of this position within the Commissioned Corps may apply online to this announcement.

Candidates will be referred to (CC) personnel and not as candidates for conversion to a permanent career or career-conditional appointment.

NOTE: It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation is submitted prior to the closing date.

To verify your application is complete, log into your USAJOBS account, https://secure.login.gov/ select the Application Status link and then select the More Information link for this position.

The Details page will display the status of your application, the documentation received and processed, and any correspondence the agency has sent related to this application.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Qualifications are based on breadth/level of experience.

In addition to describing duties performed, applicants must provide the exact dates of each period of employment (from MM/YY to MM/YY) and the number of hours worked per week if part time.

As qualification determinations cannot be made when resumes do not include the required information, failure to provide this information may result in disqualification.

Applicants are encouraged to use the USAJOBS Resume Builder to develop their federal resume.

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, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment.

You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

You must submit https://help.usajobs.gov/faq/application/documents to verify your eligibility to apply for this vacancy.

For most applicants, an ttps://help.usajobs.gov/working-in-government/service/sf-50 will be required.

However, if you are applying as a https://help.usajobs.gov/working-in-government/unique-hiring-paths/veterans, individual with a https://help.usajobs.gov/working-in-government/unique-hiring-paths/individuals-with-disabilities, or a https://help.usajobs.gov/working-in-government/unique-hiring-paths/federal-employees/career-transition , you will be required to provide other supporting documents as applicable.

See the Required Documents section for details.

Be sure that any files you upload as supporting documentation are free of security or compression features which render such documents unreadable to our system. Major Duties:

• Provides expertise in chemistry and chemical reactions for tobacco products.
• Provides consultation and advice for management in areas of tobacco products.
• Assists with developing chemical research projects to effectively address scientific issues related to the regulation of tobacco products.
• Reviews adequacy of data submitted by manufacturers regarding potential impact on public health of regulated tobacco products.
• Analyzes and compiles data to prepare presentations and manuscripts supporting recommendations and decisions on public health issues.
• Assists management with communicating team assignments, balance workloads, and deadlines for completing projects.
• Provides verbal and written conclusions to other federal agencies, industry, universities, and state, local and foreign governments.
• Serves as coach, facilitator, and/or negotiator in coordinating team initiatives and in consensus building activities among team members.