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Posted: March 17, 2026 (0 days ago)

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Supervisory Dietitian (Chief of Nutrition and Food Services)

Veterans Health Administration

Department of Veterans Affairs

Fresh

Location

Salary

$125,776 - $163,514

per year

Closes

March 26, 2026More VA jobs →

GS-13 Pay Grade

Base salary range: $88,520 - $115,079

Typical requirements: 1 year specialized experience at GS-12. Expert-level knowledge in field.

Note: Actual salary includes locality pay (15-40%+ depending on location).

Job Description

Summary

This job is for the head of a nutrition and food services department at a VA hospital in Gainesville, Florida, where you'll lead a team of dietitians and staff to manage meal planning, patient nutrition care, and food operations for veterans.

It involves overseeing budgets, training employees, and ensuring everything runs smoothly while following government rules.

A good fit would be an experienced registered dietitian with strong leadership skills who enjoys managing teams and improving healthcare services.

Key Requirements

  • United States citizenship (or rare exceptions)
  • Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) or Registered Dietitian (RD) credential from the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR)
  • Proficiency in spoken and written English
  • At least one year of experience equivalent to GS-13 level in supervisory dietetics
  • Ability to provide administrative and technical supervision to GS-13 staff for at least 25% of time
  • Experience in leadership, budget development, and strategic planning for nutrition and food services
  • Knowledge of VA directives, compliance, and personnel management

Full Job Description

This position is assigned to the North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System and serve as Chief of NFS for a complex department and have administrative and technical supervision over GS-13 level staff from both clinical nutrition and food operations and NFS administrative staff.

Chiefs of NFS provide leadership and guidance, with wide latitude for the exercise of independent judgment, to ensure the diverse activities of the department are closely coordinated.

Basic 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).

Documentation must be provided with application. Loss of Credentials.

An employee who fails to maintain the required registration must be removed from the occupation, which may also result in termination of employment.

English Language Proficiency: Dietitians must be proficient in spoken and written English as required by 38 U.S.C. 7402(d).

Grade Determinations: Supervisory Dietitian (Chief of Nutrition and Food Service) GS-14 Experience. At least one year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level. 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. Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities.

In addition to the experience above, candidates must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: (a) Knowledge of security measures within food operations to ensure patient and staff safety.

(b) Knowledge of organizational structure to assess impact on program operations. (c) Skill in ensuring regulatory requirements are met.

(d) Skill in leading a group of professionals to facilitate collaboration and organizational development. (e) Skill in leading managers to establish strategic goals.

(f) Ability to oversee the planning of new initiatives addressing patient care delivery systems and system reorganizations.

(g) Ability to lead efforts in business administration to include budgeting, contracting and purchasing. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-14.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

Physical Requirements: The work required does not inherently include any physical requirements essential for successful job performance that could not otherwise be performed with accommodation or workplace adjustment.

A pre-placement physical examination is not required. Major Duties:

Supervisory Dietitian (Chief of Nutrition and Food Services) exercise a full range of supervisory and personnel management authorities with responsibilities in planning, directing, and assessing work of supervisors and subordinate staff.

NFS Chiefs serve as the technical advisor and subject matter expert in nutrition and food operations.

The work of the Chief aligns NFS goals and strategic direction to that of the medical center, VISN and National Program Office.

Major duties 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 - Defines competency requirements, identifies developmental and training needs and takes necessary actions to ensure subordinate personnel maintain and enhance technical and leadership expertise.

- 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.

- Implements a performance improvement program to continually improve delivery of quality, safe and cost-effective food and nutrition care to all patients/residents.

- Develops and updates policies and procedures, establishes, and oversees a system for regulatory compliance. - Ensures NFS compliance with accrediting bodies, standards, and action items.

- Establishes the department organizational structure, defining the lines of authority essential to carry out the mission of the service.

- Responsible for accomplishing priorities and ensuring compliance with VHA directives and medical center policy and procedures.

- Oversees the planning of new endeavors addressing patient care delivery systems and system reorganizations for new or redesigned operational space, equipment requirements, etc.

- Ensures adherence to the National Dietary Supplement and Subsistence Prime Vendor contracts. - Designates the Contracting Officer Representative to negotiate purchase agreements for NFS contracts.

- 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: 7:00AM-3:30PM Monday through Friday Telework: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Functional Statement #: 99498-S Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: May Be Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Required

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Posted on USAJOBS: 3/17/2026 | Added to FreshGovJobs: 3/17/2026

Source: USAJOBS | ID: CBTC-12902224-26-MN