Job Opportunities in the Center for Veterinary Medicine

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is one of the nation's oldest and most respected consumer protection agencies. FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) is an internationally recognized high performance public health organization that enables the marketing of safe and effective animal drugs, devices, foods, food ingredients, and food additives, while ensuring that edible products from treated animals are safe for humans and the environment.

CVM fulfills its responsibilities by evaluating the safety and efficacy of regulated products before the products are approved for marketing. The Center also monitors the performance of new animal drugs after they have been approved for marketing, conducts research to fill gaps in knowledge, and disseminates pertinent information. Products regulated by CVM are given to, or used on, millions of food animals such as poultry, cattle, swine, and fish, and companion animals like cats, dogs, and horses.

CVM is committed to the goal of protecting animal and human health, and recognizes the value and importance of science in reaching quality and timely regulatory decisions. Our teamwork approach to excellence involves a continuous effort for quality improvement In performing this mission the Center employs a skilled, diverse workforce of professionals at all levels. The professions include:

Veterinary Medical Officers,
Animal Scientists, Chemists,
Biologists, Microbiologists,
Pharmacologists, Toxicologists,
Consumer Safety Officers,
Math Statisticians, Administrators

Hiring Programs

Regular Civilian employment
Public Health Service Commissioned Corps
Service Fellowship Program
Staff Fellow/Visiting Scientist

Regular employment in the United States Federal Civil Service or Public Health Service Commissioned Corp is limited to U.S. Citizens. However, permanent resident aliens (Green card holders) and others with visas that legally permit such employments may be hired through the Service Fellowship or Staff Fellow/Visiting Scientist Programs.

Salary and Benefits

The Federal General Schedule (GS) grade levels at www.opm.gov/oca/payrates/index.htm which these positions most commonly are filled are GS-9 through GS-13. Higher grade levels are available based on peer review of individual accomplishments managerial chain of command. The current GS salaries and wages can be found at www.opm.gov/oca/payrates/index.htm. All of our positions are located in Rockville, Maryland with the exception of our Office of Research located in Laurel, Maryland; therefore, we fall under the locality pay for the Washington Metropolitan Area.

The Federal Government offers an excellent benefits package including: annual leave, sick leave, paid holidays, health benefits, life insurance, retirement, and quality of work life programs. More specific information may be found on the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) web site.

How to Find and Apply for our Job Vacancies

Announcements for job vacancies at CVM can be found on our home page. Other FDA and Federal positions can be found at www.usajobs.opm.gov. This same information can be retrieved using a touchtone phone by dialing 912-757-3000 or 202-606-2700 in the Washington DC area. The FDA Job Line is 301-443-1969. To receive faxed vacancies call FAXBACK at 301-827-4287.

A job vacancy announcement may be limited to status candidates. "Status candidates" are current federal employees serving on career or career conditional appointments in the competitive service, or candidates with reinstatement eligibility. Status applicants are able to apply to positions open to government employees.

"Non-Status" candidates are applicants who have never held career or career conditional appointments in the federal service. Non-Status applicants are eligible to apply for positions where the area of consideration is listed as All Sources.

The following are guidelines for completing your application. Carefully read the contents of each vacancy announcement.