Supervisory Dietitian (Chief of Nutrition and Food Service)

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, integrating clinical nutrition and food operations. They exercise a full range of supervisory and personnel management authorities and responsibilities in planning, directing, and assessing work of subordinate staff. Serve as the technical advisor and subject matter expert in nutrition and food operations.

Duties will 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 evaluates 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 and 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: Monday thru Friday 7:30am-4:30pm.
Telework: Available (Inclement weather only)
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: PD99499S
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized.
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized.

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).
• English Language Proficiency: Dietitian candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).

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.

Grade Determinations:
Supervisory Dietitian (Chief, Nutrition and Food Services), GS-13.Experience: One year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level.

In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs:

1. Knowledge of security measures within food operations to ensure patient and staff safety.
2. Knowledge of business administration to include budgeting, contracting and purchasing.
3. Knowledge of organizational structure to assess impact on program operations.
4. Skill in strategic planning to develop goals, objectives and action plans.
5. Skill in written communication to include policy development and standard operating procedures.
6. Skill in analyzing data to monitor progress towards improving and sustaining outcomes.
7. Ability to lead a group of professionals to facilitate collaboration, organizational development and establish and achieve strategic goals.
8. Ability to oversee the planning of new initiatives or projects addressing patient care delivery systems and system reorganizations.
9. Ability to supervise subordinate staff (i.e., plan, organize, delegate, direct, control and review activities and performance).
10. Ability to negotiate.

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 staff from both clinical nutrition and food operations sections, one of which may be a GS13 Dietitian and NFS administrative staff. Supervisory Dietitians in this assignment serve as Chief of NFS. Chief NFS provides leadership and guidance, with wide latitude for the exercise of independent judgment, to ensure the variety of activities of the department are closely coordinated, integrating clinical nutrition and food operations. They exercise a full range of supervisory and personnel management authorities and responsibilities in planning, directing and assessing the work of subordinate staff. Chief NFS establishes performance standards and evaluate overall performance of employees; define competency requirements, identify developmental and training needs and take 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 develops 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 developing and updating policies and procedures and establishing and overseeing a system for regulatory compliance. Chief NFS establishes the department's organizational structure, defining the lines of authority essential to carry out the mission of the service. They oversee planning new endeavors 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 implement a performance improvement program to improve delivery of quality continually, safe and cost-effective food and nutrition care to all patients/residents, ensuring the dissemination of nutrition-related research and quality improvement within the department and facility. Chief NFS directs resource distribution for food, supply and labor costs focusing on benchmarks, and delegating resource management to others as appropriate. They lead efforts to provide food-forward, Veteran-centric dining options. Chief NFS implements security measures in all NFS areas to protect against theft, reduce the risk of food terrorism and maintain Veteran and staff safety.

Preferred Experience:

• The incumbent is expected to complete work assignments with relative independence and minimal guidance, personally setting the deadlines for completion of work.
• Assumes responsibility in work assignments in accordance with regulations and independently resolves most conflicts by using considerable judgment and interpretation.
• Master's degree preferred.
• Experience with supervision preferred.
• Experience in both food operations and clinical nutrition preferred.

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

Physical Requirements: There are no physical requirements for this occupation per OCHCO Communications email to VA Handbook 5019, updated on 4/17/2026.

ACEND accredited programs are located on the ACEND website or at ACEND Accredited Programs Directory.

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.