Deputy Center Director
Job Location:
Silver Spring, MD - USA
Yearly Salary:
Posted:
Application Deadline:
Vacancies:
Job Summary
This position is being filled under a stream-lined hiring authority Title 21 of the United States Code (21 US Code 379d-3a) as amended by the 21st Century Cures Act of 2016 section 3072 and the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 Section 3624. The candidate selected for this position will serve under a career or career-conditional appointment and be paid under the provisions of this authority. This position is being recruited based on the Title 21 Pay Table 4 Band H.
- As the Deputy Center Director participates fully with the Center Director in planning managing organizing and directing all operations programs segments functions and activities of the Center.
- Represents the Center Director and serves as the Acting Center Director in his or her absence.
- Serves to organize and coordinate matters brought to the attention of the Office of the Center Director and acts as an advisor to the Center Director on issues requiring decisions based upon comprehensive reviews of the issues.
- Acts as a principal policy advisor to the Center Director on issues that require the most careful analysis concerning strategic initiatives and regulatory policy programs for CBER.
- Establishes and maintains effective Center-wide governance and clearance mechanisms for advancing policymaking within the CBER and in collaboration with other FDA Centers and Offices.
- Participates with the Office Directors in monitoring policy development and policy implementation activities of interest to the Center Director. Evaluates Center-wide ongoing biological product policies.
- Develops prepares and presents authoritative memoranda briefings position papers and other materials concerning substantive questions issues findings conclusions and proposed solutions and suggested courses of action.
- Collaborates with the Center Director and Agency leaders to develop policy on pre-market product access and approvals labeling exclusivity and incentives and emerging biological technologies and tools including for cross-Center coordination.
- Directs special studies and workgroups on major issues reviewing and evaluating Center programs and consulting with Agency officials to address problems with regional national and international impact and recommending actions to resolve them.
- Provides authoritative guidance to leadership on short- and long-term activities to maximize CBERs public health impact; reviews and analyzes program reports proposals memoranda and other materials affecting Center operations.
- Shares responsibility with the Center Director to identify opportunities develop strategies and cross-Center projects. Oversees improvements in governance hiring and strategic planning while building strong coalitions.
- Leads the Centers strategic engagement on legislative issues representing the Center with Congress and stakeholders guiding positions on legislation and developing implementation plans following enactment of new laws.
- U.S. Citizenship requirement or proof of being a U.S. National must be met by closing date.
- The candidate selected for this position will serve under a career or career-conditional appointment within the competitive service.
- Direct Deposit: You will be required to have all federal salary payments electronically deposited into a bank account with a financial institution of your choice.
- FDA participates in e-Verify: All new hires must complete the I-9 form; this information will be processed through e-Verify to determine your employment eligibility. If a discrepancy arises you must take affirmative steps to resolve the matter.
- Males born after December 31 1959 must be registered with the Selective Service. Please go to for more information.
- Background Investigation Requirement: All employees must pass a security investigation. Failing to pass the background check may be grounds for removal or legal action. If hired you may be subject to additional investigations at a later time.
- Certification of Accuracy: All information concerning eligibility and qualification is subject to investigation and verification. False representation may be grounds for non-consideration non-selection or appropriate legal action.
- All applicants tentatively selected for this position will be required to submit to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment and be subject to random reasonable suspicion and post-accident drug testing upon hiring.
- Appointment to the position will be contingent upon a negative applicant drug test result.
- Probationary periods are required for new employees appointed to competitive service positions for the first time; or reinstated employees who return after a break in service of 30-days or more and who have not completed a probationary period.
- Ethics Clearance and Financial Disclosure is required.
In order to qualify for the Deputy Center Director position which falls under the 0601 occupational Series you must meet the following requirements by 11:59 pm EST on 08/05/2026:
The candidate must meet the following qualifications for this Title 21 position:
- Scientific Technical and/or Professional Fields
- Qualified and Outstanding Candidates
b Outstanding candidates can be defined by existing outstanding work experience outstanding performance rating or both.
Technical Requirements: (Please do not submit narrative responses these qualifications must be included in your 2-page resume)
- Executive Level experience directing a large organization.
- Experience establishing organizational policy including the implementation of new legislative authorities or other significant mandates.
- Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively both internally and externally to a large number of staff located in different geographic areas.
- Demonstrated ability and experience coordinating complex work and priorities and building coalitions with partners in other organization.
- Extensive experience and knowledge of the FDAs regulatory and review process; strong leadership and significant executive management experience.
- Demonstrated knowledge and experience in the regulation and development of biological products including the evaluation of safety effectiveness and product quality.
- Knowledge of Federal laws and regulations and DHHS and FDA policies and procedures.
- Talent for leading cultural and organizational change management efforts.
- Knowledge and awareness of the Directors interests and objectives in all matters involving the application of regulatory and policy judgement.
- Experience interacting with the media and with entities that perform oversight activities such as Congress or the General Accountability Office or a Board of Directors.
- An advanced degree in law science or management from an accredited college or university.
NOTE: Applicants must submit all relevant transcripts that demonstrate you possess the required education to meet the Basic Qualifications.
Supervisory Responsibilities The incumbent is delegated full authority to achieve group goals and objectives through the effective management of available resources. Performance and accomplishments are assessed primarily through work performance indicators staff discussion planning sessions review of individual project outputs and annual program review.
Leads in a proactive customer-responsive manner consistent with Agency vision and values effectively communicating program issues to external audiences. Ensures financial and managerial accountability by acting with prudence when executing fiduciary responsibilities. Demonstrates high integrity and adheres to the highest ethical standards of public service. Uses effective business practices including balanced measures of results values and invests in each employee; emphasizes empowerment and two-way communication. Takes a leadership role in advocating for and advancing the priorities of the Agency. Serves as a role model for leadership by encouraging teamwork and a collaborative approach. Timely notifies Agency officials of all significant actions and developments including but not limited to those related to regulatory matters legislative matters budget matters reports initiatives and events and ensures subordinate managers do the same.
Provides reasonable accommodations needed to best utilize qualified people with disabilities.
Organizational Management:
Program Management:
Resource Management:
Personnel Performance Management:
Human Capital Management:
This position is designated as an SES Equivalent position and is covered under the FDA Title 21 Executive Performance Management System and identified as a public filing position for ethics purposes.
Drug Impact Statement for Top Secret Security Clearance: The position requires a Top-Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) security clearance and the incumbent has access to documents and facilities related to national security.
In accordance with Executive Order 12564 of September 15 1986 The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is A Drug-Free Federal Workplace. The Federal government as the largest employer in the Nation can and should show the way towards achieving drug-free workplaces through programs designed to offer drug users a helping hand and at the same time demonstrating to drug users and potential drug users that drugs will not be tolerated in the Federal workplace.
This is a Testing Designated Position. Incumbent must submit to and successfully pass an urinalysis drug screening prior to appointment. The Incumbent will also be subject to unannounced random drug testing for the duration of their time in this position. The use of illegal drugs on or off duty by Federal employees is inconsistent not only with the law-abiding behavior expected of all citizens but also with the special trust placed in such employees as servants of the public. All applicants tentatively selected for this position will be required to submit to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment and can be subject to random reasonable suspicion and post-accident drug testing upon hiring. Appointment to this non-bargaining unit position will be contingent upon a negative drug test result.
Ethics Preclearance Requirements
This position requires financial disclosure reporting and will be subject to FDAs prohibited financial interest regulation. If you are hired you may be required to divest of certain financial interests. You are advised to seek additional information on this requirement from the hiring official before accepting any job offers. For more information please visit the FDA Ethics web page: requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement (08/05/2026); only education and experience gained by this date will be considered. You must continue to meet all requirements throughout the entire hiring process.
Pay careful attention to the Qualifications and Education sections to identify vacancies where a transcript is required. Even if you hold a similar position or are a current employee you are not exempt from transcript requirements.
Education Requirement: Bachelors or graduate/higher level degree: major study in an academic field related to the medical field health sciences or allied sciences appropriate to the work of the position.
TRANSCRIPTS: Positions which are scientific or technical in nature often have very specific educational requirements. You must submit an official transcript unofficial transcript including courses grades earned completion dates and quarter and semester hours earned.
Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities see the Foreign Education section below for additional requirements.
Electronic Transcript Caution: If you have obtained your transcripts electronically the file might contain security measures that could prevent our application system from reading the file. Therefore you should consider asking the institution to provide the file in a non-secured electronic format. Alternatively you could scan or take a photo of the printed copy of the transcript. If your uploaded transcript cannot be read by our system you may receive consideration and credit for the information we can access.
Foreign Education: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements you must show that the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. For further information visit the U.S. Department of Education website for Foreign Education Evaluation.
To be acceptable the foreign credential evaluation must include/describe at a minimum the following information: (1) The type of education received by the applicant; (2) The level of education in relation to the U.S. education system and state that its comparability recommendations follow the general guidelines of the International Evaluation Standards Council; (3) The content of the applicants educational program earned abroad and the standard obtained; (4) The status of the awarding foreign schools recognition and legitimacy in its home countrys education system; and (5) Any other information of interest such as what the evaluation service did to obtain this information the qualifications of the evaluator and any indications as to other problems such as forgery.
Note: Some positions require the completion of specific courses or a specified number of credit hours. Therefore the foreign credential evaluation should provide information similar to that of an official transcript to include a list of the courses taken quarter and/or semester hours awarded the cumulative grade point average (GPA) honors received if any date degree awarded.
Applicants can request an evaluation from a member organization of one of the two national associations of credential evaluation services listed below:
Credential evaluations are not free and applicants are responsible for the cost of the selected service.
For more information about this requirement please visit the U.S. Department of Education website for Foreign Education Evaluation.
- Pre-employment physical required: No
- Drug testing required: No
- License required: No
- Mobility agreement required: No
- Immunization required: No
- Bargaining Unit: No
- Telework eligible position: Telework is at the discretion of the supervisor.
- Financial disclosure statement SF-278 required: Please be advised that this position is subject to FDAs prohibited financial interest regulation and may require the incumbent of this position to divest of certain financial interests. Applicants are advised to seek additional information on this requirement from the hiring official before accepting this position.
- Incentives may be authorized; however this is contingent upon funds availability. If authorized certain incentives will require you to sign a service agreement to remain in the Federal government for a period of up to 3 years. Note: This statement does not imply nor guarantee an incentive will be offered and paid. Incentives include the following: moving expenses recruitment or relocation incentive; student loan repayment superior qualifications appointment creditable service for annual leave for prior non-federal work experience or prior uniformed military service etc.
- If you are serving or have served in the last 5 years (from
08/05/2026) as an Executive Branch political Schedule C or Non-career SES appointee HHS/FDA may be required to obtain approval by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) prior to beginning employment. You can find out if you have held one of these appointment types by looking at your Standard Form 50s in your Electronic Official Personnel Folder (eOPF) in Section 5 where the legal authorities are listed. If you have served or are currently serving you must provide a copy of your SF-50 Notification of Personnel Action documenting this addition you will be required to respond to the question in the assessment and certify your responses to the questionnaire. See Political Appointee FAQ - OPM for more.
Active-duty U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps Officers are encouraged to apply. If selected officers may either (1) remain on active duty assigned to the designated billet for PHS assignment or (2) separate or retire from the Commissioned Corps before entering a Title 21 civilian appointment.
Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government passionate about the ideals of our American republic and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.
A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.
Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.
Required Experience:
Director
