Job Description

Job Description and Duties

Statewide travel (including nights, weekends, and holidays) for extended periods may be required. The ES has a home office and regular telework is part of the incumbent’s ongoing regular schedule in accordance with CDFA's Telework Policy. Please see the Duty Statement for CDFA’s Telework Policy.

Under general supervision of the Senior Environmental Scientist Supervisor (SES Supervisor) and directly working with the Senior Environmental Scientist Specialist (SES Specialist), the Environmental Scientist (ES) is responsible for complex scientific analysis and evaluation of regulatory operations and practices related to environmental health and food safety including, but not limited to, conducting inspections of regulated facilities as required and assuring conformance with state and federal laws and regulations governing the formulation and labeling of meat and poultry products, and research and analysis related to recycling/disposal of inedible materials and animal mortalities.

The duties of the position include the following, but are not limited to the below. Further details about all the duties can be found on the duty statement attached.

• Serve as environmental health scientist for assigned route, conducting science and comprehensive risk-based inspection in retail processing establishments, custom livestock slaughter, poultry slaughter, poultry processing and pet food processing plants by applying principals of microbiology, chemistry and physics to verify compliance with laws and standards pertaining to product food safety, public and environmental health

• Prepare environmental licensing packages, regulatory permits and other environmental documents for new plants requiring State licensure and inspection

• Implement, develop and review required plant Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (SSOP) plans and documentation to ensure environmental and public health practices are being met and serve as subject matter expert on good manufacturing practices in licensed and inspected facilities to ensure products are safely manufactured

• Review and inspect facility practices on disposing of animal tissue waste and ensure that chemicals used to clean up facilities are environmentally safe, properly disposed of and meet the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requirements

• Perform inspection activities such as pre-operational and operational sanitation investigations, formulation and products labeling reviews, Acceptable Quality Levels and correlation inspections, and sampling of water and products for laboratory analysis

• Apply professional scientific knowledge and literature research to assist the Branch in resolving a variety of technical issues related to food safety operations and to determine if pathogens and other hazards are present

• Develop scientific methodologies to mitigate environmental and public health hazards

• Develop regulatory measures and implement enforcement of environmental health standards

Candidates may perform these essential functions with or without reasonable accommodation.

You will find additional information about the job in the .

Working Conditions

The duties of this position are conducted primarily outdoors. The ES has a home office and regular telework occur is part of the incumbent’s ongoing regular schedule in accordance with CDFA’s Telework Policy. Any employee who is teleworking must adhere to all telework policies and procedures.

The incumbent must follow CDFA, Division, and Branch employee health and safety policies.

The ES often travels to licensed establishments throughout California to conduct inspections and reviews and to meet with plant owners and operators. Meat and poultry slaughter and processing establishments and other inspected facilities often have wet, slippery floors, are noisy, and present many potential hazards, such as moving equipment, heavy overhead structures, and knives. The ES often alternates between cold dry coolers, hot humid processing areas and whatever seasonal outside environmental conditions are present around inspected facilities.

Travel by State vehicle to various locations throughout the assigned area is required on a frequent basis.

Special Requirements

The Statement of Qualifications should be no more than 2 pages and should consist of size 12 font. A Statement of Qualifications that does NOT conform to the specifications or is incomplete will not be considered.

1. What types of experience have you had collecting and analyzing data related to food safety?

2. What types of experience have you had with food safety inspections or meat and poultry inspection programs?

3. What experience have you had with foodborne illness, outbreak, and hazard response?

4. What experience have you had developing new methods or procedures and/or revising existing methods or procedures for food processing?

5. What experience do you have in traveling to numerous and multiple facilities in the field environment to perform food safety inspections?

6. Please provide examples of you working with team leaders and team members of an assigned project or assignment of food safety issues.

Desirable Qualifications

In addition to evaluating each candidate's relative ability, as demonstrated by quality and breadth of experience, the following factors will provide the basis for competitively evaluating each candidate:

Incumbent must be able to establish and maintain effective working relationships with those contacted during the course of the work, work well under pressure, make appropriate decisions and well thought out recommendations, and work independently in completing assigned work and meeting required deadlines.

Benefits

Benefit information can be found on the CalHR website and the CalPERS website.

Hard Copy Applications:

If you are dropping off or mailing in your application, please use the Examination/Employment Application, STD 678 Revised 6/2024 version.

Required Application Package Documents

The following items are required to be submitted with your application. Applicants who do not submit the required items timely may not be considered for this job:

• Current version of the State Examination/Employment Application STD Form 678 (when not applying electronically), or the Electronic State Employment Application through your Applicant Account at All Experience and Education relating to the Minimum Qualifications listed on the Classification Specification should be included to demonstrate how you meet the Minimum Qualifications for the position.
• Resume is optional. It may be included, but is not required.
• Statement of Qualifications -

  A completed Statement of Qualifications (SOQ) must be submitted with your State Application to be considered. The SOQ must follow the specifics as stated in the “Special Requirements” section.

• Other - References

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