Research Scientist – Beef Cattle Nutrition Scientist

Important messages

AMENDMENT TO CLOSING DATE

Duties

As our Research Scientist, you will work with scientists at the local, national, and international level and with industry partners to maintain relevant research direction. You will be a member of a multi-disciplinary team that works on understanding the role of climatic impacts on forage and livestock productivity. The team applies this knowledge in developing desirable, economically important, traits and environmentally sustainable methodologies in livestock feeding and grazing.

Work environment

The position, headquartered at Swift Current Research and Development Centre, is part of an internationally-recognized, competitively-funded research program in range and forage crops for sustainable production systems. The position participates in a research network with access to research facilities and scientific expertise across Canada and is supported by technical staff to conduct laboratory, controlled environment, and field experiments. We provide access to a full range of laboratory, large farming equipment, and modern animal handling facilities, pasture land base, feedlot and cow/calf facilities (corrals, barns, etc.) to conduct research in the area of animal science in ruminant nutrition. The cattle herd consists of a cow herd and wean calves used for backgrounding and grazing research. The research centre is currently constructing a new $35 million office/laboratory complex.

Intent of the process

The intent of this process is to fill 1 indeterminate full time position. A pool of qualified candidates may be established and may be used for similar permanent and temporary employment for the location indicated for this process.

Positions to be filled: 1

Information you must provide

Your résumé.

Contact information for 2 references.

You must meet all essential qualifications in order to be appointed to the position. Other qualifications may be a deciding factor in choosing the person to be appointed. Some essential and other qualifications will be assessed through your application. It is your responsibility to provide appropriate examples that illustrate how you meet each qualification. Failing to do so could result in your application being rejected.

In order to be considered, your application must clearly explain how you meet the following (essential qualifications)

In order to join us, you have to be proficient in English (English Essential) and have the following:

• Graduated with an acceptable doctoral degree from a recognized post-secondary institution in the field of animal and range science or other relevant discipline related to ruminant nutrition and livestock production.

Degree equivalency

• Productivity/recognition in the form of authorship/editorship of research results in the area of animal and range science or other relevant disciplines, in recognized journals and/or published reports, books, papers, or other communications resulting from scientific research;
• Experience with beef cattle production (such as evaluating nutritional composition of forages and feedstuffs, animal behavior, reproductive performance and physiology on animal growth and development of economically feasible and environmentally sustainable integrated crop and livestock management systems);
• Experience in conducting animal science research on ruminant production practices.

If you possess any of the following, your application must also clearly explain how you meet it (other qualifications)

While not essential, we may need you to have the following:

• Experience in using field data in the numerical modeling of bovine ruminant production systems or assessing environmental sustainability in bovine production systems;
• Experience in managing multi-year projects with associated human resource, budgetary, multi-disciplinary team and planning functions;
• Experience writing grant applications;
• Experience interacting with industry or other partners to garner support and research direction;
• Experience working on a multi-disciplinary team;
• Knowledge of Western Canadian cattle management strategies and challenges;
• Knowledge of the economics of livestock management systems.

The following will be applied / assessed at a later date (essential for the job)

English essential

Information on language requirements

In deciding if you are a good fit for our team, we will be looking to confirm your knowledge in the following key areas:

• Beef nutrient metabolism associated with feeding practices and the environment;
• Nutritional composition of various forages and feedstuffs commonly used in Western Canadian cattle production systems;
• Environmentally sustainable integrated crop and livestock management systems; and
• Statistical design and methods for summarizing and analyzing data sets.

To be successful, you are adaptable, a team player and can communicate interactively. You are also able to present and communicate scientific information to various audiences.

The following may be applied / assessed at a later date (may be needed for the job)

Selection may be limited to members of the following Employment Equity groups: Aboriginal persons, persons with disabilities, visible minorities, women

Information on employment equity

Placement of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) employees affected by work force adjustment.

Conditions of employment

Reliability Status security clearance - If offered the position, you would also agree to meet and maintain the following conditions of employment:
• Valid driver’s license.
• Ability and willingness to work flexible hours including evenings and weekends.
• Ability and willingness to control allergies through the use of personal protective equipment and/or medication without impinging on the duties to be performed.
• Ability and willingness to travel regionally, nationally and internationally as required for field studies, liaison with industry and academia, and attendance at scientific or technical meetings.
• Ability and willingness to work under challenging conditions (eg. temperature extremes in the field).

Other information

The classification level and rate of pay on appointment is commensurate with the successful candidate's qualifications.

Salary ranges:
SE-RES-01 - $53,161 - $69,942
SE-RES-02 - $66,010 - $98,880
SE-RES-03 - $83,421 - $109,760
SE-RES-04 - $99,904 - $121,834
SE-RES-05 - $109,390 - $133,410

Applications submitted by email will not be accepted. You must apply on-line through www.jobs.gc.ca.

Persons with disabilities preventing them from applying on-line are asked to contact 1-800-645-5605.

Persons are entitled to participate in the appointment process in the official language of their choice. Applicants are asked to indicate their preferred official language in their application.

Communication for this process will be sent via email. It is the responsibility of the candidate to ensure accurate contact information is provided and updated as required. Candidates who apply to this selection process should include an email address that accepts email from unknown users (some email systems block these types of email).

All communication relating to this process, including email correspondence, may be used in the assessment of qualifications.

Appointment decisions may be based on one or more of the following criteria:
- Matching of the individual's experience or qualifications to the strengths and weaknesses of the work team.
- Matching of the individual's experience or qualifications to the specific duties of the position being staffed.
- Depth, breadth, type of work-specific experience.
- Level/degree of one or more competencies/qualifications.

The Public Service of Canada is committed to building a skilled, diverse workforce reflective of Canadian society. As a result, it promotes employment equity and encourages candidates to indicate voluntarily on their application if they are a woman, an Aboriginal person, a person with a disability or a member of a visible minority group.

The Public Service of Canada is also committed to developing inclusive, barrier-free selection processes and work environments. If contacted in relation to a job opportunity or testing, you should advise the Public Service Commission or the departmental official in a timely fashion of the accommodation measures which must be taken to enable you to be assessed in a fair and equitable manner. Information received relating to accommodation measures will be addressed confidentially.

Preference

Preference will be given to veterans and to Canadian citizens, in that order.

Information on the preference to veterans

We thank all those who apply. Only those selected for further consideration will be contacted.