Summary
The Clinical Assistant Nurse Manager supervises nursing services at ICE facilities, ensuring compliance with laws, policies, and standards. Responsibilities include staff supervision, quality assurance, and patient care. Requires RN licensure, 5+ years of clinical experience. Reports to the Nurse Manager (NM) and Regional NM, serving as acting NM as needed. This position is only open to USPHS officers and Call to Active Duty (CAD) candidates.
Duties
The assistant nurse manager (Associate Chief, Complex Unit) is stationed at a complex larger IHSC facility usually having over 500 beds and/or may have more complex medical housing units (sub-acute inpatient) and/or sustained increased operational tempo due to large staging mission or staging large enforcement and removal flights with global public health impact. The Assistant Nurse Manager (ANM) works with the facility nurse manager to oversees all nursing services and ensures that nursing practice, principles, and procedures are implemented in accordance with national, state, and local nursing laws and regulations. The assistant nurse manager supervises and serves as rating official for federal nursing staff at their respective facility (nurse manager serves as reviewing official) and serves as secondary technical monitor for all contract nursing personnel. The Assistant Nurse Manager will be supervised by the Nurse Manager, with the Regional Nurse Manager serving as the reviewing official. Serves as the nursing advisor in the absence of the Chief, Complex Nursing Unit (Nurse Manager) to the facility administrator regarding the total nursing care program and objectives. In addition to contacts with patients and patients' families in a clinical setting, establishes and maintains contacts with persons outside the immediate work environment, but within the Department. Contacts are required in order to collaborate, supply advice, explain, interpret, and seek support for methods, policies and programs, and to provide personalized nursing services and administer a moderately complex program requiring a moderate amount of explanation and tact. DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: Understanding theories, concepts, principles, and their relationships underlying the practices of professional nursing to improve the efficiency and quality of work performed or to protect the quality of life or healthcare services, Applying a range and depth of knowledge acquired specifically through an intensive learning regimen of the phenomena, theories, and concepts of a scientific body of nursing knowledge. Creating, exploring, evaluating, designing, and sharing solutions and the validity of their predicted performance to resolve problems, conditions, and issues. Identifying, analyzing, advising, consulting, and reporting on nursing, theoretical, and factual data, conditions, and problems. Staying abreast of, and evaluating nursing subjects, analyses, and proposals in professional literature. Assessing, resolving, and predicting the relationships and interactions of data and findings under varying conditions. Reasoning from existing knowledge and assumptions in the nursing field to unexplored areas and phenomena. Nurses collaborate with physicians and other healthcare professionals to develop the nursing-care patient plan and determine how best to serve the nursing needs of particular patients or groups of patients. Nurses evaluate execution of nursing-care plans to determine whether they are effectively meeting their goals. Based on those evaluations, they may recommend to nursing leadership any changes they believe necessary to advocate for the health and wellbeing of patients. Nurses may function as consultants providing clinical advisory tasks related to such functions as developing and assessing clinical health outcomes quality measures; evaluating clinical case reviews for adequacy of care, compliance with clinical and regulatory guidelines, overpayment, and audit recovery; and developing policy guidance for nursing care reviews conducted by State or Federal health facility surveyors and in collaboration with IHSC Medical Quality Management Unit. TECHNICAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: Using and/or carrying out standard procedures for a specialized healthcare field. Applying basic nursing knowledge acquired through practical experience and on-the-job activities of accepted processes, standards, methods, and their corresponding scientific principles and results. Understanding and skill in applying predetermined procedures, methods, and standardized practices in a narrowly specialized healthcare field (nursing), or science, or in performing technical work requiring originality, initiative, and practical judgment in using and adapting standardized medical techniques and methods. Carrying out tasks, methods, procedures, and computations based on oral or written instructions and/or precedents, guidelines, and standards. Collecting, observing, testing, and recording factual and scientific data to monitor care of patients. Foreseeing the effects of procedural changes or appraising the validity of results based on experience and practical reasoning. Staying abreast of existing and new practical methods and applications through on-the-job and classroom training.
Qualifications
PHYSICAL DEMANDS: This position is considered hazardous duty in a detention setting. Requires physical exertion such as lifting objects greater than 30 pounds. Must have the ability to assist sick, injured, or aging detainees or staff exiting the building (may require lifting, dragging, wheeling or carrying someone who weighs significantly more than self). The work may necessitate some physical characteristics that will be required when responding to an emergency situation, such as running short distance, prolonged standing and working in an austere environment. Required to perform CPR/emergency care standing or kneeling.
Education
REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES: Competencies required: Professional clinical nursing experience: 5 years Experience in correctional health care preferred. 2 years direct clinical patient care (e.g., inpatient) nursing experience preferred. Administrative experience in a supervisory capacity: Relevant Training Only. Maintains CPR/BLS certification. Obtain CCHP-RN within 2 years of assignment. Complete ICE Supervisory Leadership Training within 1 year of assignment and recommend Advanced ICE Supervisory Leadership Training within 2 years of assignment. Cultural competency maintained through agency/other training. Qualifications-Degrees Required: Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing. Master's Degree in Nursing or related field preferred. Qualifications-Licenses and Certifications Required: Nursing License- Must be a Registered Nurse (RN). Maintains current/documented professional licensure. (It is the responsibility of the incumbent to fulfill the obligation(s) of their licensing or certifying body to maintain currency. This position may be required to perform clinical activities with the scope of clinical license in times of critical needs within and at the direction of the agency.) Professional credentials/certification appropriate to current job specialty. Graduate of a professional nursing school approved by the appropriate State accrediting agency. Knowledge of the Nurse Practice Act for the licensing state and the state in which one practices nursing. Knowledge of a wide range of complex nursing concepts, principles, and practices to perform nursing assessments of considerable diversity to include mental health, medical/surgical, ambulatory, and emergency nursing care. Comprehensive knowledge of managing non-compliant patients, special needs populations, and patients with significant deficits in coping skills, thereby requiring continuing professional clinical support. Knowledge of correctional nursing concepts and principles. Demonstrated evidence of knowledge of nursing management and leadership skills. Knowledge of team building principles. Knowledge of staff development and basic adult learner teaching skills. Flexibility and ability to adapt to sudden changes in schedules and work requirements. Follows supervisory chain of command. Performs other duties and responsibilities as assigned. Some travel may be required.
Locations
Elizabeth, New Jersey
Evaluation
We will review your resume and supporting documentation to ensure you meet the minimum qualification requirements. You may be selected for an interview at the hiring authority's discretion. You will be notified of selection or non-selection.
Required documents
To apply for this position, you must provide a complete Application Package. Please note that if you do not provide all required information, as specified in this announcement, you may not be considered for this position. A complete application includes: U. S. Public Health Service Officers Cover Letter/Letter of Interest. Degrees. (Place under "Diploma/GED") Professional license. (If applicable) Additional professional certificates. (If applicable) Three professional references. (i.e., name, title and contact information) Official USPHS Promotion CV - e.g., relevant experience, education, training. (Place under "USPHS Promotion CV") You may provide a civilian resume in addition to the USPHS Promotion CV to capture all relevant work experience. A copy of your Certificate of Investigation (located in your eOPF). *Three most recent Commissioned Officer Effectiveness Reports (COER). (Place under "Performance Appraisal") For IHSC USPHS officers only, a copy of your current Service Remaining Requirements Agreement. Indicate if you have an Assignment Pay (AP) Agreement and the date of the end of your AP Agreement. If you do not, please submit a memo attesting to no AP in the Assignment Pay (AP) Agreement section in the documents section of application. New Call to Active Duty Cover letter/Letter of Interest. Please include location preference here. Degrees. (Place under "Diploma/GED") Professional license. (If applicable) Additional professional certificates. (If applicable) Three professional references (i.e., name, title, and contact information) CV - e.g., relevant experience, education, training. (Place under "USPHS Promotion CV") U.S. Public Health Service - Appointment Board Decision Letter/Email or a screenshot of AES dashboard to the United States Public Health Service
How to apply
To apply for this position, you must submit the required documentation outlined under the REQUIRED DOCUMENTS section below. The complete initial Application must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 11/05/2026. PLEASE NOTE: If your materials are not received by the closing date, your application will be evaluated solely on the information available and you may not receive full consideration or may not be considered eligible. Also, if you do not provide a valid email address, you may not be notified of the outcome of your application. To begin the process, click the Apply Online button to create an account or log into your existing USAJOBS account. Follow the prompts to complete the occupational questionnaire. Please ensure you click the Submit My Answers button at the end of the process. Note: To check the status of your application or return to a previous or incomplete application, log into your USAJOBS account, select Application Status, and click on the more information link under the application status for this position. Applications and supporting documentation will not be accepted by mail or email. If you need further assistance, contact the Human Resources Office representative listed on this announcement at least one day prior to the closing date for further instructions.
Additional information
IHSC provides direct care daily to approximately 15,300 detainees housed at 20 designated facilities throughout the nation. The health care provided includes medical, dental and mental health care, and public health services. IHSC provides medical case management and oversight for an additional 22,600 detainees housed at approximately 112 non-IHSC staffed detention facilities daily across the country. In addition, IHSC oversees the financial authorization and payment for off-site specialty and emergency care services for detainees in ICE custody. The ICE detainee population is approximately 34,000 detainees on a daily basis, with an average length of stay of approximately 30 days, surpassing 400,000 detainees annually. IHSC provides medical support during ICE enforcement operations in the air, on the ground and at sea. SUPERVISORY CONTROLS: The incumbent functions independently to ensure planning, development, implementation, and evaluation of entire projects or provision of complete services; may supervise programs or services that encompass several professional fields. Impact of error can cause impairment of a departmental level service or program. The incumbent plans and organizes his/her own work, determines the sequence of assignments, selects and develops methods, and seeks assistance from experts only rarely. Assignments are usually long-term, recurring, or broadly defined. Work is reviewed for feasibility, compatibility with other work, and effectiveness in meeting requirements or expected results. An extensive number of well-defined guides, methods, theories, and precedents are available. Situations to which existing guidelines cannot be applied or which require significant deviations from existing guidelines are referred to higher authority.