You are here » Home » Careers Foreign ServiceForeign Service Officers (FSOs) are the core staff of USAID’s overseas offices (called “missions”) and provide shape and forward momentum to country and regional programs. FSOs apply both technical knowledge and a variety of program design, management and evaluation expertise to ensure that foreign assistance programs achieve U.S. foreign policy objectives and meet the needs of partners in a cost effective manner. USAID’s Foreign Service Officers work directly with the governments and people of the countries in which we serve and collaborate with a range of development agencies and non-governmental partners (e.g. private sector entities, universities and associations, community and non-profit organizations) to develop and carry out programs that meet assistance objectives. If you want to work on the front lines of some of the most pressing global challenges of our times — poverty, hunger, injustice, disease, environmental degradation, climate change, conflict and violent extremism – then USAID’s Foreign Service may be the career for you. You would join a corps of officers who have worked for more than fifty years to make lasting improvements to the lives of millions of people around the globe. USAID Foreign Service Officers are stationed in Washington and in more than 75 countries in five regions worldwide – Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe and Eurasia, Asia and the Pacific, and the Middle East. They work alongside colleagues from other U.S. government agencies to achieve our country’s foreign policy objectives in democracy and governance, economic growth and trade, peace and security, education and health, conflict mitigation and humanitarian response. USAID recruits new career Foreign Service Officers primarily through its Junior Officer (JO) Program. Because of the expanded demand for USAID involvement worldwide and the limited availability of staff resources to provide developmental expertise in key sectors (e.g. food, basic education, conflict mitigation), a mid-level FSO hiring program for specific technical specialties has been initiated to supplement the JO program. USAID is also hiring non-career officers for specific term-limited appointments through the Foreign Service Limited program. Such appointments provide experience that often makes candidates highly competitive for entry to the career Foreign Service. PLEASE NOTE: While Foreign Service careers are very rewarding, they may require difficult work, hardship and even working under dangerous conditions. To be eligible, USAID requires that all applicants be: - U.S. citizens on the date they submit their applications
- Not yet 60 years of age on the day they are appointed as a Foreign Service Officer (Note: This requirement does not apply to non-career Foreign Service Limited appointments)
- Available for worldwide assignments, including Washington, D.C.*
* Members of the Foreign Service are expected to serve anywhere in the world, even in cases where family members cannot go to post due to political instability and/or other concerns, or when family members must leave post as conditions deteriorate. Entrance to the Foreign Service requires completion of medical and security clearances. Back to Top ^ | 
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