Salary: $39,528.00 – $58,104.00 Annually
Location: Thurston County – Lacey, WA
Job Type: Full Time – Permanent
Remote Employment: Flexible/Hybrid
Job Number: 2023-WQ4814-07823
Department: Dept. of Ecology
Division: Water Quality
Opening Date: 06/20/2023
Closing Date: Continuous

The Water Quality Program within the Department of Ecology is looking to fill an Assistant Program Planner and Performance Coordinator (Environmental Planner 1) (In-Training) position. This position is located in our Headquarters Office in Lacey, WA. Upon hire, you must live within a commutable distance from the duty station. In this role, you will support our program by providing planning, performance measure, and legislative and policy support to ensure the program is purposeful and effective. You’ll work with senior managers in the program and other agency planning, budgeting and performance staff to develop and track program plans, monitor program performance, and coordinate bill analyses and legislative responses. 

Note: This position offers a career path and on-the-job training. This position allows you to progress through the College Career Graduate classification and achieve the goal class of an Environmental Planner 1. Candidates will be considered at the College Career Graduate classification and the Environmental Planner 1 levels, depending on their qualifications. For salary levels for each, please see the qualifications section. 

Program Mission: The mission of the Water Quality Program is to protect and restore Washington’s waters to support healthy watersheds and communities. Our work ensures state waters can support beneficial uses including recreational and business activities, supplies for clean drinking water, and the protection of fish, shellfish, wildlife, and public health.  

Tele-work options for this position: This position will be eligible for up to a 90% tele-work schedule. Applicants with questions about tele-work and flexible or compressed schedules are encouraged to reach out to the contact person listed below in “other information.” Schedules are dependent upon position needs and are subject to change.

Application Timeline: This position will remain open until filled, we will review applications on July 5, 2023. In order to be considered, please submit an application on or before July 4, 2023. If your application isn’t received by this date, it may not be considered. The agency reserves the right to make a Hire any time after the initial screening date. 

Why join the team?
This is a great position to launch your environmental career, or for anyone who is interested in growing and building their planning skills. You will get to work with experienced and skilled leaders while you learn about planning, performance, and policy, and begin to master each of those areas.  Although it is an entry-level position, you will get to work on crucial projects that protect water quality and operate the organization. You will make meaningful contributions from the outset.  

What you will do
Program planning and performance monitoring: Support Water Quality’s (WQ) Senior Program Planner and Program Policy Lead on strategic and biennial planning, and the development, implementation, tracking and reporting of the program’s biennial plan and related documents:

  • Help define, develop, and implement program planning processes.
  • Organize and facilitate planning meetings. Use effective facilitation techniques to ensure team members understand the information presented or the decision to be made and can participate fully, especially in a virtual environment.
  • Track overall progress toward planning goals.
  • Write background and introductory sections of the strategic and biennial plans.

Support program accountability by tracking and reporting on accomplishments across program and agency plans and commitments:

  • Assist the program planner with compiling or entering program performance data into WQ data systems.
  • Build charts and graphics to display performance data in simple and meaningful ways so that the program and agency can understand progress made and work to be done.
  • Present program data to program leadership. Make changes to how information is presented based on feedback from the team.
  • Organize program performance discussions.

Legislation analysis and coordination: Provide coordination and research support for program policy leads, the Deputy Program Manager and Program Policy Lead on bills and legislative proposals.

  • Research current law, administrative code, agency policy, and procedures to better understand program operations and provide a context for interpreting bills.
  • Research legislative proposals (bills) to assess their impact on the Water Quality Program and related initiatives and projects.
  • Help coordinate and develop legislative analysis with technical experts and the legislative team in order to ensure materials (bill analyses and fiscal notes) are accurate and posted in a timely manner.
  • Oversee the process of completing legislative reports. 

Stakeholder Outreach, Policy, and Process Improvement Projects: Support the Deputy Program Manager in stakeholder outreach or process improvement projects. This could include:

  • Working with external stakeholder groups to provide feedback on and help shape legislative ideas or directives.
  • Help with internal process improvement projects ranging from how our IT projects are prioritized to how we best utilize resources to perform construction Stormwater inspections (as past examples). 

Represent the program on agency policy coordination teams, such as Climate Resiliency, and participate in other groups as appropriate, such as the program’s Environmental Justice workgroup.

Required Qualifications
Years of required experience indicated below are full-time equivalent years. Full-time equivalent experience means that any experience where working hours were less than 40 hours per week will be prorated in order to meet the equivalency of full-time. We would calculate this by looking at the total hours worked per week, divide this by 40, and then multiply by the total number of months worked. Examples of the proration calculations are:

  • 30 hours worked per week for 20 months: (30/40) x 20 months = 15 months full-time equivalent
  • 20 hours worked per week for 12 months: (20/40) x 12 months = 6 months full-time equivalent

Experience for both required and desired qualifications can be gained through various combinations of formal professional employment, education, and volunteer experience. See below for how you may qualify.

At the College Career Graduate level – Natural, Physical, and Health Sciences (Salary Range 39: $3,294-$4,385 Monthly) (In-training)
A bachelor’s degree or above with an emphasis in land use, urban, regional, environmental, or natural resource planning, land use or environmental law, public administration or public policy, or a related field.   

At the Environmental Planner 1 level – (Salary Range 43: $3,619-$4,842 Monthly) (Goal Class)
Option 1: A Bachelor’s degree with an emphasis in land use, urban, regional, environmental, or natural resource planning, land use or environmental law, public administration or public policy, or a related field. 

AND

Two (2) years of experience in land use, urban, regional, environmental, or natural resource planning. 
This may include:

  • Experience developing performance measures and tracking and analyzing performance for environmental programs and projects.
  • Experience identifying priorities, designing and managing initiatives to identify and address program gaps and align financial assistance efforts with program priorities, and measuring results.
  • Experience facilitating meetings involving multiple stakeholders and complex projects.

Option 2: A Master’s degree or above with an emphasis in land use, urban, regional, environmental, or natural resource planning, land use or environmental law, public administration or public policy, or a related field.  

Application Instructions
It’s in the applicant’s best interest to submit all of the documents listed below. Applications without these documents may be declined.

  • A cover letter describing why you are interested in this position.
  • A resume outlining your experience and education (if applicable) as it relates to the minimum qualifications of this position.
  • A list of three professional references.

For more information and to apply: https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/washington/jobs/4082133/assistant-program-planner-and-performance-coordinator-environmental-planner-1

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