- Description
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Keeping Washington Clean and Evergreen
The Department of Ecology’s priority during the Covid-19 health crisis is to keep our staff, candidates, and the public safe. We are still hiring and encourage you to apply to open positions. The majority of our staff are currently working from home; we have transitioned to a virtual recruitment process, to include web-based interviews.
Protecting Washington State’s environment for current and future generations is what we do every day at Ecology. We are a culture that is invested in making a difference! If you want to join a team that is highly effective, collaborative, has leadership that embraces the value of people, and believes in the fun factor, Ecology may be a good fit.
The Environmental Systems Support (ESS) Unit within the Information Technology Services Office (ITSO) at our Headquarters building in Lacey, WA is currently looking to fill a permanent Application Developer (Application Developer-Senior) position. ESS is a cross-functional team of 14 professionals who are dedicated to providing advanced software applications to support the agency’s scientists, engineers, inspectors, and policy makers. We work extremely closely with our internal and external customers to rapidly respond to their business needs, ensuring that the solutions we provide effectively contribute to Ecology achieving its mission.
In this role, you will work in a supportive and professional environment with fantastic people who are passionate about the environment, understand the importance of work-life balance, and are focused on continual improvement and learning. You will contribute to diverse projects, working with varying customers using the Microsoft development stack and agile methodologies to tackle some of today’s most challenging and exciting IT fields, such as Big Data, mobile field data collection, telemetry, data quality assurance, data discovery and search, and integration of disparate data and analytics to create business intelligence. Your work will directly support the creation of new science and policy that is focused on making measurable improvements in Washington State’s environment.
We are looking for candidates who possess strong communication skills, domain knowledge, and experience working in a supportive team-oriented environment, with mentorship and collaboration competencies. Applicants must have proven proficiency with software application development as it relates to modernizing legacy applications, integrating with Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) software, Extract Transform and Load (ETL) experience using SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), and building on Model View Controller (MVC) architecture.
As an agency, our mission is to protect, preserve and enhance Washington’s environment for current and future generations. We invest in our employees to create and sustain a working environment that encourages creative leadership, effective resource management, teamwork, professionalism and accountability.
To learn more about The Department of Ecology, please visit our website at www.ecology.wa.gov and follow, like or visit us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or our blog.
Local efforts… Diverse people… Statewide impacts - Duties
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Agency Mission: Ecology’s mission is to protect, preserve and enhance Washington’s environment and to promote the wise management of our air, land and water for the benefit of current and future generations.
Program Mission: The Information Technology Services Office (ITSO) is the central provider of strategic and tactical support for the use of Information Technology (IT) within Ecology. The mission of ITSO is to create and support useful technology services that adapt for the future and support Ecology’s mission.
Unit Mission: The Environmental Systems Support (ESS) Unit is specifically tasked with the mission to provide application architecture, development, implementation, and maintenance support for environmental data systems used by many different stakeholders, including: Ecology headquarters’ and regional staff for research, analysis, decision and policy-making; staff from Federal and State partner agencies for research and analysis; local municipalities, for reporting and analysis; the public, for reporting and informational purposes. The unit supports the work of these stakeholders, who may be required to report environmental data to Ecology or use ESS databases and software tools for reporting, research or analysis purposes, or interact electronically with Ecology to achieve a common goal of protecting, preserving, and restoring the environment through scientifically verified initiatives.
This position is funded by the Information Technology Services Office (ITSO), the central provider of strategic and tactical support for the use of Information Technology (IT) within Ecology. ITSO is charged with supporting agency-wide IT solutions that may be used by multiple environmental programs within Ecology. The mission of ITSO is to create and support useful technology services that adapt for the future and support Ecology’s mission.
DUTIES:
As a technical senior level Lead Environmental Systems Software Engineer in the Environmental Systems Support (ESS) Unit, provide oversight and leadership in the design (solution architecture) and development of highly-complex agency-wide environmental information management systems and applications, as well as, integrations with other internal and external data systems.
As a technical senior level Lead Environmental Systems Software Engineer in the Environmental System Support (ESS) Unit, independently design, develop, maintain, and enhance highly-complex information management systems and applications for the Agency.
Design, develop, implement, and manage various highly-complex environmental data models and business objects.
Independently gather end-user requirements from internal and external stakeholders for the purposes of designing complex information management systems, to include system architecture and user interface design.
As the EIM Lead Software Engineer, mentor journey level application developers in environmental software development best practices and reviews their work.
Maintains up-to-date knowledge of current technologies ensuring the ESS Unit has awareness and opportunity to implement best practices related to environmental data management and application development.Position-specific projects and responsibilities:
Lead the team that supports the Environmental Information Management system (EIM), the agency’s main environmental data management system. EIM was developed in-house and is critical to the agency’s scientific work. EIM’s suite of applications allows users to upload, edit, search, download, and share a broad range of environmental monitoring data with staff and the public. EIM’s primary challenges include Big Data, reporting and systems integration, data quality assurance, and accommodating new data types. EIM is complex and relied upon by a large, diverse user base.
Lead the team that supports the Water Quality Assessment system (WQA). WQA is an application that pulls data from EIM and other sources, applies logic, and calculates numeric indications of water quality across the state. WQA streamlines the pull, validation, and assessment of a large amount of environmental monitoring data. WQA helps the agency document and respond more quickly and appropriately to water quality concerns.
Lead data analysis efforts by working collaboratively with power users and scientists to ensure environmental data are available and accurate to effectively turn data into information.
Please Note: This recruitment is open to current Department of Ecology employees only. This includes employees working on temporary and project assignments at the Department of Ecology.
Qualifications
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Required Qualifications:
Seven (7) years of all recent professional experience gained in the last 11 years in computer application development and maintenance of systems. Experience includes, but not limited to, analyzing, designing, implementing, maintaining and/or programming software applications. Experience must include one (1) year of leading IT professionals or consulting as a technical lead, and can be obtained concurrently to other professional experience listed above.
OR
Bachelor’s degree or higher in Computer Science, Information Technology (IT) or closely related field and three (3) years professional experience gained in the last five (5) years in the requirements listed above.
OR
Associates degree in Computer Science, IT or closely related field; OR completion of a two (2) year accredited vocational training program in IT or related program and five (5) years of professional experience gained in the last eight (8) years in the requirements listed above.
OR
*Education or accredited vocational training in IT or related program will substitute year for year for experience for up to five (5) of the required seven (7) years of experience.
Please see the combinations below for multiple ways to qualify for this position:
Professional level experience includes, but not limited to, analyzing, designing, implementing, maintaining and/or programming software applications. Experience must include one (1) year of leading IT professionals or consulting as a technical lead, and can be obtained concurrently to other professional experience listed above.
- Desired Qualifications:
We highly encourage you to apply even if you do not have some (or all) of the desired experience below.
- A Master’s degree with focus on programming/software engineering.
- Four (4) or more years of information technology experience programming web-based software applications or developing information systems architecture using Microsoft development technologies such as C#/ASP.Net, SQL Server, and HTML5/JavaScript for applications.
- Advanced skills using T-SQL to manipulate and manage large datasets (Big Data).
- Professional experience with SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS).
- Professional experience consulting, designing, programming, modernizing, maintaining and/or supporting high-risk, high-complexity accessible web-based software applications and databases; preferably related to environmental data.
- Professional experience transferring complex end-user requirements into technology solutions centered primarily on Microsoft technologies.
- Professional experience coaching and/or mentoring application developers.
Note: Having some (or all) of this desired experience may make your application more competitive in a highly competitive applicant pool.
Why work for Ecology?
Joining Ecology means becoming a part of a team committed to protecting and restoring Washington State’s environment.
A career in public service allows you to help solve some of the most challenging problems facing our state, while keeping the health and financial security of you and your family a priority. We combine one of the most competitive benefits packages in the nation with a strong commitment to work/life balance.
Ecology employees may be eligible for the following:
Medical/Dental/Vision for employee & dependent(s), Public Employees Retirement System (PERS), Vacation, Sick, and other Leave*, 11 Paid Holidays per year*, Public Service Loan Forgiveness, Tuition Waiver, Long Term Disability & Life Insurance, Deferred Compensation Programs, Dependent Care Assistance Program (DCAP), Flexible Spending Arrangement (FSA), Employee Assistance Program, Commute Trip Reduction Incentives (Download PDF reader), Combined Fund Drive, SmartHealth
Student debt and how working for Ecology can help
Employees may be eligible for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program, which forgives the remaining balance on your Direct Loans after you have made 120 qualifying monthly payments under a qualifying repayment plan while working full-time for a qualifying employer. See https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/public-service for more details.*See the Benefits tab in this announcement for more information
- Supplemental Information
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Application Instructions
Please complete the short on-line application, supplemental questions and upload:
- Your current chronological resume;
- A cover letter explaining how you fit the requirements of the position;
- Three professional references with current contact information.
Important Note:
When attaching documents to your application (Resume, Cover Letter, Transcripts, DD-214, etc.):
- Please be sure to remove private information such as your social security number, date of birth, etc.
- Do not attach documents that are password protected as these documents may not be reviewed and may cause errors within your application when downloaded.
Please to do NOT include your salary history. Wage/salary depends on qualifications or rules of promotion, if applicable.
Please complete the applicant profile when applying for this position. Or, you may paste the text of your resume within the profile’s resume text field.
Please read the supplemental questions carefully and answer completely. Incomplete responses, including “please see resume,” may disqualify you from further consideration.
It is in the candidate’s best interest to submit all of the documents requested above. Applications without these documents may be declined.
Department of Ecology employees, please make sure to answer the agency-wide questions regarding permanent status as a classified employee within the Washington General Service or Washington Management Service. Do not forget to select Department of Ecology as a response to question 2, and type your personnel ID number for question 3. If you are not sure of your status or do not know your personnel ID number, please contact Human Resources.
If you are reading this announcement in print format, please visit www.careers.wa.gov to access the online recruitment system. Click on “Look for Jobs” and select Dept. of Ecology under the “Department” search list. Click “Apply Search.”
Other Information
If you need assistance applying for this job, please e-mail careers@ecy.wa.gov. Please do not send an email to this address to follow-up the status of your application. You can view the latest status of your application on your profile’s main page.
If you have specific questions about the position, please email Christopher Moore at: Chmo461@ecy.wa.gov. Please do not contact Christopher to inquire about the status of your application.
The act of submitting application materials electronically is considered affirmation that the information is complete and truthful. The state may verify this information and any untruthful or misleading answers are cause for rejection of your application or dismissal if employed.
This position is included in the Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE) union bargaining unit for the Department of Ecology.
This recruitment may be used to fill other positions of the same job classification across the agency. Once all the position(s) from the recruitment announcement are filled, the recruitment may only be used to fill additional open positions for the next sixty (60) days.
The Washington State Department of Ecology is an equal opportunity employer. We strive to create a working environment that includes and respects cultural, racial, ethnic, sexual orientation and gender identity diversity. Women, racial and ethnic minorities, persons of disability, persons over 40 years of age, veterans, military spouses or people with military status, and people of all sexual orientations and gender identities are encouraged to apply. Persons needing accommodation in the application/testing process or this job announcement in an alternative format may call (360) 407-6186. Applicants who are deaf or hard of hearing may call the Washington Relay Service by dialing 7-1-1 or 1-800-833-6388.