Salary: $69,756.00 – $93,840.00 Annually
Location: Thurston County – Lacey, WA
Job Type: Full Time – Permanent
Department: Dept. of Ecology
Job Number: 2023-AQ4940-01984
Closing: Continuous
The Air Quality Program (AQP) within the Department of Ecology is looking to fill a Climate Commitment Act: Air Quality Data Analyst (Natural Resource Scientist 4) 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.
As Air Quality Data Analyst, you will lead the criteria pollutant emissions, monitoring, and health impact data analysis and assessment research aspects of the Climate Commitment Act (CCA) Section 3. Section 3 of the Climate Commitment Act is a new law that directs Ecology to reduce air pollution in Washington communities highly impacted by air pollution.
In this role, you will directly support this work through:
- Analyzing criteria pollutant emissions and monitoring data.
- Identifying the greatest contributors to criteria pollution in overburdened communities.
- Conduct periodic analyses to assess progress toward reduction goals.
The mission of the Air Quality Program (AQP) is to protect and improve air quality in Washington and to protect our State’s environment for current and future generations. In 2021, Washington’s Legislature passed the landmark Climate Commitment Act (CCA) – a sweeping piece of legislation that directs Ecology to develop and implement the state’s first Cap-and-Invest Program to help our state meet its commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 95% by 2050. Section 3 of the CCA requires Ecology to identify overburdened communities and reduce criteria pollution and health impacts.
Tele-work options for this position: This position will be eligible for up to an 80% tele-work schedule. Applicants with questions about position location options, 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, with an initial screening date of February 27, 2023. In order to be considered for initial screening, please submit an application on or before February 26, 2023. The agency reserves the right to make an appointment any time after the initial screening date.
About the Department of Ecology
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. Join a team that is highly effective and collaborative, with leadership that embraces the value of people. To learn more, check out our Strategic Plan.
- A healthy life/work balance by offering flexible schedules and telework options for most positions.
- An Infants at Work Program that is based on the long-term health values of infant-parent bonding and breastfeeding newborns.
- Continuous growth and development opportunities.
- A wellness program that offers education, fitness classes, and an agency-wide fondness for outdoor meetings.
- Opportunities to serve your community and make an impact through meaningful work.
Duties
As Air Quality Data Analyst, you will lead research efforts with other air quality monitoring and science staff to perform analyses of available air quality monitoring, criteria pollutant emissions, and environmental health disparity data to develop reporting and identify pollution levels and trends. This research will support the development of emission reduction recommendations for overburdened communities, assess the efficacy of these corrective actions, and identify new overburdened communities as conditions change.
What you will do:
- Select air pollution episodes, weather events, and surface terrain conditions and set model parameters to assess air pollution, and trends resulting from pollution emission changes.
- Gather and evaluate air quality monitoring data and identify sources of pollution causing overburden.
- Provide consultative service to managers in emissions inventory, criteria pollutant monitoring data analysis, and health impact assessments.
- Draft and deliver overburdened community monitoring, modeling, health impact, and trend analysis presentations and research reports to AQP program planners and management, explaining complex information, data, and findings.
- Provide technical assistance to the Climate Commitment Act Section 3 community engagement and outreach team, and data analysis service to air quality planners, engineers, analysts, and managers.
Qualifications
Required Qualifications:
Experience for both required and desired qualifications can be gained through various combinations of formal professional employment, educational and volunteer experience. See below for how you may qualify.
Option 1
- A Bachelor’s degree with major study in a natural science, atmospheric science, public health, engineering, or closely related field.
- Six years of professional research work experience in environmental science or engineering, air pollution control, meteorology, or atmospheric science.
Option 2
- A Master’s degree with major study in a natural science, atmospheric science, public health, engineering, or closely related field.
- Four years of professional research work experience in environmental science or engineering, air pollution control, meteorology, or atmospheric science.
Option 3
- A Ph.D. with major study in natural science, atmospheric science, public health, engineering, or closely related field.
- Three years of professional research work experience in environmental science or engineering, air pollution control, meteorology, or atmospheric science.
In addition, this position requires:
- Knowledge of and experience investigating air transport and dispersion of emissions from air pollutant sources.
- Knowledge of and previous experience using meteorological and air quality chemical-dispersion models to predict and analyze air quality.
- Ability to analyze large amounts of data efficiently, and a thorough understanding of relational databases; proficient with spreadsheet and database software packages and advanced statistical programming languages such as R or Python.
Special Requirements/Conditions of Employment:
- Must possess and maintain a valid driver’s license.
Desired Qualifications
We highly encourage you to apply even if you do not have some (or all) of the desired experience below.
- Demonstrated skill in writing and preparing presentations and scientific reports, and the ability to present technically complex information in a way that is understandable to the audience.
- Demonstrated ability to build rapport and partner with others to achieve excellent results with little need for oversight; earns the trust, respect, and confidence of co-workers and customers.
- Able to develop computer scripts to perform complex calculations, change data formats, and process large amounts of data.
- Familiarity with statistical analysis of environmental data using a scriptable software package such as R, Igor Pro, MATLAB, SigmaPlot, or SAS. Comfortable with exploratory data analysis and familiar with non-parametric statistics.
Note: Having some (or all) of this desired experience may make your application more competitive in a highly competitive applicant pool.
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.
- Three professional references.
Please do NOT include your salary history. Wage/salary depends on qualifications or rules of promotion, if applicable.
For Your Privacy
When attaching documents to your application (such as 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.
Per Governor Inslee’s Directive 22-13.1, state employees must be fully vaccinated effective November 4, 2022. Providing proof of being fully vaccinated is a condition of employment and your vaccine status will be verified prior to starting work. Being fully vaccinated means two weeks after you have received the second dose in a two-dose series of a COVID-19 vaccine or a single-dose COVID-19 vaccine authorized for emergency use, licensed or otherwise authorized or approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or listed for emergency use or otherwise approved by the World Health Organization. If you have questions, please contact Careers@ecy.wa.gov with “COVID-19 vaccination” in the subject line.
Additional Application Instructions for Current 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.
Application Attestation: 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.
Other Information
If you have specific questions about the position, please email Christopher Hanlon-Meyer at: Christopher.Hanlon-Meyer@ecy.wa.gov. Please do not contact Christopher to inquire about the status of your application.
To request the full position description: email careers@ecy.wa.gov
Why work for Ecology?
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.
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 your health and financial security a priority. We combine one of the most competitive benefits packages in the nation with a strong commitment to life/work balance.
