As a result of the passage of the newly enacted federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, King County will receive significant resources to make transformational changes to benefit our community. The Office of Performance, Strategy and Budget is creating a new Grants Team to leverage this opportunity to support a wide variety of economic recovery and equity and social justice efforts. These ideas are in direct support of key Executive priorities and will help the county provide assistance to help those most impacted by COVID and address related economic impacts and the problems related to racism as a public health crisis.

The Office of Performance, Strategy and Budget serves as the hub of county budget development, strategic planning, performance management, and as a key implementation arm of the County Executive. The PSB Grants Team will be responsible for over $65 million dollars covering economic and workforce development, arts and culture, apprenticeships, economic resiliency for BIPOC communities, digital equity, and language and disability access.

We invite candidates for the position of Grants Manager, BIPOC Business and Economic Resiliency. This program will assess the current state for BIPOC-owned businesses through a variety of mechanisms; determine what BIPOC-owned businesses need to survive, recover, and grow; and support BIPOC-owned businesses by identifying various opportunities and resources. The selected candidate will be part of a team of seven (7) led by the ARP Grants Program Senior Manager. This position will work closely with the Executive’s Office of Equity and Social Justice and the Executive’s Director of Economic Development & Economic Recovery in developing, designing, and implementing this specific program.

Although this position is designed for a specific body of work and set of grant programs, it is expected that the grants team will truly function as a team by working on areas needing attention, supporting each other, and addressing high priority issues across the various issue areas.

• Lead a procurement process for a consultant to conduct a $650K study on creating a BIPOC business economic resiliency program
• Facilitate the project team to develop key design requirements
• Support stakeholder/community engagement
• Manage the resulting recommendations and implement the $20M grant program
• Provide additional support to the Equity and Social Justice grants portfolio
• Perform a variety of grant administration functions using established methods, policies. and procedures.
• Provide support for a complex grant-funding program while ensuring County-wide integration of such activities within County departments/divisions. This support includes grant development research, timely preparation of grant reimbursements/loan payments, effective maintenance of grant and loan files, and compilation of financial data and documents.

• Experience with economic development
• Knowledge of issues facing BIPOC-owned businesses
• Equity and social justice analysis
• Knowledge of Federal and State funded grant programs and initiatives
• Knowledge and experience with 2 CFR 200 grants and agreements procurement and compliance standards
• Knowledge and skill in applying analytical and evaluative techniques to the identification, consideration, and resolution of a wide variety of grants administration issues and problems
• Experience in addressing strategic issues in grant administration operations including issues that have complex political and programmatic elements
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Ability to manage ambiguity

DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS:
GMC (Grants Management Certificate) and/or PMC (Project Management Certificate)

Forbes recently named King County as one of Washington State’s best employers.

Together, with leadership and our employees, we’re changing the way government delivers service and winning national recognition as a model of excellence. Are you ready to make a difference? Come join the team dedicated to serving one of the nation’s best places to live, work and play.

Guided by our “True North“, we are making King County a welcoming community where every person can thrive. We value diversity, inclusion and belonging in our workplace and workforce. To reach this goal we are committed to workforce equity. Equitable recruiting, support, and retention is how we will obtain the highest quality workforce in our region; a workforce that shares and will help advance our guiding principles–we are one team; we solve problems; we focus on the customer; we drive for results; we are racially just; we respect all people; we lead the way; and we are responsible stewards. We encourage people of all backgrounds and identities to apply, including Native American and people of color, immigrants, refugees, women, LGBTQ+, people living with disabilities, and veterans.

King County is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Employer
No person is unlawfully excluded from employment opportunities based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation and pregnancy), age, genetic information, disability, veteran status, or other protected class. Our EEO policy applies to all employment actions, including but not limited to recruitment, hiring, selection for training, promotion, transfer, demotion, layoff, termination, rates of pay or other forms of compensation.

The most qualified applicants will be able to demonstrate experience providing high level administrative support in complex, large public sector organizations with multiple stakeholders (public officials, department directors, employees and labor unions).

FORMS AND MATERIALS REQUIRED: 

To apply for this appointment, you must provide three application components: 1) a resume, 2) a cover letter, and 3) a fully completed King County application form which is available online at www.kingcounty.gov/jobs (NeoGov). Please note: do not leave sections of the online application incomplete with the notation “see resume”. For further inquiries regarding this recruitment, please contact Seth Watson at seth.watson@kingcounty.gov or 206-477-5330.

For internal candidates (current employees of King County government), we will consider candidates for a special duty assignment.

A first review of candidates will occur on April 12 with ongoing review following that date. 

This position is subject to final budget approval from the King County Council and is offered for 12 months. It is possible that the position can be extended based on funding and need.