Summary
As the only county in the United States named after Martin Luther King, Jr., King County is a vibrant community with residents who represent countries from around the world. It is a region with increasing diversity that cherishes the artistic and social traditions of many cultures. Together, we're changing the way government delivers service and winning national recognition as a model of excellence.
We continue to build on an enduring legacy of shared values of equity and social justice, employee engagement, innovative thinking, and continuous improvement. With this commitment, King County has adopted a pro-equity agenda aimed at advancing regional change and is developing the systems and standards necessary to achieve better outcomes for all of our residents, regardless of their race or income. All these qualities make this King County one of the nation's best places to live, work, and play.
King County is changing the way we work—improving performance, processes, and service delivery to increase equity and respond to our region's changing needs.
The Executive Climate Office is looking to fill one (1) Community Decarbonization Program Manager position to support implementation of a recently awarded $50M EPA Climate Pollution Reduction Grant.
About the Role:
This role is crucial for supporting the implementation of key building decarbonization and clean energy programs at King County. The Community Decarbonization Program Manager (PM) will design and manage a grant-funded program to decarbonize community buildings across Puget Sound in collaboration with other regional and local government agencies. This program is funded by the King County’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (CPRG) award from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which provides $50 million in funds over the next five years for multiple programs across four counties (Kitsap, King, Pierce, and Snohomish). The Community Program includes approximately $23M in funding to provide direct upgrades to buildings such as weatherization and electrification; technical assistance for community building owners and occupants; and a government building electrification grant program. The Community Decarbonization PM will take a primary role in designing and implementing this program, working with a multi-jurisdiction CPRG governance committee, with duties including procuring and managing vendors, collaborating with utility and state programs, managing the program budget, and working directly with building owners, community members, and government agency staff. This role will also track deliverables and outcomes to support timely reporting to the EPA and program partners.
The position will report to senior staff in the Executive Climate Office (ECO). The role will work actively with a team of people working to implement the CPRG grant and other programs in ECO and with partner jurisdictions.
The ideal candidate will have strong experience developing programs and managing vendors; green building and operations experience; as well as experience assisting in procurement and supporting federal grant-funded programs. ECO is seeking a self-starter who is skilled at building relationships with a broad range of policy and technical staff, consultants, and contractors – and who is comfortable with developing collaborative solutions in the face of emerging opportunities.
ABOUT THE OFFICE
King County established the Executive Climate Office (ECO) to elevate and accelerate Executive Constantine and the County’s commitment, coordination, and ability to deliver on climate action internally and in collaboration with cities and partners. Since being established in 2023, the Executive Climate Office has grown to over 20 staff, fellows, and interns, and has secured over $60M in state and federal grants.
Job Duties
- Partner with other counties and cities to develop a regional community program, including scoring criteria, application packet development, community technical assistance, jurisdiction electrification grants, and building selection processes.
- Help design and lead workshops for other jurisdictions on program development, as well as with building owners and community members interested in applying.
- Manage the program budget as well as vendors recruited under the program, including tracking contract requirements, performance, deliverables, and invoicing.
- To advance program outcomes, work with:
- Community, community-based organizations, advocates, and local government staff to apply an equity lens and advance outcomes for frontline communities in program deliverables, including but not limited to the below.
- Improved resilience through increased access to cooling;
- Community services retention through a reduction on out-migration pressures.
- Improved support for vulnerable populations, especially BIPOC communities, low-income residents, LGBTQ, youth, seniors, pregnant persons, as well as immigrant and first-language-not-English populations.
- Procurement staff to advertise for, select and contract with installation contractors for building upgrades, and with vendors that conduct technical assistance to community members to apply for electrification funding.
- Building owners, utilities, financing institutions, grantor staff, and other jurisdiction staff as needed.
- County staff, such as with legal counsel on program designs; with other staff on external retrofit financing mechanisms; and to collaborate on grant applications for additional program funds.
- Track program performance and regularly report on program outputs and outcomes to support building decarbonization reporting to the EPA and ECO dashboard.
- Perform other duties as assigned.
Experience, Qualifications, Knowledge, Skills
- Functional and technical knowledge and experience in energy efficiency, building electrification, and decarbonization of residential and/or commercial buildings – policies, program models, technologies, operations, design and delivery processes.
- Demonstrated success managing high number of complex projects and resources.
- Experience in:
- Project/program management, including planning, organizing, budgeting, and designing new projects or programs.
- Advancing justice, inclusion, and equity at an individual and organizational level.
- Coordinating with a variety of stakeholders, such as utilities, property owners, community members, advocacy organizations, and state and local governmental agencies.
- Familiarity with local, state, and federal policies, regulations and incentives related to clean energy and building decarbonization.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Strong systems thinking and organizational skills.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
- Ability to thrive in a dynamic environment by anticipating and adjusting to change.
Desired- At least five years of experience leading and managing building retrofit programs or climate policy, with a focus on building energy, efficiency and decarbonization.
- Commitment to relationship building and uplifting community voices.
- Experience in:
- Working in federal grant-funded programs and meeting federal program requirements, such as Davis-Bacon and Build America Buy America (BABA); federal grant reporting; and managing contracts paid with federal funds.
- Leading focus groups, workshops, and collaborative governance processes.
- Working with limited English-speaking populations, immigrant/refugee communities, BIPOC communities and culturally diverse communities.
- Approaching challenges with a critical lens to understand the root causes of problems and arrive at the best possible solutions and outcomes.
- Strategic planning and program development.
- Building coalitions and managing complex stakeholder relationships.
Supplemental Information
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.
WHO MAY APPLY:
This appointed opportunity is open to all qualified applicants.
WORK LOCATION and TELECOMMUTING REQUIREMENT
The work associated with this position will be performed in a hybrid fashion of on-site and telework. This position will need to report to the work location three days a week (likely Tuesday-Thursday). Employees will also have access to shared workspaces at King Street Chinook Building at 401 5th Avenue in downtown Seattle. There will be situations where the employee may be required to report to a County worksite. Employees must reside in WA state and within a reasonable distance to their King County worksite to respond to workplace reporting requirements.
WORK SCHEDULE:
This position is exempt from the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act and is not overtime eligible. The typical work week is 40 hours per week, Monday – Friday. This position is not represented by a labor organization.
FORMS AND MATERIALS REQUIRED:
Please submit a complete online application, resume and cover letter describing how your education and/or experience relate to the qualifications for this position.
Your options are to:
- Copy and paste one or more documents into the Text Resume section of the application, or
- Attach multiple documents/files in the Resume Attachment section.
Your application may be rejected as incomplete if you do not include the relevant information in the online application and include the information only on the cover letter and resume.
Applications responses stating "see my resume" or "see my personnel file" are considered incomplete and will not be accepted.
CONTACT: If you have any questions about the application requirements, please contact HR Manager Seth Watson (
seth.watson@kingcounty.gov) or HR Analyst Dan Grant (
dan.grant@kingcounty.gov).
