Senior Public Involvement Outreach Specialist

King County•Seattle, WA

6d•Hybrid

About The Position

This posting is open to all qualified candidates. If you want to use your communication skills to help people make informed decisions about the infrastructure and services that affect their lives, the Wastewater Treatment Division’s (WTD) Community Services group looks forward to meeting you. Our work centers on building understanding, supporting transparency, and ensuring the public has the information they need to engage meaningfully with our projects and operations, even when faced with community opposition. We collaborate across the division to communicate clearly, anticipate concerns, and provide accurate, accessible information. We adapt our approach to meet the needs of diverse audiences and value the perspectives that different communities bring. As a member of WTD’s Community Services unit, you will support all aspects of the division’s work by helping the public understand our infrastructure projects, operations, and services. You will provide timely, clear information so individuals, businesses, and communities can offer informed input and understand how decisions may affect them. This position supports WTD operations, Executive priorities, and complex multidisciplinary capital projects, planning efforts, and programs. You will also support incident response efforts that focus on protecting the public from sewage spills or other unexpected dangers related to an emergency. We are recruiting for two (2) Senior Public Involvement Outreach Specialist (Water Quality Planner/Project Manager III - WQPPM III) positions. The successful candidates will plan, manage, and provide field communications and public outreach support for multiple concurrent projects to build or improve large infrastructure facilities, such as pipes, pump stations, and underground storage tanks. They will support projects in the planning, design, and construction phases. Established guidelines or processes may not exist and need to be developed to successfully support complex work. The successful candidates will interact with community members directly affected by construction projects. They will be expected to use diplomacy and tact when working with upset individuals or when facing public opposition in order to gain acceptance of the division’s work. They will be expected to engage all communities equitably, and will support emergency incidents such as sewer overflows by being available 24 hours a day every five to six weeks on a rotating basis. In this capacity, they will provide field support to protect public health and safety during sewage spills or unplanned repairs of the regional wastewater system.

Requirements

Experience managing public outreach on concurrent projects including serving as the public face for outreach efforts.
Demonstrated experience leading public outreach on projects with no established guidelines or developing guidelines where none exist.
Experience working effectively with racially, culturally, and socioeconomically diverse individuals, communities, and organizations.
Experience planning and implementing effective public outreach campaigns that include strategic goal identification, objective setting, tactic selection, and managing schedules.
Demonstrated skills in designing accessible outreach and using equitable engagement tactics.
Demonstrated experience directing and managing consultant teams in support of community outreach efforts.
Experience working with technical experts to develop easily understood communication pieces.
Customer Focus: Building strong customer relationships and delivering customer-centric solutions.
Drives Results: Consistently achieving results, even under tough circumstances.
Interpersonal Savvy: Relating openly and comfortably with diverse groups of people.
Manages Ambiguity: Operating effectively, even when things are not certain, or the way forward is not clear.
Being Resilient: Rebounding from setbacks and adversity when facing difficult situations.
A valid Washington State Driver’s License (ability to get to meetings and field sites not served by transit at varying times of day).

Nice To Haves

Working knowledge of wastewater systems and operations.
Experience supporting public agency incident response efforts.
Experience working with multiple capital delivery methods, including design-bid-build, progressive design build, and general contractor/construction management.

Responsibilities

Gain public acceptance for impactful construction projects that plan, build, repair or maintain wastewater treatment facilities. This could include treatment plants, large pipes, pump stations and other underground infrastructure for WTD’s Capital Improvement Program.
Develop, manage, and implement public involvement plans for projects that may face opposition or controversy.
Navigate ambiguous environments and develop guidelines where none exist to share information and build community understanding and support for WTD’s work.
Effectively communicate and coordinate with interdisciplinary project teams on complex infrastructure projects.
Work collaboratively with project and construction managers, engineers, finance and contracting specialists, permitting, environmental leads, and real property experts to meet project objectives and division goals.
Represent WTD at public events, briefings and in one-on-one venues.
Support WTD projects by working directly with interested community members to reduce risks and advance opportunities for WTD's Capital Improvement Program.
Provide planning, assessment, and advocacy for equity and social justice opportunities on WTD capital projects and plans using County equity assessment tools.
Support the community relations elements of the Wastewater Treatment Division incident response program, which requires night and weekend availability on a rotating basis.
Duties could include safely moving through industrial and construction sites and driving metal fence posts into the ground to close off public spaces affected by incidents.