The King County Executive Climate Office invites candidates for the position of Climate Equity Engagement Project Manager.
King County has 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 partnership 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. King County has worked to express our intent around partnering with and supporting communities historically excluded from environmental and climate change conversations. The ECO commits to prioritizing inclusion and justice for all people in our work with the aim of decreasing disparities in our organization and our communities. 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.
About the role:
The Climate Equity Engagement Project Manager position will lead and expand initiatives that strengthen connections between frontline communities, climate justice, and local government through creative and culturally relevant engagement and partnership approaches. A primary goal for this position will be to establish and manage learning experiences, resources, and opportunities that build frontline community capacity to engage and partner on climate solutions. This role is critical to advancing the implementation of the Sustainable & Resilient Frontline Communities (SRFC) section of King County's Strategic Climate Action Plan (SCAP), a five-year blueprint for County climate action. The SRFC Section was co-created with the Climate Equity Community Task Force (CECTF) and is King County’s first framework for climate justice. This position reports to the Climate Equity Manager.
This position will work with a collaborative, multidisciplinary, and dynamic team committed to equitable and just climate action. This position will also collaborate with enterprise-wide staff implementing County climate initiatives.
The ideal candidate will have strong experience in developing and implementing community engagement strategies integrating environmental and climate justice; ability to work at varying scales; ability to envision long-term goals and ensure attention to procedural detail; working closely with frontline communities to co-develop strategies and plans, and a demonstrated ability to collaborate across a diverse institution to advance equity-driven goals. To be successful, this role will need to be nimble, resourceful, and flexible to keep momentum and meet goals in a timely manner.
Lead frontline community climate engagement
- Lead and support implementation of SCAP and SRFC goals and actions building community leadership pathways and community and county staff capacity development.
- Develop and implement an annual frontline community climate engagement plan to include 2025 SCAP and SRFC topics.
- Develop and deliver an annual public-facing Climate Justice Learning Series, including developing materials (fliers, etc.) to promote events internally and externally, working with consultant/s to organize schedule, topics, speakers, logistics, and provide annual reporting, series budget oversight and invoicing processes.
- Ensure inclusive formats for online and in-person events and materials, i.e., language access, and relevant accessibility accommodations.
- Collaborate on development of capacity building workshops and materials for community-based organizations focused on climate justice and climate equity.
- Develop and publish a quarterly ECO climate equity newsletter.
Partner with frontline community on climate leadership and capacity
- Oversee recruitment, onboarding, and staffing of the Climate Equity Community Task Force (CECTF), a key partner for King County climate action, including tracking compensation and processing invoicing.
- Support funding strategies for SCAP community priorities, including grant writing, partnering with philanthropic organizations, and other resource development.
- Build strong trust, transparency, and accountability with CECTF members and community partners.
- Develop meeting agendas, facilitation strategies, annual workplans and to identify and address challenges and opportunities related to CECTF participation, learning goals, and feedback.
- Oversee administration of sponsorship opportunities for community-based organization.
Collaborate enterprise-wide on climate engagement
- Support and partner with appropriate King County agencies to promote programs, actions, and events advancing frontline community capacity to address the impacts of climate change and to understand climate justice intersections.
- Coordinate with the Executive Climate Office Communications program manager on storytelling, earned media opportunities, and website updates.
- Support representation of ECO countywide and on interdepartmental teams focused on community partnerships and engagement.
Advancing climate equity principles and best practices
- Identify and develop conference proposals, including attending conferences
- Coordinate and respond to speaker requests with county agencies, local organizations, universities, etc.
Other duties as assigned
- May include supervision of interns and staff supporting climate equity engagement.
- Other duties as assigned
- Minimum 5 years’ experience (professional, academic, organizing, lived, etc.) related to environmental or climate justice; working with communities of color, equitable community education, engagement, and partnership building.
- Experience with project management of environmental, climate equity, community resilience, public health, affordable housing, youth programming, or related issues.
- Experience working with (or within) local government on public-facing and policy initiatives.
- Strong understanding and prior experience applying climate justice, equity, race and social justice principles, and community partnership best practices.
- Experience building relationships and working collaboratively with limited English-speaking populations, immigrant/refugee communities, BIPOC communities and culturally diverse communities.
- Excellent oral and written communication skills, including a demonstrated ability to develop and deliver effective, culturally relevant, multi-mode communications tailored to the unique needs of different audiences.
- Demonstrated success managing projects, resources, and multiple priorities.
Necessary Special Requirements:
- Will require an ability to get to meetings and field sites not served by transit at varying times of day. This can include having valid Washington State Driver’s License or using alternate transportation methods.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Strong functional and technical knowledge and experience in one or more climate related topics such as climate and environmental justice, transportation, food systems, energy, green building, consumption and materials, and climate impacts and preparedness.
- Experience building relationships and working collaboratively with a range of stakeholder groups.
- Strong analytical and strategic planning skills; ability to anticipate emergent issues and approaches.
- Experience with organizing and facilitating discussion of focus groups, workshops, collaborative governance processes, or community-driven policy development.
The Successful Candidate will have the following Competencies:
- Ensures accountability: Follows through on commitments and makes sure others do the same. Acts with a clear sense of ownership. Takes personal responsibility for decision, actions, and failures. Establishes clear responsibilities and processes for monitoring work and measuring results. Designs feedback loops into work.
- Collaborates: Works cooperatively with others across the organization to achieve shared objectives. Represents own interests while being fair to others and their areas. Partners with others to get work done. Credits others for their contributions and accomplishments. Gains trust and support of others.
- Communicates Effectively: Is effective in a variety of communication settings: One-on- one, small and large groups, or among diverse styles and position levels. Attentively listens to others. Adjusts to fit the audience and the message. Provides timely and helpful information to others across the organization. Encourages the open expression of diverse ideas and opinions.
- Resourcefulness: Marshals resources (people, funding, materials, support) to get things done. Orchestrates multiple activities simultaneously to accomplish a goal. Gets the most out of limited resources. Applies knowledge of internal structures, processes, and culture to resourcing efforts.
- Values Differences: Seeks to understand different perspectives and cultures. Contributes to a work climate where differences are valued and supported. Applies others' diverse experiences, styles, backgrounds, and perspectives to get results. Is sensitive to cultural norms, expectations, and ways of communicating.
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).
