Behavioral Health Bridge, Youth & Prevention Administrator- Community & Human Services Administrator

King County; Seattle (WA); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

King County seeks a strategic, visionary executive to serve as the Behavioral Health Bridge, Youth & Prevention Administrator. The role leads a countywide behavioral health investment portfolio with executive accountability for strategic direction, performance, and sustainability, including advisory committees and cross‑agency collaboration.

The Administrator oversees budgets, implementation plans, governance, and partnerships to advance equitable access and outcomes for children, youth,

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and significant senior leadership experience in behavioral health, health, or human services.
• Experience supervising managers and professionals with accountability for performance.
• Advanced ability to translate policy and funding goals into investment strategies and outcomes.
• Experience managing large public-sector budgets and investments.

Responsibilities

• Provide executive leadership for the Bridge and its countywide behavioral health investments.
• Set strategic direction, oversee implementation and long‑term sustainability of Bridge resources.
• Lead governance with the Bridge Advisory Committee and ensure community input informs decisions.
• Supervise Bridge Core Team, Youth, Family & Prevention, and related initiatives.
• Develop strategic priorities, budgets, work plans, and performance expectations.
• Collaborate with elected officials, providers, and partners to advance system goals.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Budget management

Public policy

Stakeholder engagement

Education

Bachelor's degree

Job description

King County's Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS) provides equitable opportunities for people to be healthy, happy, and connected to community.

The Behavioral Health and Recovery Division (BHRD) of DCHS is seeking a strategic and visionary executive leader to serve as the King County Behavioral Health Bridge, Youth & Prevention Administrator.

The Behavioral Health Bridge (Bridge) is King County's dedicated behavioral health sales tax and one of the County's two major locally funded behavioral health investment portfolios. The Bridge supports a broad countywide portfolio of programs and services designed to address critical behavioral health needs, improve equitable access to care, strengthen the behavioral health system, and improve outcomes for King County residents.

The Bridge Administrator serves as the senior BHRD executive accountable for the Behavioral Health Bridge, with responsibility for the strategic direction, implementation, administration, financial stewardship, performance, and long‑term effectiveness of this major public funding source and its countywide portfolio of behavioral health investments. The Administrator exercises executive leadership and decision‑making authority across the Bridge portfolio, establishes strategic priorities, directs implementation of the King County Behavioral Health Bridge Implementation Plan, and ensures resources are deployed effectively and equitably to achieve measurable community and system outcomes.

In addition to executive accountability for the Bridge funding source, the Bridge Administrator provides organizational leadership to BHRD's Youth, Family & Prevention Section, the Bridge Core Team, and assigned strategic initiatives. The Youth, Family & Prevention Section administers a significant portfolio of Bridge‑funded and other behavioral health programs serving children, youth, young adults, and families. The Administrator is accountable for overseeing the strategy, budgets, performance, workforce, and results of these assigned organizational functions.

A primary responsibility of the position is executive leadership of the King County Behavioral Health Bridge Advisory Committee, which advises the King County Executive and King County Council regarding Bridge‑funded programs, services, investments, performance, and emerging priorities. The Administrator is accountable for the County's effective partnership with the Advisory Committee and for ensuring its recommendations, community perspectives, performance information, and emerging priorities are integrated into executive decision‑making and Bridge strategy.

The Bridge Administrator serves as a member of BHRD's Executive Leadership Team and as a peer executive leader to other BHRD Administrators. The position advises BHRD and DCHS leadership, the King County Executive's Office, and King County Council on significant Bridge investment, policy, implementation, and behavioral health system issues and represents King County with community, provider, governmental, and regional partners.

Key Responsibilities Include:

• Serving as the senior executive accountable for the Behavioral Health Bridge and its countywide portfolio of behavioral health investments.
• Setting strategic direction and holding executive accountability for successful implementation of the Bridge Implementation Plan, financial stewardship, performance, and long‑term sustainability of the funding source.
• Leading the Behavioral Health Bridge Advisory Committee relationship and ensuring effective governance, public accountability, community engagement, and advice to the Executive and Council.
• Providing executive organizational leadership to the Bridge Core Team, Youth, Family & Prevention Section, and assigned strategic initiatives, including supervision and development of managers and accountability for organizational performance.
• Making and recommending strategic investment and resource‑allocation decisions based on community needs, data, evaluation, financial sustainability, policy direction, and behavioral health system priorities.
• Driving system‑level change and integration by aligning Bridge investments with Medicaid, BH‑ASO, Crisis Care Centers Levy, and other local, state, and federal behavioral health strategies.
• Serving as a senior BHRD executive leader and trusted advisor on behavioral health policy, investments, system strategy, and emerging community needs.

Provide executive leadership and accountability for the King County Behavioral Health Bridge

• Serve as the senior BHRD executive accountable for the successful implementation, administration, performance, and long‑term stewardship of the Behavioral Health Bridge and its countywide portfolio of investments.
• Exercise executive decision‑making authority across the Bridge portfolio; establish strategic priorities, direction, and performance expectations and direct implementation of the King County Behavioral Health Bridge Implementation Plan.
• Translate the Bridge Implementation Plan, County policy direction, community needs, and behavioral health system priorities into investment strategies, operational priorities, work plans, and measurable outcomes.
• Maintain executive accountability for the overall performance of Bridge‑funded programs and strategies and direct corrective action, program improvements, or changes in implementation approach when performance, community needs, or system conditions warrant.
• Ensure Bridge investments are strategically integrated across the behavioral health continuum and coordinated with other BHRD, DCHS, County, regional, state, and federally funded programs and initiatives.
• Identify and advance opportunities to use Bridge resources to address significant behavioral health system gaps, improve equitable access, strengthen service capacity and quality, and support innovation and system transformation.
• Provide strategic leadership for future Bridge planning, Implementation Plan updates, legislative actions, and other activities necessary to sustain the effectiveness and responsiveness of the funding source over time.

Direct financial stewardship, investment strategy, and performance accountability

• Serve as the senior executive accountable for stewardship of Bridge resources, including strategic allocation of the funding portfolio, long‑range financial planning, budget development and monitoring, and decisions and recommendations regarding deployment of resources across Bridge strategies and programs.
• Work in partnership with BHRD finance leadership to establish and monitor the Bridge financial plan, forecasts, expenditures, reserves, and long‑term funding strategies and ensure responsible stewardship of public resources.
• Provide executive oversight and direction for procurements, contracts, and other funding mechanisms used to implement Bridge investments, in partnership with contracting, procurement, finance, legal, and program leadership.
• Ensure Bridge resources are deployed appropriately, equitably, efficiently, and in compliance with applicable legislation, Implementation Plan requirements, County policies, funding restrictions, and contractual requirements.
• Work in partnership with assigned leadership and BHRD’s Compliance Team to ensure all Bridge funded programs are fully aligned with BHRD compliance requirements, procedures, and quality standards, and proactively address compliance risks.
• Establish a portfolio‑level performance and accountability framework in partnership with BHRD performance measurement and evaluation leadership, including meaningful measures of success, outcome monitoring, evaluation, and continuous quality improvement.
• Use financial, programmatic, performance, evaluation, and community data to assess effectiveness, inform executive decisions, and recommend changes in investment or implementation strategy.
• Ensure transparent reporting and accountability for Bridge investments, finances, implementation progress, and outcomes to BHRD and DCHS leadership, the Executive's Office, King County Council, the Bridge Advisory Committee, community partners, and the public.

Lead Bridge governance, public accountability, and strategic partnerships

• Provide executive leadership for King County's partnership with the Behavioral Health Bridge Advisory Committee and ensure the committee is positioned to effectively fulfill its role advising the King County Executive and King County Council.
• Establish and maintain a strong strategic partnership with Advisory Committee leadership and members and ensure committee recommendations, community perspectives, performance information, and emerging priorities are meaningfully considered in Bridge strategy and executive decision‑making.
• Direct the development of high‑level reports, briefings, recommendations, presentations, and decision materials regarding Bridge investments, implementation, finances, performance, and policy for the Advisory Committee, BHRD and DCHS leadership, Executive's Office, King County Council, and other audiences.
• Advise the BHRD Director, DCHS leadership, Executive's Office, and King County Council on significant investment, policy, implementation, and behavioral health system issues related to the Bridge.
• Develop and maintain strategic relationships with elected officials, behavioral health providers, community organizations, advocates, people with lived experience, other government agencies, and key health and human services partners.
• Ensure meaningful community engagement and input from communities most impacted by behavioral health inequities inform Bridge priorities, implementation, and ongoing investment strategies.
• Represent the Bridge and King County in high‑level meetings, Council briefings, committees, public forums, regional and state discussions, and other settings involving significant policy, financial, programmatic, or community issues.
• Navigate politically complex and highly visible issues, reconcile competing priorities and perspectives, and build alignment around strategies that advance Bridge and broader behavioral health system goals.

Provide executive organizational leadership to Bridge, Youth, Family & Prevention, and assigned strategic initiatives

• Provide executive leadership for a multi‑function organizational portfolio encompassing the Bridge Core Team, BHRD's Youth, Family & Prevention Section, and assigned strategic initiatives, with accountability for strategy, budgets, performance, workforce, and results across these functions.
• Directly supervise, coach, and develop managers and other designated leadership staff; establish clear expectations and hold leaders accountable for organizational, programmatic, financial, and workforce performance.
• Provide strategic oversight of the Youth, Family & Prevention portfolio, including behavioral health promotion, prevention, early intervention, treatment, and recovery programs serving children, youth, young adults, and families.
• Ensure Youth, Family & Prevention programs supported by Bridge and other funding sources are strategically aligned, effectively administered, and integrated with the broader behavioral health continuum and BHRD priorities.
• Provide strategic leadership and oversight for designated Equitable Access initiatives funded through the Bridge, ensuring alignment with Bridge goals and broader BHRD strategies.
• Develop and monitor strategic priorities, budgets, work plans, performance expectations, and organizational capacity with managers and program leaders.
• Build effective leadership teams and foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, innovation, learning, equity, inclusion, and belonging.
• Operationalize King County's ACTIVATE values and Equity and Social Justice principles in organizational leadership, workforce decisions, program design, investment strategy, community engagement, and performance accountability.

Serve as a senior BHRD executive and advance behavioral health system transformation

• Serve as a member of the BHRD Executive Leadership Team and contribute to division‑wide strategic planning, policy development, budget and resource decisions, organizational priorities, and behavioral health system transformation.
• Serve as a peer executive leader with other BHRD Administrators and collaborate across major funding and service portfolios to align Bridge investments with Medicaid, BH‑ASO, Crisis Care Centers Levy, and other local, state, and federal behavioral health strategies.
• Lead and sponsor system planning and improvement efforts that span programs, funding sources, providers, and organizational boundaries to strengthen King County's behavioral health system and improve access, quality, equity, and outcomes.
• Advise BHRD and DCHS leadership on emerging behavioral health issues, community needs, policy and funding changes, investment opportunities, and system‑level risks and priorities.
• Develop strategic relationships with behavioral health providers, health care organizations, human service systems, schools and educational partners, community‑based organizations, and local, regional, and state government partners to advance shared system goals.
• Monitor local, state, and national behavioral health policy, funding, service‑delivery trends, and promising practices and translate emerging developments into strategic recommendations for Bridge and BHRD.
• Represent BHRD and King County in regional and statewide behavioral health planning, policy, and investment discussions as assigned.
• Champion racial equity and social justice and ensure equity principles are embedded in executive decision‑making, investment strategies, program design, contracting, community engagement, performance measurement, and organizational leadership.
• Work closely with BHRD’s Chief of Administration & Staffing on human resource‑related needs, including workforce planning, staffing strategies, and ensuring alignment with broader King County and DCHS processes.

WE ARE LOOKING FOR CANDIDATES WHO HAVE:

• A Bachelor's degree and five (5) years of significant progressively responsible senior leadership experience in behavioral health, health care, human services, public administration, or a related field, including executive or senior management responsibility for complex programs, systems, organizational functions, or public funding portfolios. A minimum of nine (9) years of progressively responsible experience in a related field will be considered in lieu of a Bachelor's degree, provided the candidate also meets the five (5) years of senior leadership experience requirement described.
• Demonstrated experience supervising and holding managers and professional staff accountable for organizational, programmatic, financial, and workforce performance.
• Advanced experience setting strategic direction and translating complex policy, funding, or system goals into investment strategies, implementation plans, operational priorities, and measurable outcomes.
• Significant experience developing, analyzing, and managing large public‑sector, behavioral health, health care, or human‑services budgets and making or recommending strategic resource‑allocation and investment decisions.
• Experience providing executive or senior‑level accountability for implementation and performance of complex portfolios involving multiple programs, funding streams, contracts, partners, and stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to use financial, programmatic, performance, evaluation, and community information to assess effectiveness, manage risk, drive continuous improvement, and make strategic decisions.
• Experience working effectively with elected officials, executive leadership, public advisory bodies, boards or commissions, providers, community stakeholders, and other high‑level governance and decision‑making structures.
• Demonstrated ability to establish and sustain strategic relationships across government, behavioral health, health care, human services, providers, community organizations, and other sectors.
• Knowledge of behavioral health, including youth behavioral health or human‑services systems and the policy, funding, regulatory, contracting, and operational environments in which publicly funded services are delivered.
• Demonstrated experience incorporating racial equity and social justice principles into executive leadership, organizational decision‑making, program design, policy, resource allocation, and community engagement.
• Advanced written and verbal communication, facilitation, negotiation, consensus‑building, and presentation skills, including the ability to communicate complex information and recommendations to executives, policymakers, community partners, staff, and the public.
• Demonstrated ability to lead through ambiguity and organizational change, manage multiple high‑profile priorities, exercise sound judgment, and maintain accountability for results.
• Any combination of experience, education, and training that provides the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to perform the work.

Desired Qualifications

• Senior or executive leadership experience within a youth serving publicly funded behavioral health or human‑services system.
• Experience holding responsibility for a significant local, state, or federal funding source or a complex portfolio of publicly funded programs and investments.
• Knowledge of King County's behavioral health system and the network of behavioral health, health care, human-service, community, and governmental partners serving King County residents.
• Experience working directly with elected officials, legislative bodies, public advisory committees, or similar governance structures.
• Experience leading large‑scale behavioral health system planning, investment strategy, community engagement, program implementation, or system transformation initiatives.

ADDITIONAL POSITION INFORMATION:

• This position has been designated Mission Critical. Unless otherwise directed by the County Executive, department director or agency head, all employees, regardless of designation, are expected to report to work or request leave during an emergency or inclement weather. For more detailed information, please visit HR Policy County Operations During Emergency Situations and the King County Guidelines for Workforce Management in an Emergency.
• The BHRD Executive Leadership Team works in a hybrid model, with days in the office as well as telecommuting. The ratio of remote to onsite work will be dependent on business needs and is subject to change. The primary onsite location is Chinook, 401 5th Ave, Seattle, WA 98104. Employees must reside in Washington state and within a reasonable distance to their King County worksite to respond to workplace reporting requirements.
• This position is exempt from the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act and is not eligible for overtime. Typical hours are Monday - Friday, 8am - 5pm.
• This position is not represented by a union.
• Classification: Community and Human Services Administrator

WHO MAY APPLY:

This position is open to all qualified candidates that meet the minimum qualifications. Interviews for this selection process will take place on or around November 30, 2026. Candidates who wish to be considered for this position must submit an online King County application and respond to the supplemental questions. Your application may be rejected as incomplete if you do not include the requested and relevant information in the online application and supplemental questionnaire. Applications and/or supplemental questionnaires that state, 'see my resume' are considered incomplete and will not be considered to be competitive. If you have any questions, please contact Phitsamai Xaxouthep, [e-mail].

King County's Vision, Mission, and ACTIVATE Values unite us.

King County serves residents with a relentless sense of urgency, delivering on commitments with transparency and accountability. We are action‑oriented, creative problem solvers who collaborate across roles, engage directly with communities, and challenge the status quo to achieve meaningful impact. As a unified team, we uphold high ethical and stewardship standards, embrace change, stay curious, and continuously improve. Across all interactions, we listen first, act quickly, and stay aligned as a team to earn and sustain public trust. Learn more about our Vision, Mission, and ACTIVATE Values here and visit our Why work at King County page here.

King County is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Employer

No person is unlawfully excluded from employment opportunities based on sex, race, color, national origin, ethnicity, religious affiliation, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age except by minimum age and retirement provisions, pregnancy, status as a family caregiver, parental status, marital status, military status or status as a veteran who was honorably discharged or who was discharged solely as a result of the person's sexual orientation or gender identity or expression, citizenship or immigration status, genetic information, or other protected class. However, to the extent that distinction or differential treatment on the basis of citizenship or immigration status is authorized by either federal or state law, regulation, or government contract, it is not an unfair practice.

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.