Legislative Assistant - Chief of Staff – Councilmember Saka

City of Seattle; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 114,000 - 125,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive benefits package

Vacation, holiday, and sick leave

Onsite at Seattle City Hall

Job summary

The Chief of Staff to the Councilmember Rob Saka in Seattle leads the Legislative Department, supervising staff, advancing the Councilmember’s legislative agenda, and ensuring disciplined execution across all workstreams. This is a critical, in-person leadership role in a fast-paced environment.

You will coordinate with City departments, manage priorities and staff, and contribute to policy development and communications.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in public administration, political science, law, business administration, or other relevant field.
• At least five years of experience working in legislative affairs, public policy, government, public administration, product management, or a related field.
• At least one year of experience leading or supervising staff and managing teams.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a trusted adviser on legislative strategy, policy priorities, political considerations, and issue management.
• Oversee development of legislation, resolutions, and policy initiatives.
• Supervise all office staff and manage day-to-day operations.
• Ensure constituent services are timely, respectful, and effective.
• Coordinate with city departments, committees, and external partners.

Skills

leadership

organizational skills

political judgment

communication

problem solving

stakeholder management

team management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in public administration, political science, law, business administration, or other relevant field

Job description

The Legislative Department has an outstanding opportunity for a full-time, in-person Legislative Assistant – Chief of Staff in the Office of Councilmember Rob Saka, Chair of the Transportation, Waterfront, & Seattle Center Committee and representative for District 1, which includes West Seattle, South Park, Georgetown, Pioneer Square, and SODO. If you are passionate about public service and want to make a meaningful impact to Seattle residents, this role offers an opportunity to shape policy, lead a team, and make a tangible difference in Seattle.

As the most senior staff member in the office, the Chief of Staff serves as the Councilmember’s principal strategic, operational, and political adviser. This role is responsible for managing day-to-day office operations, supervising staff, directly advancing the Councilmember’s legislative agenda and policy priorities, and ensuring disciplined execution across all workstreams. Providing excellent constituent services is fundamental to the office and a shared responsibility of all team members, including the Chief of Staff. The successful candidate will model responsiveness, professionalism, and problem solving in service to constituents, while ensuring appropriate systems and processes are in place to deliver timely and effective casework support and legislative results.

This is a critical leadership role in a fast-paced, highly political, and community-driven environment. The successful candidate will demonstrate strong judgment, political acumen, organizational discipline, and the ability to manage people, priorities, and pressure simultaneously. This at-will appointment serves at the discretion of the Councilmember.

You Will Be Most Successful in This Role If You:

• Believe excellent constituent service is a core function of an elected office and model that value in your own work.
• Are highly organized and disciplined, with strong time management and prioritization skills.
• Bring sound political judgment and can navigate sensitive issues, reputation management, and rapid-response situations with discretion and confidence.
• Lead teams with clarity, accountability, and respect while cultivating a collaborative environment that values high performance.
• Balance strategic thinking with operational follow through.
• Remain calm, professional, and solutions-oriented under pressure.

Strategic Leadership, Political Advising, and Legislative Coordination

• Serve as a trusted adviser to the Councilmember on legislative strategy, policy priorities, political considerations, and issue management. Partner with the Councilmember to plan, prioritize, and execute strategic initiatives aligned with district and citywide priorities.
• Anticipate political, media, and stakeholder dynamics and provide timely guidance to support effective decision making.
• Act as a key liaison between the Councilmember and internal and external stakeholders, including City departments, community leaders, and advocacy organizations.
• Oversee and advise on development of legislation, resolutions, and policy initiatives. Coordinate with Council committees, Central Staff, the Executive Department, and external partners to advance legislative priorities.
• Review and provide strategic guidance on legislative drafting and policy analysis. Ensure effective internal coordination on legislative strategy and outreach.

Constituent Services and Community Responsiveness

• Assist with constituent services and casework, including by screening and responding to Councilmember’s paper and electronic mail, answering telephone calls.
• Ensure constituents receive timely, respectful, and effective responses across all communication channels.
• Establish and maintain systems and protocols to track, manage, and resolve constituent issues.
• Regularly review constituent services performance and identify opportunities for improvement.

Strategic Office Operations, Team Leadership, and Accountability

• Supervise all office staff, including legislative assistants, temporary hires, and interns. Oversee day-to-day office operations, establishing and maintaining systems, processes, polices, protocols to track priorities, projects, deadlines, and measurable outcomes across all office workstreams.
• Lead and implement strong project management and program management practices across the team, ensuring defined ownership, timelines, deliverables, and accountability. Ensure consistent follow-through on commitments, prompt resolution of issues, and proactive identification of risks.

• Maintain structured and regular check-ins with the Councilmember to align on priorities, emerging issues, and key decisions. Lead regular all staff meetings to ensure clear communication of priorities, deadlines, and execution expectations.

• Provide ongoing coaching, feedback, and structured performance development support for team members. Foster a collaborative, respectful, and high-performing culture grounded in accountability, responsiveness, and service.
• Ensure compliance with administrative policies, including staff evaluations, performance check-ins, leave tracking, and other administrative functions.
• Establish and monitor performance metrics for major initiatives to ensure timely and disciplined delivery. Anticipate operational bottlenecks and implement preventive process improvements rather than reactive fixes.

Communications and Reputation Management

• Develop and advise on messaging, media strategy, and public engagement to ensure timely and professional communication with constituents and stakeholders.
• Support reputation management and rapid response related to emerging issues or political challenges.
• Draft and prepare speeches, talking points, press releases and other public-facing materials to ensure consistency and strategic alignment with the Councilmember’s priorities.

• Bachelor’s degree in public administration, political science, law, business administration, or other relevant field. Combination of appropriate education, training, certification and experience will be evaluated on an individual basis for comparability to the minimum education and experience requirements.
• At least five years of experience working in legislative affairs, public policy, government, public administration, product management, or a related field.
• At least one year of experience leading or supervising staff and managing teams with professionalism and accountability.

You may be even more prepared to take on this role if you have:

• Master’s degree in public administration, political science, business administration, or other relevant field; or experience demonstrating educational equivalency.
• Senior leadership experience in government, public policy, political organizations, or similarly complex environments.
• Proven ability to develop and maintain positive, influential relationships with diverse communities.
• Strong written and verbal communication and interpersonal skills.
• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple high stakes projects and programs in a fast-paced environment while managing competing priorities and operating comfortably and independently within ambiguity, including by meeting deadlines and accomplishing objectives with minimum supervision or oversight.
• Ability to exercise discretion and maintain confidentiality, while exhibiting sound judgment and consummate professionalism.

Note

This job description outlines the general scope of the Chief of Staff role and is not intended to provide an exhaustive list of qualifications, skills, duties, or responsibilities.

Office Culture

The Councilmember is committed to a culture grounded in a growth mindset and a commitment to service. We value accountability, responsiveness, continuous learning, and respect. We embrace uncertainty, correct mistakes quickly, and view failure as part of mastery. We listen carefully, speak candidly, and are willing to be openly self-critical, even when it is awkward or embarrassing. We work daily to earn the trust of constituents, colleagues, and partners.

Total Compensation and Benefits

This position is classified as a Legislative Assistant and is exempt from the Seattle Civil Service System. The full salary range for this classification is $22.48 - $76.53 hourly. The starting salary range for this individual role has been identified as $114,000 - $125,000 annually ($54.60 - $59.87 hourly).

Additionally, the City offers a comprehensive benefits package including vacation, holiday, and sick leave as well as medical, dental vision, life, and long-term disability insurance for employees. More information about employee benefits is available on the City's website at: https://www.seattle.gov/human-resources/benefits.

Work Environment

This position will be onsite at Seattle City Hall (6th Fourth Ave. 2nd Floor, Seattle, WA).

Why Work at the City?

The City of Seattle recognizes every City employee must play a role in ending institutional and structural racism. Our culture is the result of our behavior, our personal commitments, and the ways that we courageously share our perspectives and encourage others to do the same. To cultivate an antiracist culture, we seek employees who will engage in the Race and Social Justice Initiative by working to dismantle racist policies and procedures, unlearn the way things have always been done, and provide equitable processes and services.

If you have any questions, please contact the Legislative Department HR Team at [e-mail].