Planning Manager (EMS BAND 2)

State of Washington; Olympia (WA); On-site; USD 109,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Agency-paid ORCA card for public trans

Amazon hiring incentive for telework

Professional development allowance

Job summary

The Puget Sound Partnership (PSP) is seeking a Planning Manager to lead the team responsible for the Action Agenda, the region’s roadmap for Puget Sound recovery. You will coordinate with Tribes, state and federal agencies, and local governments to align resources and remove barriers to progress.

The role requires strategic thinking, collaboration, and strong leadership to drive recovery efforts across the Puget Sound region.

Qualifications

• Proven ability to develop and implement complex environmental resource plans or policies.
• Experience coordinating with multiple agencies, Tribes, and partners.
• Strong project management with budget and timeline oversight.

Responsibilities

• Lead the update and implementation of the Action Agenda and Puget Sound recovery plans.
• Collaborate with internal and external partners to allocate resources effectively.
• Develop adaptive management processes to keep plans responsive and timely.
• Hire, train, and develop staff while ensuring high performance.
• Balance multiple initiatives and make data-driven decisions.

Skills

Effective communication

Environmental policy knowledge

Project management

Education

Bachelor's degree in environmental management, natural resources, public policy, planning, public administration

Tools

Microsoft Office

Job description

Planning Manager (EMS BAND 2)

Full-Time | Exempt | Monday - Friday | 8:00AM - 5:00PM

The full position salary range is $109,140 - $131,688; however, the annual starting/hiring salary range for the candidate selected for hire will be between $109,140 - $120,414 depending upon qualifications.

The nature of this role relies heavily on remote and in-person collaboration. This position is required to report weekly on-site for in-office work and possibly meetings with partners at project locations around the Puget Sound Region. This position will not be eligible for out-of-state telework. Some travel is expected. If you currently live outside of Washington state, newly hired employees must relocate to Washington state within 30 days of starting employment, and report to the Olympia office headquarters in person on the first day of employment.

Who We Are

The Puget Sound Partnership (PSP) is a non-regulatory state agency under Governor Ferguson's Office leading the region’s collective effort to restore and protect the Puget Sound. Our mission is to accelerate ecosystem recovery with our partners to achieve more vibrant habitats, water quality, food webs, and healthy human populations in Puget Sound. We are proud to offer a suite of “Employer of Choice” initiatives and benefits in addition to state government’s full compensation and benefits.

• An agency-paid ORCA card for public transit use in the Puget Sound region
• A tax-free hiring incentive that includes a one-time $200 Amazon allowance for ordering at-home office equipment or preferred supplies to support the telework experience
• An annual professional development allowance for gaining skills that advance the employee’s career in their current field of work

To learn more about all the benefits PSP has to offer, explore our website.

About this Opportunity

Are you a collaborative leader who is passionate about protecting and restoring Puget Sound, and energized by bringing people together to turn shared goals into meaningful action? If so, you may be the next Planning Manager of the Puget Sound Partnership. As our Planning Manager, you will lead the team responsible for developing and updating the Action Agenda—the region’s roadmap for Puget Sound recovery. You will work across Tribes, state and federal agencies, local governments, communities, and other partners on Puget Sound recovery to build shared direction, strengthen accountability, align resources, and remove barriers to progress. This is an opportunity to lead work that reaches across the entire Puget Sound region and helps shape the strategies, investments, and partnerships that will determine how we collectively advance recovery for generations to come.

The Action Agenda is more than a plan—it is a framework for bringing diverse knowledge, experience, and commitments together around a shared vision for a healthy and resilient Puget Sound. We’re looking for a leader who can navigate complexity, build trust across perspectives, and create the clarity and momentum needed to move from planning to implementation. If you are someone who brings strategic thinking, humility, collaboration, and a drive to make meaningful progress on one of the region’s most important environmental challenges, we’d like to hear from you.

The default assigned work location of all Partnership positions – both on-site and telework – is within the State of Washington. Employees have a choice for their onsite work between our Olympia, Tacoma, or Seattle locations. However, you may be required to work at a specific location occasionally based on business needs. Employees must be able and prepared to report to any of the three locations as requested by agency Leadership. If you currently live outside of Washington state, newly hired employees must relocate to Washington state within 30 days of starting employment, and report to the Olympia office headquarters in person on the first day of employment.

For more information about PSP, resources, and benefits, visit our website: www.psp.wa.gov. To learn more details of this role, email [e-mail] and request the full job description.

Some of What You’ll Enjoy Doing Includes:

• Lead the agency’s efforts to update and implement the Action Agenda and affiliated Puget Sound recovery plans.
• Work with and grow a vast network of internal and external partners to strategize on how to use limited resources and capacity to best implement the Action Agenda.
• Create mechanisms and processes to enact evidence-based decisions via adaptive management so that the Action Agenda and its implementation remain responsive, timely, and relevant.
• Manage the work of the Planning Team, making critical decisions and managing risks, opportunities, and conflicts in alignment with agency policies and priorities.
• Balance competing demands across multiple initiatives by making timely, fact-based decisions informed by workload, data, and stakeholder input.
• Promote, implement, and foster an environment that proactively supports change, innovation, and continuous quality improvement activities.
• Exercise independent judgment to hire, train, mentor, recognize, and develop staff while supporting high performance.
• Manage staff schedules and telecommuting arrangements to balance flexibility with desired operational outcomes.
• Collaborates effectively with internal and external partners to achieve high-quality, cost-effective daily and long-term operations.
• Oversee team revenue, expense budgets, contracts, and grants while ensuring strict compliance with state, federal, and agency fiscal policies.

Required Qualifications

To qualify for this position, a candidate must possess one (1) of the following options, along with primary residency in Washington state within 30 days of employment, and the ability to conduct in-person work in the Puget Sound area for a set of hours determined by the agency:

OPTION 1

• Demonstrated ability, supported by evidence of outcomes and impact, in developing and implementing complex environmental resource plans or policies, including experience in land use, urban, regional, environmental, or natural resource planning and program development. This includes leading the development and implementation of environmental plans and policies and managing complex, high-stakes projects or outcomes from start to finish, while leading or supervising a group. Proof of experience may be gained through military service, entrepreneurship, community/volunteer work, internships, apprenticeships, industry roles, or lived experience.

OPTION 2

• Professional experience in a WGS Environmental Planner 5 or WMS/EMS Environmental Planner position and demonstrated application in serving as a planning consultant to a program manager, assistant director, or a person of higher-ranking authority. This experience must include application of coordinating the development of, and/or implementing highly complex environmental resource plans, programs, policies, and regulations.

OPTION 3

• A bachelor’s degree in environmental management, natural resources, public policy, planning, public administration, or related field and demonstrated application of developing and/or implementation of environmental resource plans and/or policies at a multi-watershed and large geographic scale. This experience must include leading or supervising a group from start to finish of complex and high-stakes projects or outcomes.

In addition to the above required qualifications, a candidate must possess the following technical competencies:

• Effective communication: Proficient in Microsoft Office tools and skilled at tailoring clear, polished written, verbal, and visual communications to diverse audiences.
• Environmental and ecological policy knowledge: Understand policy issues central to the Puget Sound Partnership’s mission to support Puget Sound recovery.
• Effective project management skills: Skilled at clearly communicating project objectives through presentations and written charters, and guiding complex, interdependent work from planning through completion. Proficient in prioritizing and tracking tasks, measuring progress, and keeping deliverables aligned with scope, schedule, and budget.

Preferred Qualifications

• Nine (9) or more years of experience, education, and/or lived experience which demonstrate experience developing and completing complex environmental resource plans or policies in land use, urban, regional, environmental, or natural resource planning and program development in collaboration with diverse groups. This should include:
  • Experience in a complex, public sector work environment, including science-policy decision making
  • Program administration including budget, and grant/contract management, performance management and accountability
  • Skill and experience with analysis and problem-solving of major issues; creative, strategic and innovative thinking; outcome focus
  • Experience working with the Washington State Legislature or other local governments in Washington to enact policy changes
  • History of collaborating with a wide range of public and private partners, Tribes, stakeholders, professional networks and boards on environmental issues
  • Experience gaining insight into partners' needs and building and delivering solutions to meet those needs.
  • Evidence of applying innovative, strategic, and critical thinking skills to propose solutions to complex problems, remaining focused on outcomes.
  • Understanding of and experience applying the Open Standards for the Practice of Conservation tool, particularly as defined and employed by the Puget Sound Partnership.

OTHER INFORMATION

This is not an employment agreement or contract. Management has the exclusive right to alter this job description at any time without notice.

The Puget Sound Partnership celebrates our differences and we are committed to a workplace that supports equal opportunity employment and inclusion regardless of race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity diversity, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We will also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local laws. Should you have any questions regarding this position or the online application, or need this job announcement in any other format, contact [e-mail].