Local Public Health System Workforce Manager

Local Public Health System Workforce Manager

The Washington State Association of Local Public Health Officials (WSALPHO) is a membership organization representing and convening the 35 local health jurisdictions across Washington State. We aim to collaborate with other public health agencies to advance public health, educate and inform policymakers on local health issues, advocate for public health policy, and empower local health departments. WSALPHO is an affiliate of the Washington Association of Counties (WSAC), which provides administrative and operational support to the association.

A responsive, resilient, and well‑supported governmental public health system is essential to the health and economic vitality of Washington’s communities. Protecting the public’s health is a core governmental responsibility that depends on a skilled, diverse, and sustainable workforce. Over the next decade, Washington State estimates that it will need an additional 1,000 public health workers to meet its core responsibilities. 800 of these workers will be hired at the local level.

The need for coordinated, consistent, and accessible training and orientation is critical to onboarding our incoming local health workforce.

WSALPHO’s membership has tasked the organization with leading and coordinating a statewide approach to local public health workforce development. This includes:

• Assessing local public health system workforce needs to identify current and forward focused priorities.
• Designing and implementing standardized onboarding and orientation systems
• Expanding access to workforce training and continuing education
• Supporting leadership development and succession planning
• Developing and advancing workforce recruitment and retention strategies
• Strengthening workforce pipelines and partnerships across education and training systems

The Local Public Health System Workforce Manager will play a central leadership role in this effort by coordinating a system‑wide workforce strategy grounded in data and aligned with state and national workforce trends. This position will lead efforts to translate workforce data (including PH WINS and WSALPHO findings) into actionable strategies that strengthen recruitment, retention, workforce well‑being, and training infrastructure across local health jurisdictions.

This position works closely with the WSALPHO Managing Director and WSALPHO staff, WSAC staff, WSALPHO membership, governmental public health partners, and other public health agencies. This position may be directed to coordinate and manage contracts and contractors as directed by the Managing Director.

This position is full‑time, exempt, and reports directly to the WSALPHO Managing Director.

The position is approved to work remotely within Washington State and must be able to attend in‑person meetings and events as required by the WSALPHO Managing Director.

• Lead development and implementation of a statewide local public health workforce development plan aligned with PH WINS findings and WSALPHO workforce priorities.
• Support recruitment and retention strategies addressing compensation challenges, burnout, and workforce mobility
• Develop leadership development and succession planning programs to address document turnover in leadership roles.
• Facilitate, develop, and implement WSALPHO workforce development training and learning events. Coordinate online and on‑demand content with WSALPHO staff and other public health partners. Conduct evaluation of workforce events and activities.
• Co‑create and coordinate larger public health system workforce development opportunities that address critical skill gaps in partnership with the WA State Department of Health and other public health agencies and institutions.
• Build and maintain strategic partnerships and relationships with academic institutions, training organizations, government, and community‑based organizations.
• Provide technical support and assist local health jurisdictions in formalizing and implementing local health workforce development plans, including designing standard onboarding and orientation systems for new local public health workers.
• Prov…