Language Access Coordinator; External Civil Rights Specialist

Keeping Washington Clean and Evergreen

The Department of Ecology is hiring a Language Access Coordinator (External Civil Rights Specialist
4) within the Office of Equity & Environmental Justice.

• Headquarters Office in Lacey, WA.
• Upon hire, you must live within a commutable distance from the duty station.

• This position is eligible for telework and flexible schedule options.
• Telework is an option for the majority of your work time, however in-person meetings and activities are expected.
• Schedules are dependent upon position needs and are subject to change.

• The high end of the salary range listed above ($) is Step M, typically a longevity step. Employees cannot get to Step M upon initial hire.
• All employees will progress to Step M six years after being assigned to Step L in their permanent salary range. For this position, Step A is $76,968.00 per year and Step L is $100,980 per year.

• Submit your application no later than 11:59 p.m. (Pacific Time) on December 14, 2025, to be in the first review of applications. Applications received after this date may not be considered.
• This position will remain open until filled. The agency reserves the right to make a hire at any time after application review begins.

Everyone deserves a healthy environment and needs access to Ecology’s information and services. Help us reach more of the half million plus people in Washington who speak English “less than very well”. In this role, you will provide crucial support to our environmental programs through guidance, training, and technical assistance, and you will help people connect with language services and build strategies to reduce barriers to access.

Join a unique team in the Office of Equity and Environmental Justice that is working to promote equity across all of the agency’s work.

• Help make Ecology’s information and services accessible to more Washingtonians by shaping the future of our language access program.
• Serve as the agency’s subject matter expert on state language access laws and policies, helping programs understand their responsibilities and supporting ongoing efforts to strengthen and assess compliance across the agency.
• Build staff capacity to improve language access through guidance, training, and technical support.
• Advise and strategize with our environmental programs on how best to reach linguistically diverse communities impacted by our broad range of work.
• Help agency staff quickly and confidently access language services through in-house staff and external vendors.
• Assess progress in our language access program and identify areas for agency growth or improvement.

For detailed information on how we calculate experience, please visit Recruitment website.

• Eight years of experience and/or education as described below:
  • Experience with Civil Rights Programs, using an equity lens in analyzing policies, laws, rules, or regulations, and leading others in administering Civil Rights Programs. Civil rights program experience may include civil rights investigation, law, or research; other non-discrimination efforts; or planning, implementing, or directing work in any of the following areas:
    • Language access
    • Translation or interpretation services
    • Accessibility
    • ADA compliance
    • Community or Tribal engagement
    • Environmental justice
  • Education involving a major study in business, public administration, political science, social science, race, gender, or sexuality studies, social justice, equity studies, language, linguistics, communications, law, public health, or related field.

• Understanding of federal and state language access requirements.
• Ability to design and implement language access programs.
• Understanding of translation and interpretation standards.
• Ability to understand and interpret language services contracts for Ecology staff.
• Data tracking and analysis skills.
• Ability to plan, implement, and sustain changes to how program staff do language access work.
• Excellent project management and communication skills.

• 8 years of experience.
• 7 years of experience AND 30-59 semester or…