Riparian Grant Program Specialist; Program Specialist

Schedule: The typical workweek is a standard 40‑hour workweek and may need occasional adjusting in order to meet the customer’s need. Work hours are typically 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday – Friday. This position requires occasional travel and overnight stays to attend commission meetings, workshops, meeting sites, or project sites to assist staff, arrange meetings, etc. Additionally, this position will operate in a hybrid/remote setting, with the expectation of being able to come into the office as needed.

This position has the ability to work from anywhere within Washington State.

Who we are: Washington State Conservation Commission (SCC) is a non‑regulatory state agency that supports and coordinates our state’s 45 conservation districts and administers voluntary conservation programs. Together, the SCC and conservation districts (CDs) provide incentive‑based services that empower people across Washington to take actions that keep natural resources and working lands healthy for all.

With funding from the Washington State Legislature, SCC administers the Riparian Grant Program (RGP) to restore and protect priority riparian areas across the state, through grants made to Conservation Districts for projects that restore, maintain, and enhance riparian habitat. In the Riparian Grant Program Specialist position, you will be responsible for building positive working relationships with diverse stakeholders and entities, including conservation districts and external partners.

You will provide internal program administration and implementation assistance and will coordinate outreach to conservation districts and interested parties on the program. Additionally, you will offer support for updating program guidelines and adjusting reporting or improving delivery systems to better accomplish program goals.

• Monitors and processes Riparian Grant Program (RGP) grant applications.
• Checks applications and project data in SCC’s grant portal for completeness and provides initial review of alignment with guidelines and SCC policies.
• Checks applications and project data in SCC’s Conservation Practice Data System (CPDS) for completeness and provides initial review of alignment with guidelines and SCC policies.
• Routes applications for review by other SCC staff, tracks awards as issued by finance staff team.
• Monitors and supports implementation of RGP grant awards.
• Provides technical resources and support to awardees. Resolves questions and issues as they arise from awardees.
• Monitors spending and progress of RGP awards including quarterly progress check‑ins with CDs, review of monthly spending reports, identification of any issues or anomalies occurring through these processes, elevates issues as appropriate to supervisor or others.
• Use knowledge of riparian restoration and knowledge gained from conservation district award implementation to support program administration process improvements (e.g. updates and improvements to the application, reporting tools, and data collection).
• Develops schedule, protocol, and template for 5‑year technical project site/field reviews and coordinates site visits with conservation districts.
• Integrates observations from site reviews into program administrative improvements.
• Provides technical advice to RGP participants on program practices, rules, policies and procedures to conservation district staff, other agencies and the public; ensuring compliance with policy and guidelines.
• Identify, develop or distribute resources to aid conservation districts to implement RGP awards and riparian restoration, in collaboration with Science Hub.
• Tracks RGP‑related activities and data. Assists in the development of report template and SCC data platform.
• Assists in program reporting processes for RGP portion of agency‑wide biennial and annual reports.

• A Bachelor’s Degree
• Two years of experience in natural resources or agricultural grant management, program administration, or related field
• Any combination of relevant experience, including strong working knowledge of ecological restoration principles
• Computer skills with Microsoft applications
• Strong…