Senior Water Quality Planner - Pollution Prevention Specialist

Summary

The King County Wastewater Treatment Division (WTD) is seeking a Senior Pollution Prevention Specialist (Water Quality Planner/Project Manager III) to support the division’s lines of business as a lead subject matter expert in matters of pollution prevention, source control practices and regulations, and technical support for issues in toxic contaminants and contaminants of emerging concern (CECs).

The Senior Planner is a key team member in the division’s regulatory compliance work involving the Clean Water Act‑NPDES, Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) and sediment management programs. The role coordinates source control related work across the division’s planning, operations, resource recovery and environmental monitoring programs, influences policies and strategic planning, and supports public health and environmental stewardship.

• Coordinate pollution prevention program actions for individual NPDES permits for wastewater treatment plants and the CSO system.
• Serve as point of contact for WTD’s division‑wide contaminant source control activities, monitoring state of science, technology and regulations around legacy pollutants and CECs.
• Coordinate actions under King County’s SCIP for the Lower Duwamish Waterway Superfund site, including preparation of annual reports and 5‑year updates.
• Assist with obligations for WTD facilities under the County’s Phase 1 Municipal Stormwater NPDES Permit, supporting regulatory compliance for permitted sites and Green Stormwater Infrastructure.
• Coordinate pollution prevention planning processes: problem definition, scoping, budgeting, team building, prioritization and scheduling of tasks, and support decision‑making.
• Communicate and coordinate teamwork, objectives and outcomes, data collection and analysis, information dissemination, and education and outreach for technical contaminant studies.
• Incorporate principles of sustainability and equity as outlined in the County’s Equity and Social Justice Strategic Plan.
• Manage work activities to meet or exceed established standards for regulatory compliance and service to ratepayers.
• Navigate achieving results from people who do not report to you while maintaining good working relationships.

• Minimum 5 years of experience in environmental pollution prevention, source control, or investigations with toxic contaminants in wastewater or stormwater.
• Demonstrated experience in collecting and interpreting environmental information to support administrative records, reports and meetings.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills for conveying technical, regulatory, or complex information to diverse audiences.
• Ability to identify approaches and methods to resolve problems or issues with ambiguity and lack of established procedures.
• Experience coordinating or leading teams or projects.

• Communicates Effectively – develops and delivers multi‑mode communications that convey a clear understanding of unique audience needs.
• Collaborates – works cooperatively with others across the organization, gains trust and supports shared objectives.
• Plans and Aligns – plans and prioritizes work to meet commitments aligned with organizational goals.
• Resourcefulness – secures and deploys resources effectively and efficiently.
• Manages Complexity – makes sense of complex, high‑quantity information to solve problems.

• Experience in environmental regulatory compliance (Clean Water Act‑NPDES, industrial pretreatment, Safe Drinking Water Act, RCRA/CERCLA).
• Direct experience preparing data, documents, reports or compliance submittals for environmental programs.
• Experience applying an equity or environmental justice framework in work.

Hybrid work model: days in the office and telecommuting. The primary onsite location is the collaboration space at King Street Center, 201 S. Jackson, Seattle, Washington 98104 and King County Treatment Plants. Employees must reside in Washington state and be within a reasonable distance from their County worksite.

Work schedule:

40‑hour work week, Monday‑Friday, with occasional evenings and weekends to meet business needs. This position is exempt from the overtime provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Union Representation:
Technical Employees’ Association (TEA) – Wastewater Treatment Division.

King County is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Employer. No person is unlawfully excluded from employment opportunities based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation and pregnancy), age, genetic information, disability, veteran status, or other protected class. Our EEO policy applies to all employment actions.