Safety, Health, and Wellness Director

Safety, Health, and Wellness Director

Seattle City Light, a department of the City of Seattle, is one of the nation's largest municipally owned utilities in terms of the number of customers served. Over the years we have worked very hard to keep Seattle's electricity safe, affordable, reliable, and environmentally sound. Today, City Light is a recognized national leader in energy efficiency and environmental stewardship.

The People and Culture business unit is recruiting for a Safety, Health, and Wellness Director to provide enterprise-level strategic leadership for the utility on all safety matters. The objective of this team is to ensure that every employee has a safe place to work—both physically and psychologically. This position is responsible for a budget of approximately $4.1 million. Decisions involve broad organizational policy and substantial financial commitment on the part of the utility.

This role serves as a key member of City Light's senior management team and plays an important role in the City of Seattle's interdepartmental teams. This position will report to the Chief People and Culture Officer.

Key responsibilities and deliverables may include, but are not limited to:

• Providing executive leadership and direction across Safety, Health, and Wellness functions, ensuring integrated operations, clear prioritization, and alignment with utility and Citywide objectives.
• Planning, organizing, and directing multiple functions that promote a safety culture and safeguard employee health and safety, using a methodical and data-informed approach that balances operational stability with innovation and change.
• Leading, coaching, and supporting leadership across diverse functions, including direct oversight of leaders responsible for safety, health, and wellness; building leadership capacity; reinforcing clear accountability; and strengthening cross-functional coordination across the enterprise.
• Providing fiscal oversight for operating unit budgets, ensuring effective resource utilization; aligning work plans to strategic and budget priorities; maintaining compliance with budgetary constraints; and supporting forecasting and planning for operational and capital improvements.
• Serving as a representative of the utility on matters related to safety, health, and wellness as appropriate, engaging effectively with executive leadership, City partners, labor partners, and external agencies to advance shared goals.
• Formulating and advancing policy, program, and foundational framework recommendations that strengthen organizational effectiveness, drive consistency across the utility, and ensure the appropriate allocation of resources. This includes creating and implementing a vision for the future of the safety program.
• Actively promoting and operationalizing Citywide and City Light initiatives, including those related to equity, inclusion, and social justice, ensuring these priorities are embedded in workplace practices, systems, service delivery, and team culture.
• Performing other related duties of a comparable level/type as assigned, with a focus on maintaining continuity, mitigating risk, and supporting the organization through change and transition.

In addition to the skills and experience mentioned below, a successful applicant will have experience that reflects a commitment to creating fair and equitable outcomes and has:

Experience:

• Substantial management and leadership experience typically gained through 10 or more years of progressively responsible assignments, with at least 7 years as a senior leader in a large, complex, multicultural, and diverse organization. Candidates should bring demonstrated ability to lead enterprise functions; drive organizational change; build capacity in teams and leaders; and influence outcomes across a matrixed environment where authority is shared.
• Skilled in complex negotiations; developing consensus within an organizational climate of diverse operational activities and often conflicting regulations; facilitating resolution of difficult crisis situations; and working directly with employees, executive management, elected and appointed…