Lead Spill Responder​/Dangerous Waste Coordinator; Environmental Specialist

Overview

Keeping Washington Clean and Evergreen

The Department of Ecology is hiring a Lead Spill Responder/Dangerous Waste Coordinator (Environmental Specialist
4) within the Spill Prevention, Preparedness, and Response program.

• Eastern Region Office in Spokane, WA.
• Upon hire, you must live within a commutable distance from the duty station.

• This position is eligible for telework and flexible schedule options.
• This position involves field work and office work; you may telework most of your office work time with occasional in-person meetings and activities.
• Schedules are dependent upon position needs and are subject to change.

• Apply by December 18, 2025
• This position will remain open until filled. The agency reserves the right to make a hire at any time after application review begins. Applications received after the date above may not be considered.

In this role, you will respond to spills of oil and hazardous materials and respond to illegal drug manufacturing facilities to remove chemicals dangerous to human health and the environment. You will manage complex human health and environmental emergencies. You will work with a multi-disciplinary team and, as part of our cleanup efforts, contribute to Washington’s residents and environment. You will serve as Ecology’s State On-Scene Coordinator leading the response and cleanup of complex environmental spills in coordination with other federal, state, local, and tribal partners.

Preventing spills is always our first goal, but spills still happen. The goal of our spill preparedness work is to reduce environmental impacts of spills. We require oil handlers in Washington to be ready for a rapid, aggressive, and well-coordinated response to spills. We also require those responsible for spills to compensate the state for spill damages by restoring natural resources.

• Emergency Response to Spills & Threats:
  Respond to high-priority and complex environmental and human health emergencies, including oil spills, hazardous substances, abandoned waste, pressurized cylinders, fish kills, and illegal drug labs.
• Incident Command & Coordination:
  Serve as Initial Incident Commander / State On-Scene Coordinator, directing spill containment, cleanup, resource deployment, and multi-agency coordination.
• Hazardous Materials Operations:
  Perform hands-on cleanup and field operations, including opening containers of unknowns, sample collection, field testing and hazard categorization, over packing, and preparing waste for shipment.
• Dangerous Waste & Drug Lab Leadership:
  Lead regional coordination with law enforcement for clandestine drug lab responses and oversee dangerous waste management compliance, disposal, and emergency planning.
• Enforcement & Cost Recovery:
  Initiate enforcement recommendations, issue Short-Form Penalties up to $5,000, support cost recovery actions, and testify in administrative or legal proceedings as needed.
• Team Leadership, Training & Readiness:
  Provide training, mentoring, scheduling, equipment readiness oversight, HAZWOPER compliance tracking, and ensure readiness of personnel and response assets.
• Equipment, Vehicle & Instrument Management:
  Manage operation, calibration, maintenance, and safe use of response equipment, vehicles, boats, and monitoring instrumentation.
• Documentation, Reporting & Data Analysis:
  Prepare incident reports, regulatory records, waste tracking documents, enforcement documentation, and support regional data analysis and report preparation.

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

Nine (9) years of experience and/or education as described below:

Experience performing environmental-based work, OR work related to the position, that includes one or more of the following:

• Responding to spills or other emergencies
• Conducting sampling and analysis studies
• Working with monitoring instrumentation
• Managing hazardous waste disposal
• Performing cleanup or restoration actions
• Writing scientific or analytical reports
• Hazardous materials emergency response
• Responding to natural disasters

Experience must include demonstrated competence in…