Watershed Unit Supervisor; WMS

Keeping Washington Clean and Evergreen

The Department of Ecology is hiring a Watershed Unit Supervisor (WMS Band
1) within the Water Quality 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.
• A minimum of two days per week is required in the office.
• Schedules are dependent upon position needs and are subject to change.

• Apply by April 16, 2026
• 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.

Are you interested in leading a fantastic team of professionals responsible for restoring streams and protecting aquatic habitats? Can you picture yourself directing efforts to develop clean‑up plans and implement water quality improvement actions? Would you enjoy guiding 11 dedicated staff as they work to meet water quality standards in regional water bodies? If so, this position could be a great fit for you!

In this role, you will manage a team responsible for identifying and controlling nonpoint source water pollution, with an emphasis on riparian restoration. Your team will implement existing water quality clean‑up plans as well as develop new plans designed to achieve standards and protect aquatic habitat. The Watershed Unit collaborates with landowners and local partners to proactively restore streams using technical assistance and available grant funding.

As the supervisor, you will also help the unit choose when to use state regulatory tools to achieve compliance when proactive efforts are unsuccessful.

As the Watershed Unit Supervisor, you will work with your team to protect and restore water quality in streams, rivers, and lakes within the 13 Eastern Region counties. You will guide staff in performing water cleanup plan development and implementation, forest practices activities, non‑point pollution assessment, non‑point technical assistance and enforcement; and non‑point grants and loans within the region. You will also participate at the Water Quality Program level in the guidance and direction of policies related to this work.

Specific supervisory tasks include:

• Plan, lead, organize, and control the work performed by the Watershed Unit. Ensure appropriate and optimal use of the unit's resources, facilitate project teams, monitor status of unit tasks and commitments, and ensure timeliness of employee assignments.
• Manage recruiting and hiring of unit staff in accordance with the state's goals for a diverse workforce, collective bargaining agreement by and between the State of Washington and the Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE) in addition to civil service rules.
• Assure the timely completion of reports, agreements, plans, publications, recommendations, cleanup projects, and other required products.
• Provide review of documents to ensure that staff documents and recommendations are consistent with state and federal laws, regulations, policies, and guidelines.
• Prepare unit goals and objectives; coordinate annual planning activities and report on unit accomplishments.
• Support effective communications throughout the agency. Maintain channels of communication with other sections in the Water Quality Program and other programs in the agency. Facilitate conversations that foster clear, accurate, and timely information sharing.
• Evaluate unit staffing needs, arrange training and professional development opportunities, evaluate staff performance, and initiate or recommend corrective actions.
• Manage unit budget and monitor expenditures, approve leave, timesheets, training requests, travel expenses vouchers, and purchasing requests.

For detailed information on how we calculate experience and responses to other frequently asked questions, please visit our Recruitment website.

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

• Experience in environmental, physical, or natural science, engineering, natural resource planning,…