Community Engagement Specialist

Community Engagement Specialist Salary: $110,087.54 - $139,542.21 Annually Location: Seattle - Regional area, WA Job Type: Career Service (Exec) Job Number: 2026JJ27060 Department: DNRP-Natural Resources & Parks Division: WLRD -Water & Land Resources FLSA: Exempt Bargaining Unit: F3A : L117-P&T Full- or Part-Time: Full Time Summary This opportunity is open to current King County employees. We are not accepting external applications at this time. Protect water quality. Build community partnerships. Continue serving King County communities in a role focused on equity, environmental stewardship, and meaningful public engagement. About the Role As the Community Engagement Specialist, you will lead outreach and engagement efforts that support stormwater programs, water quality initiatives, and future capital projects serving communities across unincorporated King County. You will work closely with community organizations, residents, planners, engineers, project managers, and leadership to ensure community feedback and lived experiences are incorporated into planning and decision‑making processes. The successful candidate will support engagement efforts focused on overburdened and vulnerable populations and will foster meaningful partnerships that strengthen environmental outcomes and community trust. This position includes attending community meetings and events throughout King County, including occasional evenings and weekends. This role is ideal for someone who enjoys relationship‑building, facilitating collaboration across diverse groups, translating technical information into accessible messaging, and supporting equitable public engagement strategies. About the Team King County’s Stormwater Services Section is committed to protecting public safety, improving water quality, and restoring aquatic resources in unincorporated King County. The Water Quality Compliance Unit works collaboratively with internal partners, community organizations, cities, tribes, and regional stakeholders to advance environmental stewardship and support healthy, resilient communities. Job Duties What You Will Be Doing Conduct community engagement efforts required by King County’s NPDES Phase I Municipal Stormwater Permit. Lead development of strong partnerships with community regarding planning efforts and future stormwater capital investments. Ensure ongoing community involvement and meaningful participation, maintaining partnerships and accountability to affected communities. Provide expertise on policies, practices and program models impacting communities in unincorporated King County, particularly overburdened communities. Offer continuous technical assistance and deploy efforts to support contract partners in overcoming program barriers. Lead implementation of Stormwater Services community engagement strategies through partnerships with leadership and staff, community leaders, regarding the importance and priorities of community engagement in King County’s stormwater management program. Cultivate and sustain relationships and partnerships with coalitions and key leaders, as well as organizations within unincorporated King County communities, influencing and learning from collective perspectives and efforts regarding issues affecting overburdened populations. Coordinate with engagement efforts across programs impacting permit compliance and water quality at the county. Provide support for collecting and analyzing data to conduct program needs assessments, evaluate outcomes, and recommend quality improvement. Assist in intra‑departmental engagement efforts related to water quality and key issues identified by communities, ensuring alignment with county initiatives. Work closely with teammates to identify issues, assess impacts and risks, and offer recommendations. Implement community engagement strategy development, tracking, and implementation. Review local and regional plans and proposals concerning communities we serve to understand objectives, expected outcomes, and alternatives. Contribute to communications planning efforts. Prepare clear, concise, and objective documents, reports, and briefings orally and in writing, summarizing analytic findings, issues, and alternatives effectively. Experience, Qualifications, Knowledge, Skills Qualifications You Bring Proficient in use of Trello and Microsoft Office programs including SharePoint, Teams, Excel, Word and Outlook. Demonstrated experience building relationships and engaging communities to achieve positive outcomes. Experience working for public utilities or public organizations focused on environmental policy and/or infrastructure improvements. Exceptional writing and oral presentation skills including use of social media platforms. Competencies You Bring Balances Stakeholders: Anticipating and balancing the needs of multiple stakeholders. Action Oriented: Taking on new opportunities and tough challenges with a sense of urgency, high energy, and enthusiasm. Plans and Aligns: Planning and prioritizing work to meet commitments aligned with organizational goals. Interpersonal Savvy: Relating openly and comfortably with diverse groups of people. Instills Trust: Gaining the confidence and trust of others through honesty, integrity, and authenticity. Racially Just: Identify and replace racist systems and structures with anti‑racist and pro‑equity approaches. Nimble Learning: Actively learning through experimentation when tackling new problems, using both successes and failures as learning fodder. It Would Be Nice If You Also Bring Knowledge of stormwater impacts. Working Conditions Remote and Onsite Work: The Stormwater Services Team works in a hybrid model, with days in the office as well as telecommuting. The ratio of remote to onsite work will be dependent on business needs and is subject to change. The primary onsite location is King Street Center, 201 S. Jackson St, Seattle, WA 98104. Employees must reside in Washington state and within a reasonable distance to their King County worksite to respond to workplace reporting requirements. Work Schedule: This full‑time position will work a 40‑hour work week. The typical work schedule is 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Monday–Friday. Work outside the typical work schedule including early mornings, evenings and weekends may be required from time to time. Union Representation: This position is represented by Teamsters Local Union Local 117 bargaining unit. Equal Employment Opportunity Statement 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, including but not limited to recruitment, hiring, selection for training, promotion, transfer, demotion, layoff, termination, rates of pay or other forms of compensation. #J-18808-Ljbffr