Lead Spill Responder/Dangerous Waste Coordinator (Environmental Specialist 4)

Lead Spill Responder/Dangerous Waste Coordinator

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.

Location:

• Northwest Region Office in Shoreline, WA.
• The salary listed includes 5% premium pay due to the position location in King County.
• Must live within a 60-minute commuting distance of the Northwest Region Office.
• This position is eligible for a 10% Spill Response Assignment Pay once all training requirements and certifications are met and maintained. This position also has periods of mandatory overtime. Additionally, this position is required to participate in an after-hour on-call duty rotation.

Schedule:

• This position is eligible for telework and flexible schedule options.
• This position requires field work and emergency response, while there is some office work and 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.

Application Timeline:

• Apply by March 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.

Duties

In this role, you will respond to and clean up spills of oil and hazardous materials – including removing chemicals and waste from illegal drug manufacturing facilities. You will recognize tangible environmental results and public safety improvements will be made every day. If you enjoy an ever-changing dynamic work environment and seeing immediate environmental benefits as a result of the work you and our team perform, we believe you would enjoy this great opportunity.

Preventing spills is always our first goal, but despite our efforts, 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.

What you will do:

• 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: opening containers of unknowns, sample collection, field testing and hazard categorization, overpacking, 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.

Qualifications

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

Nine years of combined experience and/or education.

Experience: Performing environmental-based work, OR work related to any of the following:

• Incident Command and Emergency Response Leadership: Ability to serve as an initial Incident Commander or State On-Scene Coordinator, applying Incident Command System (ICS) principles to manage complex oil and hazardous materials incidents involving multiple agencies and competing priorities.
• Advanced Spill Response and Hazardous Materials Operations: Skill in planning, directing, and performing hands-on response actions for oil spills, hazardous substance releases, abandoned waste, and illegal drug manufacturing facilities, including containment, cleanup, and mitigation in high-risk environments.
• Hazard Identification, Sampling, and Field Analysis: Knowledge of hazardous substance identification, sampling techniques, field testing, and hazard classification, including safe handling of unknown materials and interpretation of monitoring data against health-based and regulatory standards.
• Dangerous Waste Management and Regulatory Compliance: Knowledge of federal and state dangerous waste regulations and ability to ensure compliant waste handling, storage, transportation, disposal, inventory tracking, reporting, and emergency response planning.
• Interagency and Law Enforcement Coordination: Skill in coordinating and leading response activities with local, state, federal, and tribal partners, including law enforcement agencies.

Experience must include demonstrated competence in the following skill sets:

• Must have prior hazardous materials emergency response experience, and experience managing and disposing Dangerous Waste.
• Using critical / analytical thinking and problem-solving skills to make decisions or determine a course of action.
• Reviewing / assessing information and data to draw conclusions and recommending decisions or actions.
• Conducting research and performing data analysis on both qualitative and quantitative data.

Education: in environmental science, engineering, chemistry, biology, or a closely related scientific or technical field that provides knowledge of emergency hazardous materials response.

Examples of how to qualify:

• 9 years of experience.
• 8 years of experience AND 30-59 semester or 45-89 quarter college credits.
• 7 years of experience AND 60-89 semester or 90-134 quarter college credits (Associate's degree).
• 6 years of experience AND 90-119 semester or 135-179 quarter college credits.
• 5 years of experience AND a Bachelor's degree.
• 3 years of experience AND a Master's degree.
• 2 years of experience AND a Ph.D.

Hazardous Materials Technician Certification per WAC 296-824 and 296-843 is required. Must have prior hazardous materials emergency response experience, and experience managing and disposing Dangerous Waste. Must have ICS 100, 200, 700 and 800 certifications. Free on-line ICS training and certification is available at:

• ICS 100:
• ICS 200:
• ICS 700:
• ICS 800:

Special Requirements/Conditions of Employment:

• Must hold and maintain a valid driver's license and be able to operate a motor vehicle.
• Must pass employment medical surveillance physical and demonstrate and maintain the ability to wear respiratory protection and chemical protective clothing.
• Must be able to pass a detailed background check required to obtain and maintain a Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC).
• Must successfully complete initial SAFETRAC requirements and other required training outlined in Spills Program Policy and Procedures within 6 months of entering the position.
• Must be prepared for a minimum 3-day field deployment within 1 hour of notification.
• Must hold and maintain eligibility and certification (valid passport or enhanced driver's license) to permit travel to Canada in the event of a transboundary spill.
• This position is