Careers

Description:

At Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), our mission includes safeguarding the people who protect Washington’s lands, waters, and wildlife. 

We are seeking a strategic and experienced leader to serve as our Safety & Emergency Management Program Director (SEMPD). A high-impact role responsible for shaping and driving a culture of safety across our agency.

This is more than just a compliance role; it’s a leadership opportunity for someone who thrives on collaboration, innovation, and proactive risk management.

The SEMPD will serve as the agency’s top safety expert, working directly with executive leadership, staff, and external partners to implement world-class safety standards and emergency preparedness strategies.

In this role, you will:

• Set the vision for agency-wide safety and emergency management programs
• Lead a team of safety professionals to advance policies, training, and compliance
• Ensure regulatory compliance with OSHA, state, and federal safety laws
• Develop and oversee WDFW’s Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (CEMP) and Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP)
• Advise executive leadership on critical safety decisions that impact employees, operations, and public trust
• Develop process and procedures to stop unsafe operations when necessary to protect employees and resources
• Foster a proactive safety culture through communication, training, and continuous improvement initiatives

This is a career-defining opportunity for a leader who is passionate about protecting people, preventing risk, and ensuring operational resilience. If you have the expertise, leadership skills, and vision to elevate safety at WDFW, we want to hear from you.

What to Expect:

Among the varied range of responsibilities held within this role, the Safety & Emergency Management Program Director will, 

• Provide the Executive Management Team (EMT) with real-time safety concerns, safety recommendations, and decisions to establish a safety culture with robust safety processes, expert personnel, and best practices training. 
• Develop and maintain robust and productive relationships with all EMT members to ensure full implementation of a safety culture throughout WDFW.
• Lead and communicate clearly and consistently with the entire agency about safety changes and safety culture. 
• Lead, grow and support the safety professionals at WDFW
• Evaluate field emergency management and safety programs in conjunction with safety managers. 
• Develop proactive and reactive actions to identify problem areas and ensure emergency and security plans as well as facilities and equipment meet established Federal, State, and local guidelines.
• Managing the Safety and Emergency Management Office.
• Develop, monitor, and update safety regulatory and awareness policies and educational training for management, supervisors, and employees.
• Distribute safety regulations and appropriate industry "best practices," as well as internal "best practices" to management, supervisors, and employees to ensure continuous learning and improvement in health and safety performance.
• Analyze safety performance, make recommendations, and drive positive changes. 
• Develop, monitor, and distribute WDFW safety goals and/or benchmarks to employees and subcontractors.
• Lead and participate in project safety meetings as well as significant safety incident investigations and root cause analyses.
• Manage interactions and effectively communicate with all levels of management, outside support/consulting, and regulatory agency personnel.

Skills/Eligibility:

Required Qualifications: 

Seven (7) years of leadership/managerial experience in organization wide emergency management, safety, or security operation principles. 

Experience must include applying management principles including strategic and operational planning.

And all the following: 

• Demonstrated experience in leading cultural change across an organization; experienced in leveraging multiple approaches to helping people adopt and implement sustained change.
• Demonstrated experience in leading continuous improvement activities and programs, leveraging processes, tools, and best practices.
• Excellent soft skills  in communicating effectively with all levels of the organization.
• Effective in influencing change across functional boundaries.
• Budget development and cost management experience.
• Strategic planning and project management experience.
• Management/Senior Leadership experience.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Power Point, Outlook, etc.)

Preferred Qualifications:

In addition to the required qualifications, our ideal applicant will possess some or all the following:

• Bachelor’s degree with major study in Occupational Safety, Public Safety, Emergency Management, Public Administration or equivalent.
• Post education certifications such as Certified Safety Professional (CSP), Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH) or Certified Hazardous Materials Manager (CHMM).