Senior Environmental Planner (Planning and Climate Protection)

Join an agency committed to creating a healthy breathing environment for every Bay Area resident while protecting and improving public health, air quality, and the global climate! 

The Bay Area Air District (Air District) is a regional government agency, committed to achieving clean air to protect the public's health and the environment. The Air District accomplishes this goal through regulation of industrial facilities and various outreach and incentive programs designed to encourage clean air choices.

 The Air District's jurisdiction encompasses all of seven counties - Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Napa, and portions of two others - southwestern Solano and southern Sonoma. 

At the Air District, we take pride in our commitment to fostering a workplace that values diversity and promotes cultural awareness. We prioritize employee engagement by providing a collaborative and inclusive environment that encourages active participation and open dialogue. Additionally, we believe in pay equity and strive to create an equitable compensation structure. With a strong emphasis on work-life balance, we understand the importance of supporting our employees' well-being both inside and outside the workplace. Join us in a dynamic and inclusive culture where your contributions are celebrated, and your growth is nurtured. This recruitment is for one (1) Senior Environmental Planner position. The Air District may hire from this recruitment process to fill future vacancies occurring within the next 18 months.

About You in the Position 

Successful candidates will have strong organizational, communication, and interpersonal skills, can thrive in a team environment, have project management experience and a collaborative mindset. Familiarity with geospatial data and visualization tools, and the state and federal Clean Air Act is preferred.

The Senior Environmental Planner will join other professional planners in the Planning and Climate Protection Division (Division). The Division is responsible for preparing plans to meet state and federal air quality standards and assisting local communities, cities, counties, and regional agencies improve air quality and advance climate protection efforts. They will conduct research, analyze issues, and create actionable recommendations, leveraging expertise in air quality, land use, transportation, California Environmental Quality Act, climate protection, and environmental justice.

In addition to preparing plans to meet the requirements of new or revised ambient air quality standards or air quality designation changes, Division staff also work on the Air District’s Community Health Protection Program implementing Assembly Bill 617; partner with impacted and overburdened communities and their local governments to reduce local air pollution, climate impacts and improve health outcomes; and work collaboratively to integrate air quality, health and climate protection into local and regional air quality plans, projects, and programs. The Division is responsible for developing the Air District’s California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) air quality and climate impact thresholds of significance and for developing and keeping current data, tools and guidelines to assist lead agencies complete air quality and climate impact analyses.

The Senior Environmental Planner may also support the effort to assess and report on the Bay Area region’s implementation readiness of Regulation 9, Rule 4 and Regulation 9, Rule 6 (building appliance rules). They will draft and/or review technical assessments, organize meetings to gather input from key stakeholders on challenges, and report to the Air District Board of Directors on outcomes.

 

DEFINITION  

Under direction, provides lead direction to environmental planning staff and conducts complex long-range planning for land use and environmental assessments; performs related work as assigned.  

DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS  

This is the advanced lead level in the professional planning series. Incumbents provide lead direction to environmental planners and perform highly specialized and difficult planning functions. Incumbents are assigned to design and implement programs that require considerable professional knowledge and the use of independent judgement. This class is distinguished from Principal Environmental Planner in that the latter has responsibility for creating projects and new programs, and handling the most difficult, sensitive, novel or critical projects.

EXAMPLES OF DUTIES (Illustrative Only)

Participates in the preparation of non-attainment area plans related to assigned work.

Leads and participates in preparation, review and editing of environmental impact assessment documents from other agencies; prepares Air District Lead Agency documents in accordance with relevant guidelines.

Monitors and evaluates legislation and other governmental actions relating to air quality management planning; develops recommendations for Air District regulations, policies and programs.

Performs research on specified administrative and technical activities necessary to achieve environmental review and planning objectives.

Interfaces with local, state and federal agencies in development of regional development issues.

Upon assignment, provides lead direction, training and work review to professional environmental planners on routine, continuing or well-defined tasks; prioritizes and follows up on work to ensure timely completion.
 
Upon request, provides input into selection decisions and performance evaluations.
 
Responds to inquiries from and represents the Air District with governmental officials, consultants, and the public related to environmental planning issues.
 
 Analyzes issues, prepares reports and recommendations relative to land use, regional development and related issues; provides input into planned development's impact on air quality.
 
Confers with personnel from other divisions and agencies in coordinating assigned work; meets with community organizations and other groups to encourage cooperative action or resolve problems.
Education and Experience:

A typical way to obtain the knowledge and skills is:

Equivalent to graduation from a college or university with graduate degree in regional, urban, or environmental planning or a closely related field and three years of professional environmental planning experience. Additional relevant experience may substitute for the graduate degree.


Knowledge, Skills & Abilities
 
Knowledge of:
 
Basic supervisory principles and practices.
 
Objectives, principles, procedures, standards, practices, information sources and trends in the field of environmental impact assessment and urban planning.
 
Application of land use, physical design, demographic, environmental, and social/economic concepts as applied to regional planning.
 
Objectives, principles, practices, information sources and trends in the field of air quality environmental impact assessment.
 
 Statistical analysis and mathematical concepts related to the planning process.
 
 Applicable Air District rules and regulations and state and federal laws.
 
 Terminology, symbols, methods and techniques of environmental and urban planning.
 
 Skill in:
 
Planning, assigning, directing and reviewing the work of others.
 
Training others in work procedure.
 
Directing and conducting complex environmental planning studies and activities.
 
Reading and interpreting laws, policies, procedures, regulations, maps, specifications, sites and building plans, graphs and statistical data.
 
 Making persuasive presentations of ideas and recommendations.
 
 Exercising sound independent judgement within established guidelines.
 
 Preparing clear, concise and complete technical documents, reports and correspondence.
 
Establishing and maintaining cooperative and effective relationships with those contacted in the course of the work.
 

Other Requirements

Specified positions may require a valid California driver's license. 

Must be willing to attend meetings outside of regular working hours.
Interested individuals must submit a completed Air District application, along with a chronological resume and the answers to the Supplemental Questionnaire no later than 5 p.m. on February 21, 2025. Applications are accepted online; please visit our website at www.baaqmd.gov/jobs to apply.
 
Resumes must be attached to the application and will not be accepted in lieu of the required application materials. Postmarks, faxes, and e-mailed applications will not be accepted.
 
Supplemental Questions Instructions
Individuals who apply for this position must respond to each of the required supplemental questions. Applications must be received by the Human Resources Office no later than the time and date specified in this vacancy announcement. The responses to the supplemental application questions will be used in accordance with the procedures indicated under the Selection Criteria section.
 
Do not combine your responses or reference your application, resume, or any other requested documentation that you have included with your application packet to answer a question. This information will be evaluated as is and may be used to determine those applicants with the most directly related experience, education, and training to continue in the selection process. It is very important to provide a concise, clear, legible, complete response to each question.
 
Selection Criteria
Selection may be based upon a competitive examination consisting of a written exercise, interview, or combination of the two. Depending on the number of qualified applicants, an application screening and/or panel interview may be used to determine the most qualified applicants.
 
Persons with disabilities who may require reasonable accommodations during the application and/or selection process should notify the Human Resources Office at (415) 749-4980.

The Air District is an Equal Opportunity Employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by federal, state, or local laws.

Salary : $125,685 - $152,771