What are the responsibilities and job description for the Hazard Mitigation Project Specialist position at YA?
Company Overview:
YA is an international professional services organization providing forensic consulting, engineering, risk mitigation, and related services. Founded over 25 years ago as a property damage consulting firm, YA has expanded through organic growth and strategic acquisitions. Today, YA has over 600 professionals dedicated to excellence, partnership, and driving innovation.
YA’s Government Services division partners with government and corporations to protect the communities we love. Our team specializes in emergency management, disaster mitigation, grants administration, floodplain management, urban and regional planning, and community resilience for public, private, and non-profit sector clients. Government Services brings the insight and creative strategies needed to deliver outstanding results to clientele around the nation.
Summary:
Hazard Mitigation Project Specialists provide administrative and programmatic support through all stages of the federal and state grant program lifecycle - pre-award review, project implementation, progress monitoring, and award closeout. Hazard Mitigation Project Specialists are responsible for communicating expectations and requirements with project applicants, analyzing proposals and budgets, ensuring compliance with the established program requirements, and providing coordination between Local, State and Federal levels of government and other entities.
This is an entirely remote role. However, we are unable to consider candidates located in CA, HI, or NY. Individuals located in the Southeast United States are encouraged to apply.
Role & Responsibilities:
- Oversee the lifecycle of mitigation projects from pre-award review to award closeout, communicating and collaborating with all applicable parties (counties, cities, state, etc.).
- Review mitigation project applications submitted, ensuring proper procedures are followed during the application review process, and answering questions as needed.
- Submit completed project applications to FEMA for funding.
- Draft project agreements, reviewing requested modifications and updating as needed until a final agreement has been executed.
- Continuously monitor active projects, reviewing quality reports, processing payments, communicating with all involved parties, and ensuring compliance regulations are met.
- Collect, analyze, organize, and summarize financial/grant data.
- Assist with federal and client-specific reporting requirements.
- Track and monitor budgets; communicate results with project and client management.
- Research and maintain fluency in rules and regulations associated with various federal programs, including but not limited to FEMA, the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF), programs under the Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act (IIJA), or other federal funding workstreams with state and local clients.
- Form trusted advisor relationships with clients, project management, state agencies, sub-recipients, and internal subject matter experts.
- Assist client performance management of FEMA funds through routinely and proactively assessing the overall portfolio, anticipating challenges, and providing recommendations.
- Upon completion of projects, oversee final project inspections and closeout processes referencing the original project agreement.
Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in environmental studies, Hazard Mitigation, Urban Planning, Public Administration, Water/Conservation Management, Environmental Science, Emergency Management, Economics, or a related field required.
- 3 years' work experience required.
- Experience with FEMA's HMA initiatives, including HMGP, FMA, and BRIC programs, comparable mitigation or resilience programs at the federal or state level, or federally funded disaster recovery programs preferred.
- Experience with CDBG projects strongly preferred.
- Hazard mitigation planning experience preferred.
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office Word, Excel, Outlook, and Adobe.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
