Architecture & Engineering Lead (Contract Specialist III)

Summary

King County’s Finance and Business Operations Division, Procurement & Payables Section, is seeking a Lead Contract Specialist for the Architecture & Engineering (A&E) Procurement Team! This position is responsible for leading, overseeing, and reviewing the work of the team, as well as providing expertise as a technical procurement specialist for major capital improvement projects involving architecture, engineering, and professional services. This position is also responsible for managing and mitigating the risks inherent in contracting to protect the County from litigation, criticism, or unanticipated costs.

We are looking for a self-motivated, enthusiastic, forward thinking, agile, and customer service driven employee to join our high performing team. If you are a natural leader who leads by example, is detail oriented, can work both collaboratively and independently, enjoys finding solutions to procurement challenges, and does all this with a positive attitude, this job is for you!

The ideal candidate has a sense of humor, gets along well with others, can lead team discussions, performs their work proactively, makes sound decisions, takes actions to resolve issues, knows when to escalate an issue, is organized and able to stay on schedule, values personal responsibility, and is able to hold the team accountable.

Candidates with backgrounds that demonstrate contract administration, contract compliance, or complex project delivery are encouraged to apply.

• Assigning and overseeing workload
• Resolving contract and procurement issues
• Identifying and removing roadblocks for the team
• Acting as point of contact for agency collaboration on contracting needs
• Providing training for staff and customers
• Leading process improvement projects
• Coaching, mentoring, and leading staff to high levels of professional development and productivity
• Research, prepare, and issue solicitation and contract documents in accordance with County policies and procedures.
• Determine applicability of federal and state requirements including but not limited to Federal Transportation Administration, Federal Highway Administration, and State Revolving Funds.
• Suggest alternative contracting methods such as general contractor construction manager, design-build, and job order contracting in compliance with state laws.
• Develop, review, and edit boilerplate documents such as RFPs, contracts, templates, guidelines, exhibits, forms, and manuals; and research cited references to RCW, WAC, or CFR to ensure references are current.
• Provide strategic advice, innovative solutions, technical expertise, and direction to ensure compliance with applicable policies, rules, and regulations.
• Support procurement’s position with knowledge of best practices, policies, executive orders, King County code, statutes, regulations, ordinances, and contract terms and conditions.
• Other duties as assigned.

• Experience planning, advertising, evaluating, and negotiating procurements and/or executing contracts for architecture and engineering services
• Strong problem-solving, analytical, and investigative research skills.
• Experience improving operations, decreasing cycle time, streamlining work processes, and providing quality customer service.
• Experience managing different opinions, facilitating discussion, resolving conflicts, and finding resolutions.
• Strong communication, interpersonal, writing and customer service skills
• Intermediate level of technology proficiency using MS Office Productivity tools in your daily work
• Ability to manage your time and adapt to changing priorities, work on multiple priorities and projects simultaneously, meet quick deadlines, and produce timely and quality work products.
• Ability to work with people from diverse backgrounds.

• Associate DBIA or DBIA certification from the Design Build Institute of America;
• Knowledge of industry principles and practices for construction and/or alternative public works procurements and/or contracts;
• Experience with LEAN processes and principles;
• Experience with SharePoint, MS Teams, and other collaborative online tools.

Position Information:

• Work Site Details: The 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, Seattle, Washington 98104. Please reach out for additional details at the contact below.
• Location Requirement: 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 position is exempt from the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act and therefore is NOT overtime eligible. Employees are paid on a bi-weekly schedule, every other Thursday, comprising a 40-hour workweek; normally 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.
• Union Representation: This position is Teamsters 117 represented.

The selection process consists of different phases: screening interview, virtual interview, and if successful, pre-hire reference checking. For some positions, additional phases may also include skill testing, writing samples or additional interviews. Candidates will be updated on the status of their application via the email address used to apply.

Each phase is set for a specific day. Different times will be available for those days only. Please reach out to the contact below to confirm dates. Rescheduling interviews may not be possible and may remove you from consideration if unavailable.

If you have any questions or concerns while applying, please contact: Michael Castro, Recruiter Email: mcastro@kingcounty.gov

Supplemental Information

Forbes named King County as one of Washington State's best employers.

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.

To Apply

If you are interested in pursuing this position, please follow the application instructions carefully. If you need this announcement in an alternate language or format, would like to request accommodation or assistance in the application or assessment process or if you have questions please contact the recruiter listed on this job announcement.