Labor Relations & Policy Director

Please note:

The starting salary offer will be determined based on the successful candidate’s qualifications within the starting salary range of $150,000 - $165,000 annually. Please note that there is career salary growth beyond this starting range for the successful candidate.

Hybrid:
Our physical office is in Olympia, WA. We offer flexible work schedules and locations. This is a hybrid position where most of the work allows for telework. However, you will need to travel to in‑person activities, meetings, and events as needed for business purposes.

Office of Financial Management (OFM) serves as the backbone of Washington state government. Our mission is to make our state a better place by connecting people, budgets, policies, data, and systems for state agencies and the Legislature. Our team includes budget advisors, researchers, and other experts, all dedicated public servants working toward an equitable future for every Washingtonian.

If you want to play a key role in enhancing how state government serves its citizens, you’ve found the right place. Join us in making a meaningful difference for every Washingtonian!

As the Director of our Labor Relations and Compensation Policy Section, you’ll serve as the state’s lead voice on labor relations, trusted by executive leadership, agency leaders, and labor organizations to bring sound judgment, deep labor law knowledge, and steady leadership to complex and high‑stakes issues.

This role puts you at the center of labor relations and compensation strategy for the state of Washington. You’ll also guide negotiations and oversee the development and administration of more than thirty collective bargaining agreements and major health care agreements, with decisions that can represent financial commitments of a billion dollars or more. These decisions shape pay, benefits, and working conditions for tens of thousands of state employees and publicly funded service providers.

In this role, how you engage matters. You must communicate carefully and respectfully in every setting, recognizing that your words and decisions can bind agencies, impact working conditions, and create substantial financial obligations for the state.

If you are motivated by public service, comfortable with accountability, and prepared to lead labor relations work that affects hundreds of thousands of people across Washington, this role offers the opportunity to make a meaningful statewide impact.

• Develop statewide labor relations strategy and approach with labor organizations representing state employees and publicly funded service providers.
• Make recommendations on state employee compensation strategy.
• Set the direction, activities, and performance measures of the Labor Relations and Compensation Policy Section.
• Work with the Division Chief of the Attorney General’s Office (AGO), Labor and Personnel Division, to ensure alignment with legal guidance, consistent collective bargaining agreement interpretation, and a unified approach to labor relations and legal advice to agencies.
• Brief the Labor and Policy Strategy Officer, who will liaise with the Governor, Governor’s policy staff, and Legislative staff on bargaining progress and outcomes and other labor relations matters.

• Demonstrated knowledge of professional‑level labor relations negotiations, including setting strategy, executing collective bargaining agreements successfully, and implementing the terms of those agreements post‑bargaining; and leading others to do the same.
• Demonstrated skills as a lead negotiator, preferably in the public sector; includes the ability to formulate and articulate labor relations principles and negotiating strategies, including the role of the union and its business interests and goals.
• Demonstrated skills managing a team or workgroup with four or more employees, including responsibility for interviewing, hiring, assigning, directing work, evaluating, setting expectations, instructing, coaching, and identifying training needs.
• Significant experience developing professional working relationships with labor…