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Director, Kearns & West

March 11, 2024 9:39 am

Denver, CO

Position Title: Director

Organization: Kearns & West

Location: Denver, CO

Organization Overview:  Kearns & West is a leader in the collaboration and communications field, providing services in strategic communications, public affairs, public involvement, facilitation, and community outreach and engagement for the public and private sectors. Founded in 1984, they have offices in Austin, TX; Denver, CO; Costa Mesa, Davis, Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside, CA; Washington, D.C.; and Portland, OR.

The firm’s mission is to work together to make a positive impact on society in an environment of opportunity, diversity, and respect. Focusing on positive, mutually beneficial results has allowed Kearns & West to maintain long-term relationships with the people and organizations it assists. The firm’s high-stakes projects include work at local, state, and national levels and cover a variety of sectors including transportation, land use and community planning, major public facilities and infrastructure, natural resources, energy, water, and marine resources.

At the core of all their projects is finding joint solutions to advance essential policies and programs. Kearns & West is the ideal match for professionals seeking meaningful work, opportunities for growth, and colleagues who are smart, capable, and supportive. Once on board, they hope team members will stay for the long term. Their entrepreneurial culture at Kearns & West prioritizes team initiatives in practice innovation and business development. Additionally, the firm has a partnership track and a commitment to professional development. Compensation and benefits at Kearns & West are highly competitive with firms in their field.

Position Overview: Based in Denver, the Director position involves a wide range of responsibilities and roles including facilitation; community engagement; project management; and translating for the public transportation, land use, natural resources, water, and energy issues in Colorado, the Rocky Mountain region, and nationally. They are looking for someone with experience and interest in public and private sector projects in Colorado and beyond. Interest in collaborative problem-solving and process design is essential. Candidates from a variety of backgrounds, including mediation, dispute resolution, public and/or environmental policy, and communications will be considered.

Duties: 

• Client-facing and project tasks.
• Work planning and project management.
• Problem solving.
• Interfacing with clients across all project tasks.
• Interacting with diverse individuals, communities, stakeholders, and Tribes.
• Small and large group process design and facilitation.
• Developing and implementing engagement strategies and plans, including stakeholder engagement and public outreach/involvement plans.
• Planning and facilitating small discussions, both in-person and using virtual collaborative technologies.
• Planning and executing public, community, and stakeholder and public meetings, workshops, and events.
• Strategic and thought leadership in communications, engagement, and public involvement areas.
• Research and continuous learning.
• Internal and business development tasks.
• Developing project proposals including budgets.
• Managing business development, contract administration, and invoice and expense report preparation.
• Participating in internal team calls to coordinate roles and tasks, and collaborate on ideas.
• Supporting a regional team.
• Planning and facilitating internal working groups and teams.
• Leading Kearns & West’s growing practice areas and strategic planning.

Minimum Qualifications:

• A minimum of seven years of work experience in relevant service areas, including public and multi-stakeholder engagement; multi-party negotiations; public policy mediation; facilitation; community outreach and engagement; conflict management and resolution; and strategic process planning.

MINIMUM EDUCATION:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent. Master’s degree, other advanced degree or educational equivalent is preferred. Potential education fields could include environmental management and/or policy, natural resource management, environmental science, public policy, or conflict analysis and resolution.
• Professional experience in a facilitator role or in a different topic area with significant facilitation, public process, or community engagement components may substitute for these requirements.

REQUIRED SKILLS:

• Excellent facilitation, listening, organizational, project management, and collaboration solutions skills.
• Excellent writing, presentation, public speaking, and teamwork skills.
• Fluency in MS Office (Word, PowerPoint, and Excel).

Preferred Qualifications:

The ideal candidate possesses the following skills and experience. These desired skills reflect the main duties of the Director position. Kearns & West encourages all applicants to apply, even if they do not meet all these preferred areas of skill and experience.

• Facilitating processes involving complex policy and planning issues.
• Building partnerships and relationships with, and listening to, clients and stakeholders.
• Designing and facilitating collaboration among diverse people, organizations, and sectors.
• Consulting experience in relevant sectors, including transportation, water, climate, equity, energy, and community and regional planning.
• Commitment to helping people of diverse backgrounds, interests, and partisan views resolve conflict and strengthen collaboration.
• A network of contacts, colleagues, and potential clients to develop business; and a proven record of entrepreneurship.
• Strong writing skills with ability to write clearly and succinctly for different audiences.
• Record of managing projects in collaboration with multiple team members, including project team members, consultants, clients, stakeholders, and communities and their representatives.
• Comfort, ease, agility, and confidence speaking publicly and before groups of all sizes.
• Ability to translate complex concepts into accessible, audience-specific materials.
• Self-motivated and comfortable working independently, yet committed to their team.
• Strong organizational skills, detail-oriented, flexible, and ability to manage multiple projects.
• Ability to determine priorities and meet project deadlines on multiple projects for multiple clients in a fast-paced environment.
• Ability to travel within Colorado, as needed.

DESIRED SKILLS:

• Experience and proficiency with web-based and collaboration technologies, project management tools, project accounting tools, database management, Adobe Creative Suite software, and social media tools.
• Fluency in a language other than English.

Start Date: Spring 2024 

Salary/Pay: $80,000-$125,000

How to Apply: Please use the online application to view the full job description as well as how to apply.

Posted by ezrastepanek

Categories: Bachelors Degree, Full time, Minimum Education

Tags: Director, Management, Outreach, Research

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