THE ORGANIZATION

Kearns & West is a leader in the collaborative communications field, providing services in stakeholder facilitation, public involvement, community outreach, and mediation, for the public and private sector. Founded in 1984, the small, woman-owned business has offices in Portland, Seattle, Denver, San Francisco, Riverside, San Diego, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Austin, Charleston, New York, and Washington, DC.

Focusing on positive, mutually beneficial results has allowed Kearns & West to maintain long-term relationships with the people and organizations they assist. 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. Developing solutions to advance essential policies and programs is a critical component of our project work.

Kearns & West is the ideal match for professionals seeking meaningful work, opportunities for growth, and colleagues that are smart, capable, and supportive. Once on board, our employees stay for the long term. The entrepreneurial culture at Kearns & West values employee initiatives in the practice of innovation and business development. Compensation and benefits at Kearns & West are also highly competitive with firms in our field.

THE POSITION

Kearns & West seeks a bi-lingual Spanish speaking Associate in our Portland, Oregon office. This position requires knowledge of and experience working with the Latinx community, in addition to culturally specific engagement work, the candidate will support a range of projects with multi-party collaboratives, stakeholder engagement, communications, and outreach. In this position they will have additional opportunities to work on other projects they are interested in as well. The position provides an opportunity to work on projects throughout the Pacific Northwest and the Mountain region as well as the opportunity to staff projects of national significance. Leadership and expertise in language access, culturally specific engagement strategies, understanding cultural considerations barriers, and opportunities for meaningful stakeholder involvement are desired attributes of the candidate.

The position requires the following skillsets:

• Support for multi-party collaboratives involving complex, high-profile public policy issues
• Leading or supporting coordination of meeting logistics
• Documenting stakeholder engagement and community meetings, including notetaking, report preparation, and database management
• Tracking project activities and deadlines
• Project research
• Communications and outreach support, including fluency in written and spoken Spanish to support translation and interpretation best practices
• Digital engagement and social media
• Preparation of informational materials for stakeholders and the public
• Proofreading reports and other documents
• Administrative duties
• Business development and development of project proposals including budgets
• Project management, contract administration, and invoice preparation

QUALIFICATIONS:

The successful candidate will have a bachelor’s degree in natural resources, public policy, communications, journalism, public relations, political science, or a related field. Interest in environmental/public policy issues, natural resource management, community/regional planning, equity and inclusive engagement, renewable energy, transmission, air quality, public involvement, conflict resolution, peacebuilding and mediation is also preferred. 2- 5 years of experience is preferred including transferable skills. Your transferable skills are any skills you have gained through education, work experience (including the military) or life experience that are relevant for this position. Be sure to describe any transferable skills on your application and clearly explain how they apply to this position. An advanced degree or education is a plus but will not change job duties.

We are looking for someone who is:

• Committed to, and has demonstrated relationships, work, and/or cultural connection to Latinx communities and other underserved and disadvantaged populations
• An effective and reliable communicator
• Organized and prepared to contribute to our full team
• Adaptable and flexible
• Self-motivated and comfortable working independently
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, deadline-oriented environment
• Interested in learning and growing professionally with our firm
• Comfortable with taking direction yet able to take the initiative as needed
• Able to reliably set priorities, manage multiple tasks, and meet project deadlines
• Able to work and balance multiple projects for multiple clients
• Successful at balancing working as part of a team with working independently
• Applicants must demonstrate strong computer skills with proficiency in Microsoft Office.

COMPENSATION :

SALARY RANGE- $55,000K -$70,000K

COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION

Kearns & West is committed to maintaining a diverse workplace and is an Equal Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.

HOW TO APPLY: To apply for the Associate position please APPLY HERE