Air Quality Specialist

Description

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (Air District) is a regional government agency, committed to achieving clean air to protect the public‘s health and the environment. The Air District accomplishes this goal through regulation of industrial facilities and various outreach and incentive programs designed to encourage clean air choices.

The Air District‘s jurisdiction encompasses all of seven counties - Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Napa, and portions of two others - southwestern Solano and southern Sonoma.

The Air District is currently accepting applications for the position of Supervising Air Quality Specialist in the Air Monitoring Projects & Technology Section of the Meteorology & Measurement Division. This is an open recruitment for one (1) vacancy which is a full-time, represented position.

The Meteorology and Measurement Division supports the mission of the Air District by monitoring air quality in the San Francisco Bay Area and emissions from industrial facilities; forecasting regional and local air quality; and conducting and supporting community organizations to do community-scale air monitoring to guide actions to reduce emissions in the Bay Area and in neighborhoods most impacted by air pollution.

About the Position:
Air Monitoring Projects and Technology (AMPT) is a section in the Meteorology and Measurement Division. Our team performs community-focused source-oriented air monitoring, and helps coordinate data management across the Division. The section investigates and develops tools, protocols, and procedures for testing and implementing air monitoring approaches to assess air quality at the local scale, particularly in disproportionally impacted communities.
While the Supervising Air Quality Specialist will oversee AMPT staff and assist with administrative responsibilities for the team, primary responsibilities will include leading the work of a new team centered around Air District ambient air monitoring in refinery communities, including the operation of multi-pollutant air monitoring stations. Tasks will include coordinating across sections in the Division on site development and construction of community monitoring sites, evaluating monitoring methods, and testing instrumentation, as well as station operation, data review, and quality assurance to meet program requirements and community expectations. The position will also help manage the schedules, scope, and functions of the refinery-community ambient air monitoring team, which may include additional monitoring to support other programs including incident response or to perform general air quality monitoring surveys in the future.

DEFINITION

Under direction, supervises the staff and activities for assigned programs in the areas of inspection, investigation, air monitoring instrument and equipment operation, air quality planning, rule development, enforcement and compliance operations, and other air quality program areas; performs related work as assigned.

DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS

This is the first full supervisory level in the Air Quality Specialist series. This class provides both supervision and highly specialized services in support of the Air District‘s goals and objectives. Successful performance of the work requires the use of independent judgement initiative within established guidelines. Incumbents are responsible for accomplishing program goals and objectives within policy guidelines. This class is distinguished from the Principal Air Quality Specialist, in that the latter does not supervise or evaluate staff on a continuing basis. This class is also distinguished from manager levels in that the latter performs management duties with responsibilities for a program or defined functional area.

Examples of Duties for this Position

(Illustrative Only)

General Duties:

Organizes, assigns, supervises, leads, reviews and evaluates the staff and work of assigned programs; ensures program effectiveness.

Advises staff on technical and regulatory issues.

Participates in and recommends the selection of assigned staff; provides for their training and development.

Supervises the development of policies, procedures, manuals, forms, webpages, and other tools.

Reviews and summarizes data, prepares special and periodic reports and ensures program effectiveness.

Interprets rules and policies to Air District staff, industry, the public and other agencies.

Develops, recommends and implements Air District policies and programs to enforce statutory and regulatory requirements for enforcement; develops and recommends the Air District‘s position on various enforcement matters such as hearing board actions and settlement conferences.

Conducts and participates in meetings and workshops with a variety of legal, public and private agency officials to explain and interpret technical policies, data, rules and regulations regarding programs.

Interacts and represents the Air District with industry, attorneys, the public and other agencies; provides technical expertise to Air District staff and counsel and to industry, the public and other agencies.

May provide input to air quality program budgetary needs.

Performs other related duties as assigned.

Representative Duties for Meteorology and Measurement

Coordinates specific programs, systems and activities such as the quality assurance/quality control program, repair and maintenance of equipment, monitoring site development, and other special projects.

Assigns, supervises, reviews and evaluates the work of technical and support staff.

Coordinates staff and manages resources for routine and special monitoring projects.

Coordinates air monitoring, and source test, and instrument performance evaluation projects, and activities with other Air District staff.

Reviews operational records, data and reports to ensure data validation, quality assurance and instrument performance and to ensure compliance with regulatory standards; detects, identifies, and resolves irregularities.

Participates in developing and implementing data systems and operational, analytical and technical procedures and methods.

Develops and recommends improved sampling techniques and equipment modifications.

Participates in inter-agency audits and studies; ensures compliance with all applicable regulations.

Maintains records and prepares special and periodic reports.

Assists with and conducts training on performance evaluations of the air monitoring network as needed.

Minimum Qualifications

A typical way to obtain the knowledge and skills is:

Education:

Equivalent to a Bachelor‘s degree from a four year college or university with major coursework in chemistry, computer science, electronics, engineering, environmental science, mathematics, meteorology, physical sciences, physics, or a closely related field.

AND

Experience:

Five (5) years of experience performing air quality inspections; installing, operating and maintaining air monitoring and quality assessment instruments and equipment; or developing and administering air quality programs, of which at least two (2) years included performing lead or supervisory responsibilities equivalent to the Air District‘s Senior Air Quality Specialist.

Substitution: Any combination of relevant training and work experience in the listed or related fields may substitute for the education criteria on a year for year basis.

Desirable Qualifications

• Experience with refinery operations and/or working in programs related to ambient air monitoring near refineries is highly desirable;
• Experience with operation and maintenance of semi-real time gas chromatography instrumentation (GC) and verification and validation of GC data;
• Experience in air monitoring station setup, operation, QA/QC, and maintenance;
• Experience growing a team, including balancing changing scope of work with staff and resources.

How to Apply & Selection Criteria

Interested individuals must submit a completed Air District application, chronological resume, and responses to the supplemental questions no later than 5:00 p.m. on Friday, December 27, 2024. Applications are accepted online only. Please visit our website at www.baaqmd.gov/jobs to apply or to download an application. Resumes must be included, and not in lieu of the required application materials. Postmarks, faxes, and E-mailed applications will not be accepted.

Except as requested in this announcement, do not include any additional documents, such as letters of recommendation, performance evaluations, work samples, etc. They will not be considered or returned.

Supplemental Questionnaire Instructions:
Individuals who apply for this position must respond to each of the supplemental questions. Both paper and online applications must be received by the Human Resources Office no later than the time and date specified in the vacancy announcement. The responses to the supplemental application questions will be used in accordance with the procedures indicated under the Selection Criteria in the vacancy announcement.

Instructions: Please limit your responses to one page per question. Do not combine your responses, or reference your application, resume, or any other requested documentation that you have included with your application packet to answer a question. Please be advised that the information you provide will be evaluated ‘as is‘ and incomplete or illegible applications will likely receive lower ratings. Therefore, it is very important to provide a concise, organized, and easy to follow response to each question.

You must provide the following for each question regarding experience: The name of the employer where you gained your experience, your job title, length of time in years/months performing the specific function, and detailed examples that illustrate your duties and responsibilities.

SELECTION CRITERIA:
Selection may be based upon a competitive examination consisting of a written exercise, interview, or combination of the two. Depending on the number of qualified applicants, an application screening and/or panel interview may be used to determine the most qualified applicants.

The District may hire from this recruitment process to fill future vacancies occurring within the next 18 months.

Updates regarding your status in the recruitment will be sent via email, unless you indicate a different preference on your application.

Persons with disabilities who may require reasonable accommodations during the application and/or selection process should notify the Human Resources Office at .

The District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

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