Salary : $89,412.00 - $125,184.00 Annually
Location : Thurston County - Olympia, WA
Job Type: Agency Internal - Permanent
Remote Employment: Remote Optional
Job Number:
Department: Health Care Authority
Division: BHR
Opening Date: 10/02/2026
Closing Date: 10/11/2026 11:59 PM Pacific

Description
Behavioral Health Operations & Planning Manager - Internal

This is a full-time permanent, remote position. Employees may occasionally be asked to attend an in-person meeting or event based on business needs.

This is an internal opportunity and is only open to current HCA employees.

All HCA employees are required to be Washington state residents upon their first day of employment.

The Opportunity

The Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery (DBHR) is seeking a Behavioral Health Operations & Planning Manager to join its operations leadership team. Reporting to the DBHR Chief of Staff, you will serve as the division's expert on the Community Behavioral Health (CBH) budget, a statewide budget of more than $6 billion that includes federal block grants and state funding. You will lead the division's legislative coordination, compliance program, and contracting processes while supervising a team of professional staff, and your work will impact behavioral health services across Washington.

Key Responsibilities Include:

• Lead the review, planning, and oversight of the statewide Community Behavioral Health budget, and advise division leaders on the use of CBH funds.
• Collaborate on SAMHSA grant applications, reporting, and corrective action plans.
• Ensure federal and state compliance for grants and dedicated accounts, including waivers, audits, and compliance reporting.
• Coordinate bill analyses, decision packages, agency request legislation, and proviso tracking with the agency Legislative Affairs team.
• Serve as the division point of contact with the Office of Financial Management and legislative staff.
• Oversee the division's contract development processes and priority contract assignments.
• Advise the Attorney General's Office on behavioral health litigation and lead contingency planning on federal funding impacts.
• Supervise a team of professional staff and represent the agency with federal partners, legislative staff, and the community.

Why You'll Love This Role:

• You'll shape how more than $6 billion in community behavioral health funding supports services for people across Washington.
• You'll be a member of the DBHR leadership team, advising division and agency leaders on high-priority, high-visibility work.
• You'll work directly with legislative staff, the Governor's Office, federal partners, and community stakeholders on rapidly evolving behavioral health policy.
• You'll lead a team of professional staff while solving novel challenges that often come without a roadmap.

What You Bring:

You are a strategic thinker who develops practical solutions to complex challenges, even when there is no roadmap. You earn trust through honesty and professionalism, set clear goals, hold yourself and your team accountable, and adjust as priorities shift. You communicate clearly and persuasively with legislators, federal partners, advocates, and staff, and you bring an equity lens to decisions that affect the communities we serve.

Required Qualifications

Experience may have been gained through paid or unpaid activities. Please ensure any relevant experience defined below is outlined in your cover letter, resume, and application.

Strategic Thinking:Develop innovative ideas that provide solutions to workplace challenges.

• Demonstrated ability to identify internal and external factors that impact the organization and develop strategies to effectively respond to changing conditions.
• Demonstrated ability to evaluate social, fiscal, and political trends and consider their potential impact on agency priorities and operations.
• Demonstrated ability to allocate, manage, and redirect budget and resources responsibly and efficiently to support organizational priorities and maximize available resources.

Trust and Integrity:Earn the trust, respect, and confidence of coworkers and clients through consistent honesty, transparency, and professionalism.

• Demonstrated ability to model ethical behavior, recognize potential conflicts of interest, and act responsibly and with integrity.
• Demonstrated ability to build and maintain trust through honest and candid communication while demonstrating compassion, diplomacy, fairness, and professionalism.

Performance and Accountability:Create and support a performance-based culture focused on accomplishing organizational goals and advancing the agency's mission.

• Demonstrated ability to communicate organizational goals and strategies in a way that motivates others and connects the agency's mission, vision, and values to everyday work.
• Demonstrated ability to establish clear, realistic, and measurable goals, expectations, deadlines, and outcomes while adjusting priorities as circumstances change.

Advocacy and Relationships:Communicate clear, timely, and persuasive messages that strengthen stakeholder relationships and build commitment and support for agency priorities and objectives.

• Demonstrated ability to maintain effective communication with agency leadership and build commitment and support for agency priorities and initiatives.
• Demonstrated ability to develop respectful and collaborative relationships that foster shared understanding and support, including when decisions or outcomes affect stakeholders differently.
• Demonstrated ability to appropriately engage stakeholders in decision-making processes that may impact them.

Required Competencies:

Equity lens - All HCA employees are required to consider equity in their decisions, processes, and day-to-day work, including how their work may affect the people and communities we serve.

The ability to take action to learn and grow - You take action to learn and grow by seeking new perspectives, learning from experiences, and using what you've learned to continuously improve how you work and serve others.

The ability to take action to meet the needs of others - You take action to meet the needs of others by listening, understanding different perspectives, and responding with care, respect, and solutions that support the people of the communities we serve.

Preferred Qualifications

While these are not required, having them may help you stand out as an applicant.

• A bachelor's or master's degree in behavioral health, Social Services, Public Administration, Business, or a closely related field.
• Demonstrated ability to understand and support government-to-government relationships with Tribal Governments.
• Demonstrated ability to interpret and apply applicable federal and state laws, rules, regulations, policies, and procedures.
• Demonstrated experience applying Washington State procurement and contracting policies, procedures, and requirements.
• Demonstrated experience working within Washington State's legislative, budget, and authorizing environment, including analyzing legislation and understanding the legislative process.
• Demonstrated experience developing, drafting, and implementing agency policies and procedures.
• Demonstrated professional experience in legislative and policy support, system redesign, grant management, contract management, and mental health and/or substance use disorders, including leadership, coordination, and administration of service delivery systems.

About the Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery (DBHR)

The Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery (DBHR) provides support for substance use treatment, mental health services, and problem gambling services through prevention, treatment, peer, and recovery support. Programs promote strategies that support healthy lifestyles by preventing the misuse of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs, supporting recovery from substance use, promoting recovery and resiliency, reducing stigma, and mitigating the effects of problem gambling on the individual and family. DBHR brings operational elements such as substance use and mental health into closer working relations to serve individuals more effectively and efficiently.

Supplemental Information

Work Location and Schedule:

This is a full-time 40-hour-per-week remote position. Our standard business hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with alternative work schedules considered based on business needs and supervisor approval. In this role you will regularly collaborate with colleagues, agency leaders, state and federal partners, and other external partners or customers. Occasional travel may be required for meetings, training, or other business needs. All employees are required to report to our Olympia office on their first and final day of employment.

Application Directions:

To be considered, you must complete the online application in full and submit all required materials. Incomplete applications or applications missing required materials will not be considered. When completing your application, please include the following required materials:

• Cover letter: describing your qualifications for this specific position
• Resume: that details your applicable experience and education.
• Three (3) professional references: References must be entered directly into the designated references section of your application. We require 3 professional references including at least one current or recent supervisor.

We encourage you to apply

If you meet the required qualifications for this position; we want to hear from you. Desired qualifications describe additional experience, knowledge or skills that may be helpful in the role, but they are not required to be considered for the position. We welcome applicants with different backgrounds, experiences, identities, and perspectives.

Veterans

We value the experience and skill veterans bring to the workforce and encourage veterans, transitioning service members, and military spouses to apply. Eligible veterans may qualify for veterans' preference in accordance with Washington State Law. If you are claiming veterans' preference, you must attach your applicable DD-214 documentation to your application. Please redact your social security number, date of birth, and any other sensitive information before uploading and attaching the document.

Need accommodations or have questions?: If you have questions, need assistance with the application process, require an accommodation, or would like to request this posting in an alternative format, please contact Lisa Fleming, Human Resource Consultant (Recruiter) at and reference the recruitment title and job number in the subject line.

Technical Support: Reach out to NEOGOV directly at 1-855-524-5627 for technical support and login issues.