Job Description:Position Overview:
The Director, Emergency Management and Preparedness, [California], leads Chemonics' market development, client engagement, and strategic positioning across the state's emergency management and preparedness ecosystem. Serving as Chemonics' senior in-state representative for this market, the Director develops and executes the state emergency management growth strategy, cultivates trusted relationships with public-sector and community stakeholders, shapes a qualified pipeline of opportunities, and helps position Chemonics for sustained success in preparedness, response, recovery, mitigation, resilience, and grant-funded programs.
The Director maintains senior relationships with the state emergency management agency, county and municipal emergency management agencies, regional and special-purpose entities, healthcare coalitions, community-based organizations, private-sector partners, and other stakeholders. The role requires strong knowledge of the state's emergency management environment, demonstrated field credibility, and the ability to translate client needs and market intelligence into actionable growth, partnership, and delivery strategies.
The Director is accountable for the development and health of Chemonics' emergency management portfolio within the assigned state. The position recommends market priorities, identifies and shapes opportunities, advises leadership on investments and pursuit decisions, supports the formation of competitive teams, and provides senior technical and contextual guidance for proposals and project delivery.
The position emphasizes senior market leadership, client trust, portfolio development, and emergency management expertise. The Director is accountable for ensuring that Chemonics' pursuits reflect credible state-specific strategies, relationships, partners, operating realities, and technical approaches.
Responsibilities:
State Market Strategy and Portfolio Leadership
- Develops and leads implementation of Chemonics' emergency management and preparedness market strategy within the assigned state.
- Establishes annual and multi-year objectives for market positioning, relationship development, pipeline growth, partnerships, and portfolio expansion.
- Maintains a comprehensive understanding of the state's emergency management priorities, funding environment, procurement mechanisms, policy developments, operational needs, and competitive landscape.
- Translates market intelligence into specific recommendations for investment, capability development, partnering, and business development.
- Advises unit and divisional leadership on emerging opportunities, risks, market conditions, and strategic investment and pursuit decisions.
- Maintains and advances a balanced portfolio across preparedness, response, recovery, mitigation, resilience, exercises, training, planning, logistics, grants management, and related services.
- Monitors portfolio performance and emerging client needs and adjusts strategy and priorities accordingly.
- Ensures state market activities remain aligned with Chemonics' mission, corporate strategy, capabilities, risk posture, and growth objectives.
Senior Client and Stakeholder Engagement
- Serves as Chemonics' senior relationship lead for emergency management and preparedness stakeholders within the assigned state.
- Develops and maintains trusted relationships with the state emergency management agency, county and municipal emergency management agencies, regional and special-purpose entities, healthcare coalitions, public safety organizations, community-based organizations, and other relevant entities.
- Engages emergency management directors, public officials, program leaders, procurement officials, technical specialists, and community partners to understand priorities and identify opportunities for Chemonics to provide meaningful support.
- Represents Chemonics at conferences, association meetings, exercises, workshops, professional forums, and other events.
- Coordinates executive-level introductions and engagement between state and local stakeholders and Chemonics leadership.
- Promotes sustained client and partner engagement beyond individual procurements or proposal opportunities.
- Ensures external commitments and representations are consistent with Chemonics' policies, capabilities, and delegated authorities.undefined
Pipeline Development and Opportunity Shaping
- Leads development and management of a qualified pipeline of state and local emergency management opportunities within the assigned market.
- Identifies, assesses, and advances opportunities aligned with Chemonics' capabilities, strategic priorities, and risk posture.
- Directs early-stage capture activities, including client intelligence, stakeholder mapping, competitor analysis, incumbent assessment, procurement forecasting, and opportunity positioning.
- Develops preliminary win strategies and recommends pursuit priorities, investments, teaming approaches, and go/no-go decisions.
- Establishes opportunity-specific relationship and information-gathering plans in coordination with pursuit teams.
- Assesses whether opportunities are sufficiently developed, funded, addressable, and aligned with Chemonics' competitive strengths and strategy.
- Provides unit and divisional leadership with timely recommendations on whether to pursue, defer, reshape, partner on, or decline potential opportunities.
- Facilitates transition from market development and capture into formal proposal development while remaining engaged as a senior market and technical resource.
Partner and Ecosystem Development
- Develops and manages a strategic network of state and regional firms, consultants, nonprofit organizations, community-based organizations, academic institutions, and technical specialists.
- Develops relationships with potential partners across emergency planning, exercises and training, disaster logistics, feeding, sheltering, debris management, public assistance, mitigation, recovery, grants management, healthcare preparedness, GIS, and community resilience.
- Evaluates prospective partners based on strategic fit, client relationships, qualifications, delivery capacity, geographic reach, compliance, past performance, and reputation.
- Recommends teaming structures and partner roles for specific opportunities.
- Supports negotiation and implementation of strategic partnership arrangements in coordination with contracts, legal, compliance, and business-development functions.
- Builds relationships with organizations participating in or benefiting from federal, state, and locally funded emergency management programs.
- Creates connections among clients, partners, communities, and Chemonics technical resources that support shared emergency management objectives and long-term partnership success.
Capture and Proposal Leadership
- Serves as a senior capture and technical advisor for priority pursuits.
- Provides state-specific market intelligence, client insight, stakeholder analysis, competitive context, and technical guidance to proposal teams.
- Participates in capture planning, solution development, partner selection, staffing strategy, and proposal reviews.
- Reviews proposal strategies and content for technical credibility, operational realism, client responsiveness, and state and local relevance.
- Helps identify qualified personnel, subject-matter experts, consultants, and subcontractors needed for competitive pursuits and effective delivery.
- Supports oral presentations, interviews, demonstrations, and client engagements associated with priority procurements.
- Ensures lessons from proposals, debriefings, awards, losses, and project delivery inform future market and capture strategies.
Technical and Operational Leadership
- Provides senior technical guidance related to state and local emergency management systems, EOC operations, preparedness planning, response coordination, disaster recovery, FEMA programs, mitigation, exercises, training, and grant-funded programs.
- Advises project and proposal teams on jurisdiction-specific emergency management structures, authorities, terminology, operational practices, and stakeholder expectations.
- Supports the development of technically sound, operationally realistic, and locally appropriate solutions.
- Identifies gaps in Chemonics' emergency management capabilities and recommends investments in personnel, partnerships, systems, tools, training, and technical resources.
- Participates in project startup, emergency deployments, quality reviews, AARs, client problem-solving, and corrective action when market knowledge or emergency management expertise is required.
- May serve in a technical, advisory, project leadership, or emergency-response role when appropriate and authorized.
- Promotes integration of access and functional needs, community engagement, equity, resilience, and whole-community principles into emergency management solutions.
Thought Leadership and External Representation
- Shapes Chemonics' external positioning on state and local emergency management and preparedness issues.
- Identifies opportunities for conference participation, presentations, panels, professional association engagement, publications, and other forms of thought leadership.
- Works with communications and growth colleagues to tailor capability statements, presentations, case studies, and marketing materials for state and local audiences.
- Provides subject-matter input for external communications concerning emergency management, preparedness, response, recovery, and resilience.
- Represents Chemonics professionally and credibly in external engagements.
Internal Coordination and Leadership
- Coordinates state market activities across the unit and division, technical practices, proposal teams, project teams, and corporate support functions.
- Establishes clear priorities, responsibilities, and follow-up actions for market-development activities, deployments, and other contractual activities.
- Contributes to portfolio reviews, pipeline discussions, resource planning, budgeting, and annual business planning.
- Provides guidance and mentorship to staff, consultants, and project personnel supporting the state portfolio to strengthen performance, collaboration, and professional growth
- May manage employees, consultants, project teams, or workstreams as the portfolio develops.
- Supports recruitment, onboarding, performance management, and professional development for personnel assigned to the portfolio.
- Fosters collaboration, accountability, sound judgment, and consistent application of Chemonics' policies and values.
Management, Compliance, and Risk
- Exercises sound judgment when representing Chemonics and developing business in sensitive or rapidly changing emergency management environments.
- Identifies reputational, operational, contractual, financial, political, and compliance risks associated with prospective clients, partners, and opportunities.
- Elevates material risks and sensitive issues to the Principal, SLED and appropriate corporate stakeholders.
- Ensures market-development, capture, and partner-engagement activities comply with Chemonics' relevant ethics, procurement integrity, conflicts-of-interest, gifts, anti-corruption, confidentiality, and information-security requirements.
- Maintains accurate records of client engagements, partner discussions, opportunity intelligence, decisions, and follow-up actions in designated corporate systems.
- Supports development of annual operating plans and budgets for state market activities and monitors progress against approved objectives.
- Manages approved resources in accordance with corporate policies and delegated authorities.
Basic Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in emergency management, public administration, public policy, business, planning, homeland security, or a related field plus a minimum of eight years of progressively responsible relevant experience.
- Equivalent combinations of education, professional training, emergency management credentials, and progressively responsible relevant experience may be considered.
- Demonstrated professional experience within the emergency management environment of the assigned state or a comparable state and local emergency management system.
- Demonstrated experience leading market development, client engagement, emergency management programs, public-sector initiatives, or complex stakeholder relationships.
- Strong understanding of state and local emergency management structures, including the roles of state agencies, counties, municipalities, regional entities, nonprofit organizations, and the private sector.
- Experience in emergency preparedness, response, recovery, mitigation, resilience, grants management, disaster operations, or related disciplines.
- Demonstrated ability to build and sustain trusted relationships with emergency management leaders, public officials, community organizations, technical partners, and private-sector stakeholders.
- Experience identifying, shaping, or supporting public-sector business opportunities, procurements, grants, or contracts.
- Ability to assess opportunities, develop strategic recommendations, and communicate risks and trade-offs to senior leadership.
- Strong written, verbal, facilitation, presentation, and interpersonal communication skills.
- Ability to work independently, establish priorities, and coordinate effectively across distributed and multidisciplinary teams.
- Ability and willingness to travel routinely throughout the assigned state and periodically elsewhere in the United States.
- Ability to support time-sensitiv
