Description

What this job is about:
As the Budget Analyst for the behavioral health portfolio within human services you directly inform funding for a system that touches the lives of often very vulnerable people who need help with substance use and mental health. Washington’s behavioral health delivery system is mid-transformation and as such, you will directly help guide changes to a system with the intention to treat individual’s behavioral health needs in the best setting possible with the hopes of keeping people connected to their families and communities while treating them with compassion and dignity.

You will have a well-developed skill set for analyzing budget requests and developing budget proposals to meet the governor’s objectives. This is a high-profile portfolio and requires analytic ability, and the ability to clearly present ideas and options. This also requires the ability to pull, use, and summarize data and create models. Additionally, you will monitor and communicate with agencies to ensure intended activities are taking place and are performed efficiently and effectively. You must coordinate with various legislative and executive branch counterparts, governor’s policy staff and stakeholders.

Note: This position is a flexible/hybrid position so that you can work from home if you choose. There will be some traveling involved to in-person activities, meetings, and events.

Who we are:
Our work at the Office of Financial Management (OFM) serves as a crucial part of the decision-making that the governor, Legislature and state agencies do each year. As an employee of OFM, you will be part of a team of dedicated professionals who work hard every day to provide the vital information and services they need to serve the people of Washington.

If playing a key role in supporting and improving state government matters to you, you’ve found the right place.

What we offer our employees:
We support the following values in the workplace:

• Foster an environment of diversity, equity and inclusion. We strive to hire, cultivate and retain a competitive workforce that reflects the communities we serve.
• Encourage a healthy life/work balance by offering flexible/alternative work schedules, wellness program, mobile arrangements and telework opportunities.
• Employees (and their families) have coverage options for medical, dental, vision and basic life insurance.
• Opportunity to enroll in state retirement programs and a deferred compensation plan.
• A minimum of 14 days of vacation leave per year and 12 paid holidays throughout the calendar year.
• OFM offers a commute trip reduction program, tuition reimbursement, membership to statewide Business Resource Groups and an Infants-at-Work program.

See our Benefits page for more information.

Duties

• Act as a subject matter expert on behavioral health and other human service issues.
• Develop and implement models for analyzing fiscal impacts.
• Prepare detailed fiscal analyses and budget recommendations.
• Perform independent research and analyze policies and proposals. This includes expected outcomes, state and local costs, implementation strategies and stakeholder positions.
• Evaluate patterns and trends in data and identify other factors that affect budget drivers.
• Analyze legislative bills and budget proposals and communicate impacts to senior-level staff.
• Develop budget provisos, summary texts, and backup documentation to clearly communicate the intent of the governor’s budget proposal to legislators, legislative staff and other stakeholders.
• Review and approve fiscal notes within short timelines during the legislative session.
• Prepare analysis and recommend gubernatorial action on enrolled bills.
• Work with budget analysts, governor policy staff, legal counsel, agencies, legislative counterparts and stakeholders to develop estimates for forecasted and non-forecasted revenues, caseloads, budget and inflationary factors if relevant to the assigned issues.
• Monitor and support state agencies in budget development, budget implementation, program performance and other fiscal matters.
• Represent OFM on internal and external workgroups or other group assignments related to behavioral health and other human services. Participate in study committees and work groups, as needed.
• Respond to inquiries from legislators, legislative staff, stakeholders and members of the public.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications
Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, public administration, political science or similar field. Work experience may substitute for this education requirement on a year-for-year basis.
• Three years of experience as a state or local government fiscal or public policy analyst.

Expected analytical competencies

• Ability to research and analyze budgets, models and legislation.
• Understands policy and budgetary systematic context.
• Understand state employee compensation, benefit issues and budgets.
• Understand how budget decisions are made— ability to articulate the assumptions behind decisions and understands the complexities of competing priorities and scarce resources.
• Ability to monitor evolving issues and fiscal status of agencies and programs.

Technical Skills

• Knowledgeable/able to learn data systems, tools and information available to OFM analysts.
• Able to understand, interpret and use financial information.
• Communicate effectively and create materials to support and aid decision-makers.
• Prioritizes time effectively to meet deadlines.
• Expert-level in Excel and related tools for modeling, analyzing, tracking and reporting information.

Desired Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in finance, public administration, political science or similar field.
• Experience working on behavioral health and/or other human services budgets and policy.

Condition of Employment:
Gov. Jay Inslee’s Directive 22-13.1 state employees must be fully vaccinated effective Nov. 4, 2022. Providing proof of being fully vaccinated is a condition of employment and we will need to verify your vaccine status before you start work. Being fully vaccinated means two weeks after you have received the second dose in a two-dose series of a COVID-19 vaccine, or a single-dose COVID-19 vaccine authorized for emergency use, licensed or otherwise authorized or approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or listed for emergency use or otherwise approved by the World Health Organization. Please reach out to the HR Office if you need information on medical or religious accommodation.

Note: If you have an approved exemption with your current agency, you will still be expected to go through the exemption process with OFM by submitting your request through the OFM HR office for appropriate processing and approval.

Supplemental Information

How to apply:
Interested? We would love to hear from you. Click “Apply” at the top of this page to start your application (you can save the application and come back to it, if needed).

To be considered for this position, please include the following along with your application:

• 
  Letter of interest: describing your specific qualifications.
• Resume: that details your applicable experience and education.
• References: at least three professional references with current telephone numbers.

We will directly contact the top candidates to interview for this position. Because we base our selection on the information you provide, it is in your best interest to identify the knowledge, skills and abilities that address the required and desirable qualifications we described above.

Questions:
For questions about this recruitment or to request reasonable accommodation in the application process, please email Janet at TalentAcquisition@ofm.wa.gov . For TTY service, please call the Washington Relay Service at 7-1-1 or 1-800-833-6388.

The Office of Financial Management is an equal opportunity employer. We strive to create a working environment that includes and respects cultural, racial, ethnic, sexual orientation and gender identity diversity. Women, racial and ethnic minorities, persons of disability, persons over 40 years of age, and disabled and Vietnam-era veterans are encouraged to apply. Dial 711 to reach the Telecommunications Device for the Deaf system.