Job Description

Posting number: 2026-WSHS-008

Department: Washington State Historical Society

Job classification: HUMAN RESOURCE CONSULTANT 4

Posting type: Open & Promotional

Categories: Human Resources, Management

About this opportunity:
The Washington State Historical Society is a small state agency comprised of approximately 72 employees, and is located in beautiful downtown Tacoma, WA. Reporting to the Executive Director, the HR Manager supports the agency’s mission by providing full scope of human resources consultative services to agency leaders, managers, supervisors, and employees. This role provides guidance, advice, interpretation and consultation regarding applicable human resources laws, rules, regulations, executive directives, policies and procedures, and labor agreements in all areas of the employee life cycle.

This position is the sole person in human resources who administers day-to-day operations. The HR Manager supports other agency administrative controls and programs, such as coordinating agency-wide training and leadership development, maintaining and operationalizing policies, and assisting with minimizing and mitigating risk.
The HR manager has frequent interaction with management, staff, applicants, WFSE union representatives, OFM HR, DES, Office of Equity, other state agencies, and some external stakeholders on occasion. This role works very closely with employees to ensure adherence to state and federal labor regulations, cultivates a positive workplace environment by hiring and retaining qualified staff, promotes the growth and development of staff, and is trustworthy, honest, approachable, and fair in their interactions with staff and management.

A little about us:
Founded in 1891 and now into its second century of service, the Washington State Historical Society is dedicated to collecting, preserving, and vividly presenting Washington's diverse and storied history. Our work illuminates the past, enlightens the present, and informs the future.

Our mission is to partner with our communities to explore how history connects us all. Our vision is to be the recognized destination for Washington State history. We achieve this by serving as our state's primary history educator, making history relevant to our modern lives, and supporting civic dialogue where all are welcome.

The Society serves individuals and organizations statewide through publications, outreach programs, curriculum, free virtual public programs, and other online services. However, the majority of the Society's interactions with the public occur at the Washington State History Museum, located in Tacoma, Washington. The Museum traditionally serves more than 80,000 annually, including more than 15,000 K-12 school children visiting the museum on a field trip. We also welcome more than 10,000 visitors free of charge each year through a variety of access programs.

We are much more than a regional museum. We continually ask ourselves how we can better serve Washingtonians across our state. Our Heritage Capital Projects grant program distributes up to $10M per biennium to fund public heritage, history interpretation, and historic preservation projects across the state. Our popular public history magazine COLUMBIA is enjoyed by readers of all ages. And the Historical Society’s collections at our Research Center, along with a digital collections database, are a resource for scholars and researchers from across the nation.

The Washington State Historical Society is a dynamic place to work with dedicated staff. We expand our impact by connecting with communities across the Evergreen State through exhibitions, heritage projects, workshops, public programs, publications, and conversations. Our goal is to bring history into focus in such a way that the participant cannot help but discover valuable insights from and feel deep connections with the people and events of the past.

We have an active commitment to inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility and are looking for team members who have a passion for professionalism and serving the public, and a desire to contribute to a positive work culture.

Examples of duties

Some of what you’ll be doing includes:

• Consult and advise managers, supervisors and staff on complex employment practices and procedures. Ensure agency compliance with HR-related laws and regulations, and collective bargaining agreement.
• Provide consultation to managers in the areas of classification, compensation, recruitment and selection, equal opportunity, family medical leave, shared leave, reasonable accommodation, performance management, and discipline.
• Research and provide advice and interpretation to agency management and staff regarding Collective Bargaining Agreement, policies and procedures, and state and federal rules and laws and regulations while exercising sound judgment and offering legally defensible courses of action.
• Provide informal training, and coaching on personnel issues, performance management, and information.
• Keep current on state and federal laws, rules, state HR directives and executive orders, and changes to collective bargaining agreement; attend state HR related meetings and interpret HR directives and executive orders; collaborate with agency director on high level changes to assist in determining best course of action for implementation.
• Manage annual risk assessment review and submission. Coordinate with senior leadership on conducting annual risk assessment and ensuring ongoing monitoring of identified risks.
• Partner and collaborate with IDEAS (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Sovereignty) Officer on communications, and implementation of resources, tools, and practices in effort to achieve an inclusive and diverse workplace culture.
• Represent the agency in hearings and meetings, including employee grievances, disciplinary, Personnel Resources Board and unemployment compensation.
• Maintain highly confidential personnel and medical information and stay compliant according to records retention schedule.
• Track compliance with mandatory trainings per relevant laws, executive orders, and state HR directives.
• Manage agency recruitment, training and development, recognition, and onboarding/offboarding programs.
• Facilitate, oversee and consult on all recruitment and selection processes, ensuring a fair and equitable process.
• Develop and communicate recruitment practices to managers and supervisors that incorporate diversity and inclusion best practices.
• Develop and manage a robust onboarding and offboarding program; provide tools and resources to managers for departmental onboarding and offboarding.
• Administer learning management system, assign state required training, and provide information and consultation to staff in using TLC.
• Serve as subject matter expert for the agency in the WFSE collective bargaining agreement and labor relations.
• Coordinate with agency management, union staff and OFM labor relations in mediation conferences, hearings, appeals and settlement discussions. Maintains open communications with shop stewards and WFSE representatives to ensure positive, productive relationship.
• Ensures agency policies and procedures comply with the Collective Bargaining Agreements.
• Write and send mandatory notices to WFSE; conduct informal and formal demand to bargain meetings.

• Administer Benefits 24/7 system and troubleshoot issues/coordinate with HCA (Health Care Authority). Manage and communicate information about annual open enrollment, facilitate special open enrollments, work in collaboration with HCA to troubleshoot coverage and/or system issues.
• Respond to and manage labor and industry claims, respond to claims for unemployment.
• Administer VEBA program for retirement-eligible staff.
  

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

To meet qualifications for this position, applicants must have seven (7) years or more of State Government experience in a Human Resource professional full-time broad-based senior consultant HR role.

Qualifying Experience includes:

• Advising and consulting on a variety of human resources issues, including providing interpretation of HR related rules, laws, collective bargaining agreements and policies and procedures.
• Experience may include a combination of the following: labor relations, employee relations, performance management, government agency operations support, organizational development, classification and compensation, and FMLA/reasonable accommodation.

Qualifying Education includes:

• A degree in business, human resources, social or organizational behavioral sciences or a related field may be substituted for relevant experience.

In addition to meeting with one of the above qualifications, applicants must possess the following position-required competencies:

• Knowledge of state and federal employment Laws including WACs and RCWs, and related HR policies and procedures as well as labor relations and collective bargaining agreements and grievance procedures.
• Excellent communication and conflict resolutions skills; ability to communicate complex concepts, both orally and in writing, in a manner that is understandable, persuasive and appropriate for the audience, able to demonstrate crucial conversation skills.
• Ability to interact and maintain positive professional relationships with managers, supervisors, employees, and other stakeholders such as a union.
• Proficiency with HR information systems (HRIS) and tools such as HRMS, NEOGOV (recruiting and applicant tracking system), TLC (learning management system), and Benefits 24/7 or similar platforms.
• Manage change - and influence positive management, and workforce relationships.
• Ability to maintain confidential and sensitive information.
• Experience drafting corrective and disciplinary action letters, hearing grievances, and writing grievance responses.
• Experience advising on performance development, coaching, corrective and disciplinary actions.
• Experience developing and reviewing position descriptions in collaboration with managers and supervisors.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills to build relationships and consult effectively across diverse audiences.
• Commitment to equity, inclusion, and respectful workplace principles, with demonstrated application in HR practices.

Preferred/Desired Qualifications:

• Human Resources experience in the public sector.
• Current professional HR certification: PHR, SPHR, SHRM-CP and/or SHRM-SCP.
• Experience navigating sensitive or high-profile personnel matters with discretion and sound judgment.

Supplemental information

Special Requirements and Conditions of Employment

• Must pass a criminal history / background check.

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. Be sure to complete the application fully to include a full work history and responses to the supplemental questions.

Please provide the following documents in order to be considered; failure to do so may result in you not being considered for the position:

NOTE:
The initial screening will be solely based on the contents and completeness of the “duties summary” section of your application in Careers.wa.gov, completeness of the application material submitted, and the supplemental questionnaire. A resume will not substitute for completing the “duties summary” section of the application. Responses to the supplemental questionnaire regarding work experience must be reflected in the "duties summary" section of the application.

Conditions of Employment:
Washington Fair Chance Act:
We are committed to providing equitable access to employment opportunities. If a criminal background check is required for employment at an agency, it will occur only after a conditional offer of employment has been made and accepted. Applicants are not required to disclose criminal history during the hiring process prior to a conditional offer. Criminal history will not automatically exclude an applicant from consideration and will be reviewed on an individual basis consistent with applicable law and the requirements of the position.

Learn more about the Washington Fair Chance Act: Washington Fair Chance act guide

NOTE:This position is included in a bargaining unit represented by the Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE).

Opportunity for All:
The Washington State Historical Society celebrates our differences and we are committed to a workplace that supports equal opportunity employment and inclusion regardless of race, creed, color, national origin, citizenship or immigration status, marital status, families with children (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sex, sexual orientation, gender identity diversity, age, status as a protected veteran, honorably discharged veteran or military status, status as an individual with the presence of any sensory, mental, or physical disability or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal by a person with disabilities or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We will also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local laws.

You are welcome to include the name and pronoun you would like to be referred to in your materials, and we will honor this as you interact with our organization.

Contact Information:
For questions about this recruitment or to request a reasonable accommodation in the application process, contact recruiter: Rachel Vaughan by emailing jobs@des.wa.gov

Applicants who are deaf or hard of hearing may call through the Washington Relay Service by dialing 7-1-1 or 1-800-833-6388.