Environmental Planner

ESA seeks a highly motivated Environmental Planner to join us in the Pacific Northwest area. You must have 2 to 7 years of job-related experience in SEPA/NEPA and/or land use permitting or comprehensive GMA planning experience. Knowledge of code review and analysis is a plus. We are looking for a team member who has the intellectual curiosity and proactivity to continue the advancement of our established team of environmental consultants. This is a mid-level opportunity in our ever-growing team of Community Development professionals. This opportunity is focused on collaboration, delivery, and client service.

A writing sample must be submitted to be considered. Please see the bottom of the job posting for more details.

Who We Are

ESA is a 100% employee-owned environmental consulting firm delivering work that matters.

We plan, design, permit, mitigate, and restore—for projects across our communities, infrastructure systems, open spaces, and wildlands.

Our scientists, planners, historians, archaeologists, engineers, designers, and technical specialists provide critical thinking, in-depth analyses, and committed follow-through to guide successful policy development and project planning and deliver enduring multi-objective solutions.

At ESA, we believe every employee has a unique combination of knowledge, skills, and experience that contributes to our success.

We value diversity and inclusion and celebrate the differences that make each of us unique. Our culture is built on mutual respect, recognizing that the collective sum of our individual differences and life experiences fosters our continued success and achievement for our employee-owners and our clients.

Collaborating with colleagues from a variety of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives leads to better solutions and opportunities for everyone. We celebrate the differences—age, color, physical ability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, language, national origin, race, religion, veteran status, and other characteristics—that make each of us unique.

Who You Are

You are an effective team member with at least 2 years of experience in relevant planning or environmental consulting environment. You have experience completing environmental assessment tasks for SEPA, NEPA, and environmental planning projects and/or you have experience in land use permitting or comprehensive planning. You have an understanding of policy planning, land use permitting, and environmental regulations and processes.

Your experiences are varied enough to enable you to be creative and nimble in solving tasks that are assigned to you. You are proactive and focused on meeting team, project, and client goals. You are excited and motivated by the prospect of working in a team environment and contributing to environmental clearance projects for both public agency and private development clients. You are interested in a range of tasks and find working on both small and large projects fulfilling.

You have been a contributing author of planning and/or environmental review documents, which could include: SEPA and NEPA documents, including Environmental Impact Statement sections, comprehensive plans, land development regulations, reports, technical memoranda, maps, working papers, resource-related permit applications, and client correspondence. You may also have experience with land use permitting including master use and building permits, grading and clearing permits, floodplain or conditional use permitting. You may also have experience with code analysis or code evaluation. You have strong writing skills, effective oral presentation skills, excellent listening skills, and the ability to present information understandably to clients, agency staff, teaming partners, and other project stakeholders.

You hold a Bachelor’s degree with major course work in urban planning, geography, environmental planning or studies, or public policy.

You are looking for the opportunity to work with a team of scientists, planners, archaeologists, biologists, and designers who share your passion for sustainability.  

What You Will Do for ESA

As an Environmental Planner, you may serve as Deputy Project Manager or Task Manager on projects of basic or moderate complexity. You will be responsible for coordinating the task or project delivery schedule, handling logistics, disseminating and maintaining related information and resources, assisting with budget tracking and invoicing, meeting with team members to gauge progress toward task completion, and responding to team member or client questions about assigned tasks or projects.

You will perform research and analysis in specific or general project areas, such as demographic information, zoning codes, adopted plans and policies, and other published information and performs field evaluations and assessments. You will apply critical thinking and problem-solving to evaluate, select, and adapt standard techniques and procedures in the development of environmental compliance and planning documents. You act as a contributing author for SEPA and NEPA documents for municipal and private development clients. You will perform a variety of land use permitting and code analysis tasks and assist with comprehensive planning documents and transportation-related projects.

You will be required to effectively communicate and collaborate with staff, clients, and teaming partners. 

You will thrive in a fast-paced, challenging environment and be able to manage multiple responsibilities and deadlines while working on a team or independently.

What ESA Will Do for You

Joining ESA means becoming part of a close-knit team of environmental professionals who contribute to outstanding projects, improve environmental stewardship, and advance a more sustainable and resilient future for our communities and wild places.

At ESA, we spend our days helping to keep the environment in balance, and we want to help keep your life in balance too—by providing benefits such as medical, dental, and vision insurance (paid at 70% for you AND your family), a 401(k) plan with company match, an employee stock ownership program, and paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays, to name a few.

No matter what stage you are at in your career, we provide opportunities for continued growth, development, and recognition. Whether you want to further your technical expertise, sharpen your business acumen, or help lead the next generation of employee-owners, we want to support you in reaching your career goals, and we believe these efforts will not only benefit you, but will also benefit all ESA colleagues and clients. Specific programs we offer include tuition reimbursement, professional development bonuses, and attendance at conferences.

What’s Special About Our Community Development Team in Seattle

Our Community Development team includes planners who provide expertise for many municipalities in the Puget Sound and Washington state regions. Our work matters because it helps communities shape a positive future for their citizens. We value creative thinking, teamwork, and multi-disciplinary and cross-disciplinary engagement and integration.

To read about some of the exciting projects we have recently completed, check out these links: Burke-Gilman Trail EIS, Seattle Arena EIS, and Energize Eastside EIS.

In accordance with ESA’s duty and responsibility to provide and maintain a safe workplace that is free of known hazards and to minimize the exposure to potential hazards, any employee who works from an ESA office or conducts any other in-person ESA work-related activity is required to submit their proof of vaccination status or have received an approved exemption and accommodation.

ESA is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to a diverse and inclusive work environment. (EOE M/V/F/D)

*Please submit a writing sample with your application. The sample must be solely authored by you, or the sections you authored must be clearly marked. College papers may serve as writing samples, but professional technical documents are preferred. This can be uploaded in the cover letter submittal section.