Executive Management opportunity in Emergency Management
Job Description
The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) is the state agency responsible for coordinating federal, state, local, voluntary and private resources during emergencies and disasters in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. MEMA provides leadership to: develop plans for effective response to all hazards, disasters or threats; train emergency personnel to protect the public; provide information to the citizenry; and assist individuals, families, businesses and communities to mitigate against, prepare for, and respond to and recover from emergencies, both natural and man made.
Position Summary:
The purpose of the Deputy Director is to serve as a key member of the Executive Staff, charged with oversight of emergency operations, planning and recovery. With input from the Director, the Deputy Director directs and coordinates the agency’s response to any emergency incident as it occurs, including but not limited to, natural, technological, nuclear, or manmade disasters.
The Deputy Director works with the Director to establish, prioritize and manage those activities associated with emergency planning and preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation program elements. By such efforts, the agency employs a framework within which the Commonwealth and its communities learn to reduce their vulnerability to hazards and improve their capability to mitigate against, prepare for, respond to, and recover from threatened or actual natural disasters, acts of terrorism, or other man-made events.
Duties:
1. Supervises staff engaged in regional and local coordination of emergency planning, response, recovery, and mitigation program elements to ensure a comprehensive and coordinated response to an emergency/disaster at the state level. This includes extensive strategic planning, managing assignments and directing job performance activities as they relate to the accomplishment of the agency’s goals and objectives. Additionally, this position oversees the Regional Managers with appropriate delegation of responsibilities and assignments.
2. Manages and coordinates the disaster recovery and mitigation programs to restore critical community functions and manage reconstruction activities. Serve as senior policy advisor to the Director for risk analysis and pre- and post-disaster recovery plans. Serves as liaison with local, state, and federal agencies.
3. Oversees the day-to-day management of operations within the agency, including but not limited to Communications, Facilities and Physical Security, Fleet, and Logistics. Reviews, analyzes and advises the Director and direct reports on significant events and their impact on daily operations.
4. Provides oversight for the development and maintenance of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC). This includes coordinating efforts of the Operations Chief, related Senior Staff, as well as representatives from Massachusetts Emergency Management Team (MEMT) agencies during EOC activations.
5. Makes decisions as needed for the daily management and operations of the agency. These include but are not limited to requests to deploy resources to an incident that has the potential to endanger the general population; determination of when and to what extent to activate the Emergency Operation Center (EOC) in response to a critical or pending event; and when to restore agency operations to a routine state.
6. Proposes strategies for the development of an integrated and collaborative emergency response plan. In addition, he/she provides technical advice and best practices for operational activities. He/she recommends remedial courses of action to resolve discrepancies that occur due to non-compliance with existing laws or regulations. He/she identifies areas of concern that may require more immediate oversight by their respective senior managers.
7. Delegates routine administrative and operational activities to qualified staff as needed to ensure continuity in processing.
8. Draws direction and guidance from subject matter experts within the agency to satisfy compliance with existing laws and regulations, as well as to implement new initiatives and directives that are introduced throughout the state, and/or Executive Branch, and/or Secretariat. He/she must advocate a team atmosphere in order to build consensus and facilitate communication among and across organizational channels.
Job Requirements
Basic Qualifications
1. Ten years of full-time, or equivalent part-time, supervisory or managerial experience in business administration, business management, or public administration and, of which at least five years should have been in a managerial capacity.
2. An undergraduate degree (BA or BS) in a related field of study. A graduate degree or comparable experience is preferred.
3. Twenty years experience in emergency services, with at least ten years’ experience in emergency management.
4. Qualifications and experience in a supervisory position in operations and knowledge/experience/use of National Incident Management System (NIMS) methodologies.
