The Director is appointed by and operates under the direction of Harris County Commissioner's Court.  The Director of Harris County Pollution Control Services Department (HCPCS) is responsible for providing leadership, management and oversight of all HCPCS operations, including creating or updating (as needed) the Department's mission, vision, and strategic plan.
 
On the behalf of Harris County, the HCPCS Director is responsible for reviewing and commenting on requests for permits.  The incumbent will ensure compliance and/or enforcement of environmental rules, regulations, and laws as set forth in County regulations, State, and Federal statutes and/or adopted by State and Federal regulatory agencies. 
 
The Director is responsible for the development and implementation of departmental policies, including community monitoring.  The incumbent will aid in educating the public on various sources of environmental risk and preventive measures to protect their communities. The Director will serve as an advocate for sound environmental and pollution control policies at the local, state, and federal levels, thereby advancing the quality of life for all residents of Harris County. 
 
Administrative:

• Provides broad oversight to the operations and staff of HCPCS ensuring the effective recruitment, onboarding, training and development of HCPCS Departmental employees. 
• Oversees HCPS departmental requests, including budget preparation, and provides primary fiscal oversight for the department's general funds.   
• Develops, where needed, and implements policies and procedures in keeping with defined best practices.
• Plans, organizes, coordinates, and directs through division managers, section supervisors, and support staff, the work of assigned divisions to meet established goals and objectives for given divisions.
• Manages and ensures conformance with program schedules, budgets, and contracts.
• Conducts presentations to professionals and to the general public.
• Develops and implements a strategy for raising awareness of the Department and its activities in the Harris County community.
• Responds to media inquiries and requests for interviews relevant to environmental/public health activities/issue.
• The Director may be assigned to a variety of posts within an Incident/Unified Command Structure during departmental responses to emergencies.
• The Director may be required to testify in legal proceedings.
• The Director will perform other tasks as required.

The Director will be required to establish measurable goals and objectives for the department and to align departmental operations in order to achieve desired results.  
The core programmatic activities that the Director will be responsible for overseeing include:

• Field operations (e.g. monitoring, inspection, sampling, etc.) and laboratory testing activities.
• Data collection and regulatory activities (e.g. issuance of Violation Notices, recommendation of civil and criminal cases and recommending appropriate fines and penalties, etc.).
• May assist County Departments in developing internal pollution mitigation policies based on local regulations, state and federal rules/regulations/laws/statutes.
• Aids in preventing/minimizing adverse impacts on the environment through the review of/comment on permits, compliance and/or enforcement actions based on local regulations, state and federal rules/regulations/laws/statutes.
• Development and Implementation of a community monitoring strategy, and a broad range of cooperation agreements including data and resource sharing between the department and other departments within Harris County, other governments, and nongovernmental organizations.
• Emergency response activities (e.g. conducting air/soil/surface water monitoring during emergencies, overseeing emergency response activities to meet the challenges of naturally-occurring or other environmental emergencies, leading communications with the County's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management and other key response partners, etc.).

Policy:

• Ensures that all pertinent federal, state and local laws and rules are interpreted and applied appropriately by the department through monitoring and/or enforcement actions.
• Develops and maintains effective working relationships with relevant local, state, and federal agencies.
• Participates collaboratively in enforcement/compliance activities involving multiple jurisdictions.
• Develops and supports sound environmental, climate change, and pollution control policy, which advances the quality of life for all residents of Harris County, and when appropriate, presents recommendations to Commissioners Court for consideration.
• Works collaboratively with Harris County Commissioner's Court to monitor, analyze, and develop departmental responses to local, state and federal environmental legislative and regulatory initiatives.
• Identifies any need for changes to environmental policy and/or local, state, and federal rules, regulations, and laws/statue, and acts as an advocate for those changes through appropriate channels. 

Harris County is an Equal Opportunity Employer
https://hrrm.harriscountytx.gov/Pages/EqualEmploymentOpportunityPlan.aspx

• Master's Degree in Environmental Toxicology, Environmental Science, Environmental Policy, Chemical Engineering, or a related field; and
• Minimum of five (5) years experience supervising professional staff in relevant environmental enforcement fields.
• Knowledge and understanding of principles, practices, and program areas related to environmental toxicology, technical air, water, and soil pollution control functions and activities.
• Must have broad knowledge and understanding of current developments, literature, and source of information regarding air, water, and soil quality management.
• Must have experience with environmental policy, pollution control and response, environmental toxicology and/or emergency response.
• Must possess demonstrated leadership skills.
• Must have staff development and management experience including but not limited to planning, organizing, coordinating, directing, budgeting and fiscal management.
• Must have a working knowledge of current environmental regulatory issues and a strong understanding of relevant rules, regulations, and laws/statutes.
• Must be skilled in exercising sound independent judgment within policy guidelines.
• Must have proven ability to effectively communicate and work with leadership teams and the public.
• Proficient use of computer software for email communication, budget management, and database retrieval. 
• Must have a valid Texas driver's license (upon hire).

• Experience working in a regulatory agency.