Floodplain Management Jobs in Wisconsin (NOW HIRING)

Yakima River Basin, Washington | David Moskowitz

JOB TITLE: Director, Floodplain Restoration
POSITION CLASSIFICATION: Director I
SALARY BAND: A
DEPARTMENT: Northwest Region
REPORTS TO: Melanie Klym
LOCATION: Washington (preferred) or Oregon

American Rivers is a national conservation organization working to make every river clean and healthy for people and wildlife. We combine evidence-based solutions with enduring partnerships to safeguard the 4.4 million miles of rivers and streams that are essential to our nation’s clean drinking water, extraordinary wildlife, and the strength of our communities. For more than 50 years, our staff, supporters, and partners have been driven by a common belief: Life Depends on Rivers.

The beauty of rivers is that they connect all people and communities – including within our organization. The life experiences, knowledge, innovation, and talent that different people bring to our work provides perspectives, experiences, and competencies which are critical to our effectiveness in protecting wild rivers, restoring damaged rivers, and conserving clean water for people and nature.

The Director, Floodplain Restoration provides high-level leadership for Integrated Flood Management (IFM) program and policy development across Washington and Oregon. This role serves as a strategic advisor to local communities, delivering expert guidance on flood resilience planning, navigating complex funding landscapes, and fostering cross-agency collaboration to improve governance efficiency. The Director will coordinate closely with the NW River Restoration Director, NW Regional Director, and National Director of Floodplain Restoration as well as serve on the National Floodplain Community of Practice to contribute to national efforts to achieve American Rivers’ North Star objectives.

In Washington, the Director will provide high-level leadership for IFM program and policy development. This role serves as a strategic advisor to local communities, delivering expert guidance on flood resilience planning, navigating complex funding landscapes, and fostering cross-agency collaboration to improve governance efficiency. By leveraging American Rivers’ national community of practice, the Director will import effective resilience strategies and export Washington’s innovations, ensuring policy frameworks consistently support and scale the work of our project implementation team.

In Oregon, the Director directs the state’s IFM Campaign, driving policy change and building diverse statewide coalitions to secure sustainable state funding. By leveraging American Rivers’ national community of practice to import effective resilience strategies and export Pacific Northwest innovations, the Director ensures that policy frameworks across both states consistently support and scale the work of our project implementation team.

• Work with the Restoration Program and the Northwest Regional Director to update and implement our regional capacity-building plans for river restoration in the NW Region.
• Advance floodplain restoration in the region through outreach and multimedia communication.
• Work with relevant staff and partners to identify, pursue, and acquire public and private funding.
• Represent American Rivers by attending relevant conferences and speaking at events regionally and nationally.
• Be an active teammate with American Rivers’ national Floodplain Community of Practice, River Restoration team, Conservation team, and the NW Regional team, engaging in team meetings, collaborating with colleagues on project ideas and approaches, and participating in team retreats and other related activities.
• Support organizational strategies and planning efforts including but not limited to the North Star and Strategic Plan Updates.
• Produce materials for articles for technical and general audiences, press releases and other communications and media pieces.

• Engage directly with local community leaders to document specific flood resilience needs, identifying intersectional risks (e.g., how flood-mitigation sites can also serve as firebreaks or drought-resilient water storage).
• Act as a navigator for communities by mapping local project needs to appropriate state and federal funding streams; assist in identifying and overcoming barriers to grant application and administration.
• Act as the primary liaison to align local resilience planning with broader state-level climate adaptation and emergency management strategies.
• Leverage American Rivers’ national floodplain community of practice to bring successful, high-impact strategies from other states into the Washington context. Systematically document and disseminate lessons learned from Washington-based pilot projects to the national network, contributing to the broader evidence base for nature-based flood solutions.

• Establish and lead a coalition to coordinate and align IFM efforts statewide.
• Develop broad financial support for IFM in Oregon through influencing state agency budgets, hosting legislative tours and funder briefings, and other visibility events to educate decision-makers on the benefits and necessity of IFM.
• Facilitate collaboration between state, local, and Tribal agencies to improve floodplain management ordinances to integrate flood control and ecological restoration goals.
• Promote IFM project adoption with land managers, utilities, and public works departments.