Qa/Cqi Specialist (Ma5) - Olympia/Remote

The Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) was created to be a comprehensive agency exclusively dedicated to the social, emotional, and physical well-being of children, youth, and families regardless of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or other socioeconomic factors. We believe our workforce should reflect the communities we serve and are actively searching for candidates that reflect that diversity.
Do you thrive on finding the BEST way of doing things? Are you interested in joining a highly intelligent, innovative team, that has an incredible impact on the children, youth, and families of our State? The Office of Innovation, Alignment, and Accountability within DCYF has a unique opportunity for a Quality Assurance (QA) & Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) Support Specialist (MA5) to join our Performance Improvement Team. This team supports key performance improvement initiatives, including enterprise Quality Assurance/Continuous Quality Improvement (QA/CQI) and Performance Based Contracting (PBC). The focus of this team is to disrupt the status quo and enact critical system reforms that will shape the future of the agency.
The Opportunity:
As a valued team member and change agent, the QA/CQI Support Specialist has responsibility for supporting the development, implementation, and ongoing management of the agency’s first-ever enterprise QA/CQI performance improvement framework, standards, and Community of Practice. The framework and standards will guide DCYF’s alignment of and support for performance improvement activities across the various business lines providing direct services, including Adolescent Programs, Child Welfare, Early Learning, Eligibility & Provider Supports, Family Support, Juvenile Justice, and Licensing. The Community of Practice will serve as a place for QA/CQI practitioners across the state to come together to share, learn, and improve their practices. As a subject matter expert, the QA/CQI Support Specialist provides expert-level analyses and consultation to multi-disciplinary DCYF teams to assess QA/CQI policies and practices, set performance and process improvement goals, monitor progress, and deliver tailored training and technical assistance. This position reports directly to the Performance Improvement Administrator and works remotely with the exception of occasional meetings and/or training. The position’s official location, and equipment pickup location is Olympia, WA.
Some of what you will get to do:

• Support the implementation of an agency-wide QA/CQI Performance Improvement Framework and standards to improve outcomes and eliminate disparities.
• Actively participate in Performance Improvement team meetings, ongoing project planning, and annual process improvement activities to support continuous quality improvement.
• Support the development and delivery of a comprehensive suite of implementation tools and resources, including training and technical assistance for QA/CQI practitioners, to ensure they successfully utilize the agency’s QA/CQI Performance Improvement Framework and standards and build essential competencies.
• Support related change management and project management efforts.
• Develop DCYF leadership and legislative proposals and reports.
• Develop the annual QA/CQI Community of Practice work plan and provide facilitation support, including scheduling meetings, establishing agendas, member communication and lists, taking and distributing meeting notes, etc.
• Serve as an internal consultant to the various business lines providing direct services, including Adolescent Programs, Child Welfare, Early Learning, Eligibility & Provider Supports, Family Support, Juvenile Justice, and Licensing, with a focus on implementing practices that advance racial equity.
• Maintain QA/CQI intranet page and support ongoing communication with internal and external stakeholders.
• Conduct expert level analyses of current QA/CQI policies and practices in the various business lines and identify opportunities to strengthen policies and practice and promote agency-wide alignment.
• Support the establishment of a comprehensive performance management system to collect, analyze, and report QA/CQI performance data to agency leadership and QA/CQI practitioners in the agency’s various business lines.

Required Education and Experience:
Bachelor’s Degree in public, education, health, business, or nonprofit administration or policy, social sciences, organizational development, or a related field from an accredited institution whose accreditation is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education or the Council of Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) or a foreign equivalent.
AND
Five years’ experience of closely related experience.
Degree must be obtained from an accredited college or university whose accreditation is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), or foreign equivalent verified by a NACES-approved organization at naces.org.

• Foreign Equivalency certification must be attached to the application for degrees obtained outside the U.S. Incomplete applications may be screened out of the recruitment process.

Required Competencies:

• Demonstrated learning mindset
• Experience facilitating professional, cross-disciplinary teams
• Demonstrated strong interpersonal and relationship-building skills
• Systems-thinking
• Demonstrated active listening skills
• Performance measurement and management cycles
• Demonstrated ability to work independently to establish priorities and organize work to enable completion of assigned task through exercising good judgment, problem solving ability, and multi-tasking to complete all assignments in a timely and accurate manner
• Qualitative and quantitative analysis tools (5 Why’s, Cause & Effect, Root Cause, etc.)
• Change management and stakeholder engagement
• Demonstrated ability to create presentations, complex charts and graphs, and electronic forms
• Demonstrated ability to make reasonable judgments in complex and changing organizational environment
• Performance feedback loops
• Demonstrated ability to create and maintain tracking and monitoring systems
• Lean and value stream mapping
• Implementation science
• Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) cycle
• Demonstrated strong written and verbal communication skills
• Experience providing individual/group training and technical assistance
• Performance-based or results-based contracting
• Demonstrated strong working knowledge and proven ability to apply various performance improvement principles and practices, ideally within the social services industry, such as:
  • Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) cycle
  • Logic models/theories of change
  • Qualitative and quantitative analysis tools (5 Why’s, Cause & Effect, Root Cause, etc.)
  • Performance feedback loops
  • Outcome-based or other program evaluation models
  • Performance measurement and management cycles
  • Implementation science
  • Lean and value stream mapping
  • Systems-thinking
  • Change management and stakeholder engagement
  • Performance-based or results-based contracting
• Demonstrated commitment to eliminating racial disproportionalities and advancing racial equity
• Outcome-based or other program evaluation models
• Logic models/theories of change
• Demonstrated ability to write and prepare clear and effective reports and other documents
• Demonstrated ability to accomplish complex tasks and adapt to changing conditions

Desired Qualifications:

• Quality management, process improvement, or Lean certification.
• A Master's degree in public, education, health, business, or nonprofit administration or policy, social sciences, organizational development, or a related field from an accredited institution whose accreditation is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education or the Council of Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) or a foreign equivalent, AND three years of closely-related experience.

How do I apply?
Complete your applicant profile and attach the following documents:

• Current resume detailing experience and education
• Letter of interest describing how you meet the specific qualifications for this position

To take advantage of Veteran's preference please attach your DD-214, member 4 long-form, or your NGB-22. Please black out your social security number prior to attaching.
Supplemental Information:
Per Governor Inslee's Directive 22-13.1 state employees must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Please note that any offer of employment is contingent upon you providing verification of your vaccine status, having an approved medical accommodation, or having an approved religious accommodation. No start date will be approved until you have either verified your vaccine status or have an approved accommodation.
Prior to a new hire, a background check including criminal history will be conducted. Information from the background check will not necessarily preclude employment but will be considered in determining the applicant's suitability and competence to perform in the position.
This position is covered by a collective bargaining agreement.
This recruitment may be used to fill multiple vacancies.
The initial screening will be based on the content and completeness of your application and the materials submitted. All information may be verified and documentation may be required. Applications with comments such as "see attachments" or "N/A" in the supplemental question responses will be considered incomplete.
DCYF is an equal opportunity employer and supports equity, diversity, inclusion, and respect.
Need accommodation throughout the application/interview process? Unable to apply online? Contact the Recruitment team at [email protected] or (360) 628-0114 or the Telecommunications Device for the Deaf at 800-833-6388
Experiencing technical difficulties creating, accessing or completing your application? Call NEOGOV toll-free at (855)524-5627 or email [email protected].
General suggestions for creating a good application packet:

• Make sure your application reflects your best writing.
• Make sure you are very diligent in following all the application instructions. Include all requested documentation.
• Carefully read each of the supplemental questions and respond completely to each one. Pay careful attention to each component of the question, providing examples, and thoroughly describing when and where you achieved the proficiency level, and detail the types of work you performed, the work products, etc., to demonstrate 'how'.
• Read the job posting very carefully. Find out as much as you can about the position.
• Make sure your application and supplemental question responses address how you meet each of the required and desired qualifications.
• Specifically include all of your work experiences doing the same or similar work, especially if you reference work in these jobs in describing when/where you gained proficiency level skills.

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