Financial Assistance Planning & Development Specialist, Sr (Sr P & D Spec - BU)

About the role

Seattle City Light, a department of the City of Seattle, is one of the nation’s largest municipally owned utilities in terms of the number of customers served. Over the years we have worked very hard to keep Seattle's electricity affordable, reliable, and environmentally sound. Today, City Light is a recognized national leader in energy efficiency and environmental stewardship. Customer Care and Energy Solutions (CCES) is seeking a Financial Assistance Planning and Development Specialist, Senior, to join the Customer Operations team, reporting to the Financial Assistance Portfolio Manager. This role plays a key part in advancing City Light’s commitment to energy equity, affordability, and reducing the energy burden for income eligible customers. In this role, you will lead and support a mix of strategic program design, policy evaluation, and hands-on implementation work that strengthens the utility’s financial assistance portfolio. This includes guiding program redesign efforts, shaping cross-departmental partnerships, ensuring regulatory alignment, and delivering practical tools and processes that help customers access affordable electricity. You will partner closely with energy efficiency teams to develop integrated strategies that meet the full energy needs of income eligible households. You’ll have defined ownership for program planning, data stewardship, performance monitoring, and selected project leadership, while providing subject matter guidance and operational support across the utility’s expanded suite of financial assistance programs (UDP, EBA, Project Share, and related billing and payment offerings).

Responsibilities

• Program Design & Portfolio Planning: Lead the design, planning, and implementation of services for residential customers across financial assistance and energy efficiency programs; define business objectives, map solutions, identify workstreams, establish KPIs, and maintain program schedules.
• Serve as a core lead for the Utility Assistance Program Redesign Project, including income eligibility expansion; own delivery of redesign tasks informed by the third‑party program evaluation and drive implementation of policy and process improvements.
• Maintain program documentation, training materials, and change management plans using best practices grounded in adult learning principles.
• Policy, Regulatory & Legislative Coordination: Lead policy reviews and alignment activities to ensure financial assistance programs meet strategic goals, legislative intent, and regulatory requirements; provide subject‑matter input to City policy teams, contribute to Statements of Legislative Intent, council reports, and pilots or studies related to expanding assistance; contribute to Washington State Clean Energy Transformation Act (CETA) reporting, and coordinate City Light’s participation in federally and state‑funded programs such as LIHEAP and SHEAP.
• Cross‑Functional & Community Engagement: Represent City Light as a designated program lead or subject‑matter expert on cross‑departmental and cross‑functional teams (e.g., Seattle Public Utilities, Human Services Department), advisory committees, or community‑focused initiatives; own or support utility assistance program outreach work, including community events, marketing coordination, and implementation of time‑sensitive grant‑funded projects.
• Data Stewardship, Performance Monitoring & Operational Support: Own the design, maintenance, and governance of financial assistance program information on internal SharePoint sites; lead development and delivery of the monthly Utility Assistance dashboard, including status updates, KPIs, milestone reporting, and progress‑to‑goal metrics; conduct research and document policy or legal interpretations that support program design, implementation, and operational consistency; support ongoing operations of UDP, EBA, Project Share, and other customer assistance programs as needed.
• Project & Vendor Management: May lead selection, scoping, and management of external consulting services, including oversight of contract deliverables and alignment with program goals.
• Provide technical assistance across City departments in areas related to the financial assistance portfolio.
• Perform other duties consistent with the role’s strategic and operational scope.
• Emergency Response Commit