Spheres & Understory Assistant Program Manager for Northwest Center Services @ Amazon

Who we are - Northwest Center was founded in 1965 by mothers who had their children with disabilities turned away from public schools. They created their own inclusive Early Learning centers and wrote the first national legislation to ensure education for all children. Northwest Center went on to grow our services and create a variety of businesses to support our mission. We operate our diverse portfolio of businesses as a social enterprise: providing essential services to our customers, making a positive social impact through inclusive workforces, and directly funding our therapy, education, and employment services for people with disabilities.

We are focused on our collective North—a world where all children have equitable access to education and the employment rate for people with disabilities is the same as the general population.

The role itself – The Assistant Manager assumes responsibility for providing support to drive continuous improvement for the Spheres/Understory programs and align program deliverables with organizational goals and service level targets. Coaching and developing all Spheres/Understory staff to ensure we provide a customer centric experience through each interaction is our largest goal. The successful candidate is a results-driven, collaborative and creative thoughtful leader who engages with cross functional teams, while simultaneously managing complex projects to achieve determined objectives. This individual will need to think outside of the box to create, motivate and reward employees who have positions that are not necessarily metric driven. This candidate will develop, implement and lead the tour program at the Spheres ensuring a positive customer experience for all tour attendees including collaborating and developing the tour coordinator and tour guide positions as well as documenting their processes. 

About the space - The Amazon Spheres are a place where employees can think and work differently surrounded by more than 40,000 plants from the cloud forest regions of over 30 countries. The Understory allows visitors to connect with and learn from artists in residence as they explore the intersection of art, nature and technology.

Schedule: Must be available to work a flexible schedule and work hours of operation. Hours of operation are 8:30am-6:30pm Monday- Friday and on select Saturdays. Schedules may vary due to operating hours.
Salary Range: $71,892 - $81,238 per year
Location: Seattle, WA

Benefits: 

• Competitive and affordable Medical (including hearing & hardware coverage!), Dental, Vision, Disability, and Life insurance  
• Generous Paid Time Off benefits
• Additional Floating Holidays, Parental Leave, Paid Compassion Leave, and Paid Holidays
• Retirement 401(K) with a company match
• Employment Assistance Program (EAP), including six free therapy sessions per year
• Opportunity to become a mentor through NWC’s Mentorship Match program
• Physical Wellness Reimbursement Program
• Student Loan Contribution Program

Check out the entire list of benefits Northwest Center has to offer here: http://www.nwcbenefits.com

Key Responsibilities

Operational Excellence

• Commitment to Northwest Center’s mission of inclusion and ability to successfully work in a diverse environment.
• Ability to practice a high level of confidentiality.
• Interpersonal skills to effectively motivate others. Lead change and innovation
• Manages confidentiality without exception
• Maintain good judgment in fast-paced, high-stress environments
• Detailed oriented & thorough, with ability to assess program holistically
• Passion to foster an inclusive and diverse culture through initiatives, training & education, communications, and implementing optimizations based on high-level goals.
• Responds calmly and professionally to emergencies, angry customers, or other stressful situations in the workplace.
• Attention to detail and accuracy
• Exercises good judgment in areas of responsibility. Identifies or assists in identifying alternative solutions to problems or situations.
• Regularly seeks new and improved methodologies for enhancing the effectiveness of organization. Employs imagination and creativity in the application of duties and responsibilities. Is not averse to change.

Training

• Partner with leadership ensuring up to date training documents, and resources are available for all staff.
• Work with leadership on overall best training practices for new hire and ongoing training.

People

• Responsible for employee development through the development of individualized goals and the creation of training plans to ensure that employees achieve established goals
• Responsible for staff performance ensuring that all procedures, processes and policies are understood and followed. Following up with corrective employee conversations as necessary related to employee performance, including additional leadership as necessary.
• Assist leadership in interviewing, hiring, and termination discussions.
• Contributes to a positive work environment that encourages retention and talent
• Work collaboratively across the organization with different job levels and departments
• Foster a spirit of teamwork and unity among team members that allows for disagreement over ideas, conflict and expeditious conflict resolution
• Facilitate and lead meetings, workshop sessions and other team activities.

Customer Experience

• Act as liaison between Northwest Center, Amazon, and other vendors ensuring continuity, and ongoing improvement/development of relationships with various Amazon Teams providing an enhanced Amazon brand experience.
• Provide elevated customer support for Amazon employees, public guests, and vendor partners.
• Respond to visitor and employee inquiries, whether it be compliments, comments, and/or complaints about both the Spheres and Understory.
• Develop excellent knowledge of the spaces visitor profile and potential markets in order to grow and diversify the audiences.

About You

Education

• Associates degree required. Bachelor’s degree preferred.  

Experience

• Minimum 4-year customer service or administrative support experience.
• Proven experience as a supervisor or similar management role
• Advanced computer skills in MS Office

Demonstrable Skills

• Demonstrated competencies in communication, strategic planning, problem solving, financial management and team leadership.
• Effective project management skills, including planning & organization.
• Ability to manage changing priorities, meet deadlines and adapt to a changing business environment.
• Strong oral and written communication skills, excellent analytical, planning, and process development skills.
• Demonstrated ability to respond effectively to multiple conflicting priorities, continuously prioritize deliverables and to respond in a dynamic work environment.
• Commitment to Northwest Center’s mission of inclusion and ability to successfully work in a diverse environment.
• Ability to practice a high level of confidentiality.
• Passion to foster an inclusive and diverse culture through initiatives, training & education, communications, and implementing optimizations based on high-level goals.
• Regularly seeks new and improved methodologies for enhancing the effectiveness of organization. Employs imagination and creativity in the application of duties and responsibilities. Is not averse to change.

Working Conditions and Physical Demands

• Must be able to frequently carry and lift a backpack containing a laptop and other supplies, up to 50 pounds.
• Humidity and or heat conditions may vary in order to sustain the plant life in the space. The temperature of The Spheres will be maintained between 70 and 75 degrees, with an average humidity of level of 60%.
• It is a combination of desk and actively visiting several Amazon buildings so the ability to walk consistently within a 1.5 radius is required.
• Ability to read, write, speak and comprehend the English language
• Ability to see both distance and details at close range, within a few feet of the observer (with or without corrective lenses).
• Ability to identify and understand the speech of another person (with or without a personal auditory hearing device).
• This is a dog friendly environment with over 1,000 dogs on campus. Individuals with dog allergies or those who do not particularly care for dogs may not be the best fit.

Northwest Center is committed to offering reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please get in touch with us at jobs@nwcenter.org.   

At Northwest Center, we do not just accept diversity and inclusion — we celebrate, support, live, and flourish in it to benefit our employees, the community, and our clientele. We believe that our strength lies within our diversity and the forward motion toward a day when people of all abilities can learn and work together.

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Salary : $71,892 - $81,238