Chemist 2
Full-time, Permanent, Remote Employment, Flexible/Hybrid
Benefits
Keeping Washington Clean and Evergreen
The Department of Ecology is hiring a Chemist 2 within the Environmental Assessment Program.
Location: Manchester Environmental Laboratory in Port Orchard, WA.
Upon hire, you must live within a commutable distance from the duty station.
Schedule: This position is required to work in the office five days per week and is not eligible for telework.
Application Timeline: Apply by March 10, 2026
This position will remain open until filled. The agency reserves the right to make a hire at any time after application review begins. Applications received after the date above may not be considered.
Duties
In this role, you will be part of the Inorganics Unit at the Manchester Environmental Laboratory (MEL), a highly active production lab. You will analyze complex chemical tests on water, wastewater, sediment, tissue, and hazardous waste using advanced analytical instrumentation to create legally binding data. You will follow Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) Methods, Standard Methods, and strict Quality Control (QC) protocol. You will be responsible in managing sample workloads, data acquisition and entry, proper use and maintenance of scientific instrumentation and provide support as backup analyst. You must be detailed, organized, collaborative, communicative, and comfortable working independently and as part of a team.
What you will do:
Perform complex nutrient analyses
on environmental samples for total nitrogen (TPN), ammonia (NH3), and nitrate/nitrite (NO2/NO3) using flow injection analyzers (FIA), including sample preparation, calibration, analysis, troubleshooting, maintenance and documentation.
Serve as a backup analyst
for total phosphorus (TP, TPLL), orthophosphate (OP), total organic carbon and dissolved organic carbon in water (TOC/DOC), total carbon and nitrogen in soil (TOC/TN), general chemistry parameters, and microbiology as needed.
Produce accurate, legally defensible data
in compliance with all MEL Quality Assurance and Quality Control.
Operate, maintain, and troubleshoot laboratory instrumentation,
including FIA systems, TOC/DOC analyzers, CHN analyzers, titrators, and related equipment.
Maintain laboratory readiness,
including ordering and managing consumables, reagents, nutrient standards and updating Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) per EPA, Ecology and manufacturer requirements.
Communicate and collaborate effectively,
keeping supervisors informed of issues or workload concerns, participating in unit meetings, and supporting a respectful, inclusive, team-oriented laboratory environment.
Flexible/Hybrid
