Board Liaison and Executive Assistant

Position Summary

Reporting to the President and CEO, Friends is looking for an experienced Board Liaison/ Executive Assistant to perform a wide range of administrative duties. This includes serving as a key link with the board of directors, coordinating all related business including board meetings and committee work, board relations, and overall coordination of the board calendar and workflow. It also includes executive support and project management on behalf of the CEO. This role requires an organized, detail-oriented, multitasker who can handle many diverse projects at once and meet tight deadlines.

This is a full-time, 32 hours per week, hybrid role in Seattle, WA.

About Friends of Waterfront Park

A non-profit organization, Friends of Waterfront Park (Friends) was established in 2012. City officials and civic leaders recognized that, like all great parks in cities across the country, Waterfront Park needed a nonprofit leader to ensure its lasting success. From our early days of facilitating public engagement around the design of Waterfront Park to our historic fundraising Campaign for Waterfront Park (a $170M effort) and our development of public programs and public safety strategies centered in compassion, Friends has been a key partner to the City of Seattle and communities across the city in an unprecedented effort to build an extraordinary urban public space.

In 2025, the Waterfront Park Grand Opening Celebration brought more than 50,000 people to celebrate a new era for Seattle’s central waterfront. Today, the $170M Campaign is complete, and Waterfront Park is open to the community. Friends focus now on welcoming the community to this iconic Seattle gem year-round. We are now moving into our annual operations including fundraising, programming, public safety

investments, park experience, and long-term stewardship of Waterfront Park now and for generations to come.

• Our mission affirms why we’re here: To bring people and local communities together to ensure Waterfront Park thrives as a vibrant gathering space – fostering connections and honoring Seattle’s natural beauty and stories.
• Our vision imagines where we’re headed: Seattle is transformed by Waterfront Park, a public space sparking joy, connection, and belonging with every visit.
• Our values—Community, Equity, Care, Collaboration, and Adaptability—ground how we work: from programming and partnerships to public safety and storytelling.

Friends recognizes and acknowledges historic and existing systemic racism embedded in our city. We are committed to becoming an anti-racist organization by prioritizing racial equity within the organization and in the public spaces we operate.

Land Acknowledgement

Waterfront Park is situated on the land of the Coast Salish peoples, who have resided here since time immemorial and continue to thrive. With respect and humility, we acknowledge the history of the waterfront, the dispossession of land from the Coast Salish people, and, most importantly, the strength and resilience of Native people and their culture through this history and to the present.

Responsibilities

Board Relations and Suppor

• Under the direction of the President & CEO, serve as the Board Liaison for the Friends Board of Directors and where appropriate, bring other team members in to support Board meetings and Board committee meetings, including meeting/event planning, notetaking, reports, hospitality, and implementation. Specific tasks will be assigned and reviewed periodically among the President & CEO, Deputy Director, and Director of Development.
• Proactively manage organization-wide, Board, and committee meeting calendar and coordinate advance planning.
• Draft supporting agendas, emails, and memos; assist with briefings, presentations, and surveys/evaluations; and coordinate and plan events from start to finish according to requirements, target audience, and objectives.
• Directly support the Board of Directors as a whole, as well as the Executive, Governance, and Finance Committees and select Advisory Committees, including taking minutes and other meeting logistics.
• Oversee planning, preparation, implementation and follow up for Board, Executive Committee, and other Board Committees. Partner with other key senior leaders to ensure all committees are advancing their work and reporting regularly.
• Support the onboarding process of new Board members.
• Facilitate annual Board conflict of interest disclosure process.

Executive Support

• Assist in facilitating open communication and support an efficient, agile work environment for the organization’s
• President & CEO and Deputy Director.
• Provide high-level administrative support to the President & CEO including, but not limited to, handling internal/external scheduling requests and meeting arrangements, preparing materials as assigned, and managing meetings.
• Attend Senior Leadership Team meetings. Coordinate meeting logistics including taking notes.
• Manage travel and conference planning/coordination across the organization, including expense reporting needs.
• Triage all incoming meeting requests and liaise with members of the Senior Leadership Team
• to evaluate time management decisions on behalf of the President & CEO.
• Proactively manage organization-wide, Board and committee meetings, and Senior Leadership Team
• calendar with the utmost attention to accuracy and coordinate advance planning.
• Schedule and coordinate meetings involving the President & CEO and Deputy Director including logistics planning, distribution of meeting materials, creation of proposed agendas, note/minute taking, and communicate outcomes, decisions, and actions to all relevant stakeholders as per instructions.
• Prepare the President & CEO and Deputy Director for internal and external appearances and speaking engagements, including managing the timeline of support needed from others organizing or reviewing briefing documents, agendas, emails, memos, presentations, and reports. Ensure that all corresponding office files are maintained.
• Coordinate complex project and stakeholder meetings related to organizational initiatives, including venue arrangements, scheduling, agenda creation, materials coordination, action items follow up, task assignments, and meeting facilitation.

Project Management

• Manage and support projects for the President & CEO; this includes writing reports and tracking
• deliverables.
• Act as the liaison/point of contact for projects and communicate status updates to project participants and stakeholders.

Collaboration, Values, and Culture

• Collaboration
  • Collaborate as a member of the Friends team, providing thought partnership and support as needed.
  • Work collaboratively with and learn from the entire organization, and with external partners, stakeholders, and community.
• Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion (DEIA)
  • Contribute to an inclusive workplace culture and adhere to Friends’ Community Agreements.
  • Engage in regular conversations about race and equity through all-staff meetings, trainings.
  • Incorporate values of DEAI in all facets of this job and when collaborating across teams.
• Community: Incorporate the org-wide value/ethos of centering community throughout work (e.g., attend community events, seek out and listen to diverse communities and perspectives).
• Culture: Contribute to organizational culture by participating in team building activities to help build a fun, welcoming, and productive workplace.

Minimum Qualifications

• Minimum of two years of experience providing support to a Board of Directors, managing committees or board of directors related work.
• Minimum of five years of progressively complex administrative experience, advanced project management, scheduling, or equivalent experience required.
• Bachelor’s degree or an additional 4 years of relevant experience
• A commitment to incorporating the practices and ethos of Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion (DEAI) in all facets of your work.
• Proficiency and ease using Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint) and online meeting tools, such as Zoom and Teams.
• Exceptional writing skills and comfortability with writing reports.
• Strong communication skills.
• Ability to support the needs of leadership to carry out the initiatives of the organization.
• Ability to be flexible and responsive to operational and administrative support needs.
• Ability to handle sensitive information in a confidential manner.
• Must have the ability to work independently, be resourceful, and take initiative in an agile environment.
• Must exhibit excellent dependability, judgement, and flexibility in dealing with changing priorities.
• An understanding of Board governance.

Desired Qualifications

• Lived experience and cultural competency with underrepresented communities, including Black, Indigenous,
• Latine, disabled, and/or LGBTQ+ communities, and the ability to bring this lens to conversations about anti-racism, anti-oppression and embedding equity in all aspects of work.
• Bachelor’s Degree
• Experience with Beanworks or other expense report software.
• Salesforce experience
• Nonprofit experience
• Experience with project management tools (e.g., Asana)

Compensation and Benefits

This position is for a 32-hour per week, full-time, exempt employee with a salary range of $64,800 to $73,600.

Friends has created a compensation philosophy and salary framework to set compensation organization-wide. The final salary offer is dependent on how the candidate’s skills, abilities, and experience align with Friends’ salary framework: Level: Manager II, Tiers 1-4.

Benefits include (but are not limited to): employer paid medical, dental, life, and vision insurance, paid time off, WA PFML and additional supplement, ORCA regional transit pass (does not include Washington State Ferries), and a 3% retirement account match.

Working Conditions

• This position is a hybrid role with at least 60% of the work being in-person at our office on the waterfront.
• The hybrid nature of this position and the required days in person are subject to change based on the needs of the
• organization.
• While typical office hours are Monday-Friday, 9-5, Friends is an event-based, seasonal organization. During event season (roughly May-September), many employees work a higher percentage of their time in person. Friends has a dedicated onsite team and during the event season, office employees are invited to assist onsite employees for events at the Waterfront.
• Exempt employees are asked to work a flexible schedule as determined by volume of work; however, the organization works hard to ensure proper work-life balance and to prevent burnout.
• Friends follows King County Public Health guidelines regarding COVID-19.

About the office space:

• Our office is on the second floor. There is elevator access at the front entrance.
• Most separate rooms and offices have braille labels.
• The office building contains a parent’s room, a wellness room, a kitchen, as well as several quiet meeting rooms.

The physical requirements of this role listed below are representative of those that may need to be met by an employee in this role:

• Operating a computer and other office equipment.
• Ability to work in an open office format with a fluctuating noise level – Friends' office is located on Pier 56 on the waterfront. Music and ferry horns can often be heard from the office. However, noise cancelling headphones and other accommodations are provided. Noise levels are low to moderate in the office.
• Occasionally lifting up to 20 pounds; however, assistance with lifting or moving items can be provided.

How To Apply

Click the Apply link to submit your application. You will be asked to upload a resume and to answer the following questions in lieu of a cover letter:

1. How many cumulative years of experience do you have with board relations?
2. How many cumulative years of experience do you have with executive support, complex administrative experience, scheduling, and project management?
3. In about 3-5 sentences, share with us the strategies you use to manage complex workloads and with varying deadlines.
4. In about 3-5 sentences, describe how you approach organizing projects across teams?
5. In about 3-5 sentences, describe your journey to understand anti-racism and anti-oppression. And what does it currently mean for you to embed equity into your work?
6. Please also attach 1-3 writing samples including a memo-type sample.

Note: Friends has an Artificial Intelligence Acceptable Use Policy. We do not use artificial intelligence (AI) to review applications or evaluate candidates. In turn, we ask that applicants do not rely on AI when creating their application packets, and especially when answering the questions above.

Friends is committed to improving hiring practices to be more inclusive and anti-ableist. We have reviewed the job requirements and only include physical abilities when completely necessary. During the interview process, we email the panel questions ahead of time. We are also able to provide captioning and/or interpretation (e.g., ASL) if requested. If you need specific assistance and/or accommodation during the application or recruiting process, please let us know by emailing our People & Culture team at hiring@waterfrontparkseattle.org.

Applications will be accepted until the position is filled, but priority will be given to applications received by Friday, March 6, 2026.

Benefits include (but are not limited to): employer paid medical, dental, life, and vision insurance, paid time off, WA PFML and additional supplement, ORCA regional transit pass (does not include Washington State Ferries), and a 3% retirement account match.