Risk Management Specialist – Public Service Opportunity – Hybrid
Location: Carson City, Nevada
Reports To: Risk Manager
Employment Type: Full time, exempt
Compensation: $90,000 to $120,000 depending on experience and demonstrated capacity, with room above it for an exceptional candidate, plus the comprehensive benefits described below

About the Role
Nevada Risk Pooling, Inc. (NRP) is a non-profit organization that serves as the administrator of the Nevada Public Agency Insurance Pool (POOL) which provides general liability, cyber, property, and related coverage to its public entity members and Public Agency Compensation Trust (PACT), which provides workers' compensation coverage. Together, the two pools allow Nevada local governments to share risk cooperatively, and the risk management work attached to both risk pools is what this position supports. The members are the counties, cities, school districts, special districts, towns and law enforcement (both road and detention operations) that serve Nevadans every day.

This is a newly created position reflecting the continued growth of POOL/PACT's enterprise risk management services and member engagement efforts.

The Risk Management Specialist works at the center of the mission of the pools by partnering with elected officials, department heads, sheriffs, school superintendents, entity managers/supervisors, and the people who run the day-to-day operations of Nevada local government, helping them identify what could go wrong before it does and giving them practical tools to prevent it.
This is not a back-office analyst position. The work happens in board chambers, in sheriff's offices, at aquatic facilities, in detention centers, and across more than 144 member entities throughout Nevada. The right person finds that energizing rather than exhausting.

The position carries significant responsibility from day one. You will help carry the workload of the Enterprise Risk Management Excellence Program (ERMEP) and three quarterly committee processes, the Enterprise Risk Management Committee, the Nevada Detention Administrators Working Group (NDAWG), and the Nevada Rural School Resource Officer Working Group (NRSROWG). The position supports cybersecurity risk management, school safety, and the integration of artificial intelligence into our risk management work.
Work Environment - This is a hybrid position. Employees are required to maintain a regular in-office presence in Carson City, generally not less than two days per week, while also supporting statewide travel. Additional in-office time may be appropriate depending on operational needs, team collaboration, and project requirements. Telework flexibility is available, but this is not a fully remote position.

What the Work Looks Like
In a given month you might walk into a county commission meeting and have fifteen minutes to make the case for why a particular policy change matters, sit across the table from a sheriff who is skeptical of yet another outside consultant and earn her trust by knowing what you are talking about, draft a clear and persuasive best practice policy that a department head can actually implement, facilitate a working group of practitioners who have seen everything and tolerate no fluff, assist with an on-site assessment at a rural detention facility, guide a newly formed safety committee through its first agenda.
The work rewards people who can hold a room, write well, think systemically, understand how humor can break barriers, and translate between professional cultures. A risk concept that lands with a finance director will not land the same way with a patrol sergeant. The Risk Management Specialist learns to speak both languages and several others.
POOL/PACT supports professional development, relevant certifications, conferences, and continuing education. The position offers significant opportunity to broaden expertise across enterprise risk management, public sector operations, cybersecurity, policy development, governance, public speaking, and emerging technologies.
Success in this role is measured by results, reliability, and service to members. The work occasionally requires early mornings, evenings, or travel, but schedules are managed with a high degree of earned professional autonomy and personal responsibility.

Core Responsibilities
Enterprise Risk Management. Support and help deliver the ERMEP, including application reviews, departmental completion tracking, structured reporting using established program templates, and facilitation of risk workshops. Help member entities understand that enterprise risk management is a way of seeing how every department's actions ripple across every other department.
Working Group Leadership. Actively participate in quarterly committees and working groups that anchor much of POOL/PACT's enterprise risk management practice:
• The Enterprise Risk Management Committee, which sets direction for the broader risk management program.
• The Nevada Detention Administrators Working Group (NDAWG), which serves detention administrators, sheriffs, and detention staff across the state.
• The Nevada Rural School Resource Officers Working Group (NRSROWG), which serves 15 school districts across the state to integrate safety in every district.

Facilitation here means more than running meetings. It means setting agendas that respect practitioners' time, identifying key speakers/topics, capturing the substance of the conversation, translating it into deliverables members can use, and following through between sessions.

Member Engagement and Communication. Prepare and deliver presentations to boards of county commissioners, city councils, school boards, and special district governing bodies. Draft memos, advisories, and reports that motivate action without lecturing. Build the kind of relationships that lead department heads to call you before a problem escalates rather than after.

AI-Enabled Practice. Use NRP's two-tool AI architecture, Microsoft 365 Copilot for sensitive data and Claude for anonymized drafting and research, as a daily working tool. Help refine the governance frameworks, training materials, and member-facing guidance that POOL/PACT provides on responsible public sector AI use. The right candidate already uses AI productively or is demonstrably ready to.
Specialized Risk Areas. Oversee aquatic facility assessments at member swimming pools and aquatic centers. Support cybersecurity risk management efforts in coordination with IT, cyber security experts, and member entity leadership. Contribute to emergency response and business continuity planning, school safety initiatives, law enforcement policy, and other specialized risk areas as program needs require.
Compliance, Governance, and Policy Development. Help develop, refine, and communicate policies that meet Nevada statutory requirements (NRS Chapters 239, 241, 277, 289, 603A, 41, and others as applicable), federal law, and which reflect practical realities member entities face. Recommendations are framed as guidance, not commands.

Who Will Thrive Here
We are looking for capacity, not credentials. The skills that matter most for this role are not easily measured by a degree or a certification, and we are explicit that academic pedigree is not a gating qualification.
In particular, we welcome candidates from the following backgrounds:

Attorneys looking for substantive work. If you have a JD and meaningful practice experience, and you are tired of the rat race, of billable hours that produce very little you can point to at the end of the day, of work that has lost its meaning, this role offers the opposite. The Risk Manager and Deputy Risk Manager both came from extensive, in-the-trenches litigation practice, and the work draws on that legal training every day: statutory analysis, contract review, policy drafting, and the careful reasoning that legal practice and education build. You will not be practicing law, but you will be using the analytical horsepower that in-depth legal experience provides. We provide best practice recommendations. The entity’s counsel provides legal advice.

Managers moving into advisory roles. If you have spent years in law enforcement, public works, public administration, or another operational discipline and you have moved or are ready to move into a role where your accumulated judgment matters more than any single tactical skill, we want to hear from you. The pattern recognition you have built, seeing how every department affects every other, is exactly what enterprise risk management requires. Administrative experience following operational experience is a significant asset.

High-functioning generalists without traditional credentials. If you do not have an advanced degree or specialized certification, but you can write clearly and persuasively, hold a room, motivate professionals to adopt better practices, and demonstrate command of complex subject matter, please apply. We will weigh demonstrated capacity over paper credentials. Across all backgrounds, the candidate we are looking for treats AI as a force multiplier rather than a threat or a curiosity.

Required Qualifications
Facility with AI tools, or the demonstrable readiness to develop it quickly, including the judgment to know when AI should and should not be used, particularly with sensitive public sector data. Candidates already using AI productively for research, drafting, analysis, or workflow improvement should describe how; others will have the chance to demonstrate their aptitude during the assessment. Candidates should expect to incorporate AI tools into their regular daily workflow from the outset.

Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to write clearly under deadline and present persuasively to varied audiences.

The presence and credibility to work effectively with elected officials, sheriffs and law enforcement personnel, school administrators, public works professionals, and other public sector leaders across very different professional cultures.

Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, particularly the ability to see how decisions in one area affect operations across an organization.

The ability to manage multiple projects and meet deadlines without close supervision.

Willingness and ability to travel extensively across Nevada for meetings, assessments, training sessions, and member visits. Travel to national conferences is also an expectation.

Personal integrity, sound judgment, humor, and a genuine orientation toward excellence in public service.

Work Environment - The opportunity to telework is available.

Physical Demands - This position requires the ability to travel by vehicle across Nevada, including extended drives to member sites, and to conduct on-site assessments that may involve walking, standing, stairs, and navigating facilities such as aquatic centers and detention centers. Occasional lifting and carrying of presentation or assessment materials is required. Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Valuable but Not Required
Additional desirable qualifications. Strong candidates without them are encouraged to apply.
AI governance training or certification. AI learning demonstrated through a portfolio of practical work is also recognized.
A juris doctor degree, particularly with practice experience in employment, government, public sector, or civil litigation.
Operational experience in law enforcement, detention, public works, public administration, or a related public sector discipline.
Direct enterprise risk management experience, particularly with public entity risk pools or governmental ERM programs.
Familiarity with Nevada local government, NRS Chapters 239, 241, 277, 289, and 603A, or NRS 41 sovereign immunity provisions.

Cybersecurity background or training.

Risk management or related certifications.

A bachelor's degree in any field. We are explicit that a degree is not required for this position.

Familiarity with Nevada's rural communities, local government culture, and history is a plus.

Compensation and Benefits
Salary range: $90,000 to $120,000, depending on experience and demonstrated capacity, with room above it for an exceptional candidate. Benefits include comprehensive HSA medical program, dental, vision, and life insurance coverage, eighteen days of paid time off accrued in the first year, twelve paid holidays, and an employer-paid SEP IRA contribution beginning after one year of employment.

How to Apply
Interested candidates should submit a cover letter and resume to Marshall Smith, Risk Manager, at marshallsmith@poolpact.com. The cover letter is important. We use it to assess writing, judgment, and fit with the mission described above, and we read it carefully. Tell us in plain language why this role interests you and what you would bring to it. Candidates from non-traditional backgrounds are encouraged to use the cover letter to explain how their experience translates to the work described here.

Candidates advancing past the initial review will participate in a written and oral assessment as part of the interview process. Finalists will participate in an in-person interview. The written portion will ask the candidate to produce a short work product on a topic provided at the time of the assessment, completed within a defined time window. Topics are drawn from the actual range of work POOL/PACT supports and may fall well outside any candidate's prior experience, which is intentional. The role regularly requires the Specialist to engage with subjects on short notice, and the assessment is designed to reflect that reality.

Candidates are expected to use AI tools during the written assessment, the same way they would in the role itself. The evaluation is not whether AI was used but how well it was used, including the candidate's judgment about sources, accuracy, structure, and tone. An oral follow-up will allow the candidate to discuss the work, answer questions about substance and process, explain the choices made, and identify what they would change. The oral portion is where much of the real assessment happens, and candidates should expect that command of the material they produced will matter more than the polish of the draft.

Working at POOL/PACT
This role is also an invitation to join a team. POOL/PACT's Enterprise Risk Management team is small by design, which means every member matters and every member's work is visible. We share a commitment to the mission, take the work seriously, and take ourselves less seriously than that. Disagreement is welcome, ideas are tested honestly, and credit is shared. The work is demanding, the standards are high, and the environment is collegial. The work is more rewarding than most people expect.

We value people who bring substance and judgment, who do what they say they will do, who write and speak clearly, who treat members and colleagues with respect, and who find it satisfying to help dedicated public servants do their jobs better. The right candidate will find this team easy to work with and will make it better.
POOL/PACT is an equal opportunity employer.