State Watch Office Duty Officer - 31001096

Requisition No: 871454 

Agency: Division of Emergency Management

Working Title: State Watch Office Duty Officer - 31001096

 Pay Plan: CS Exempt (EOG)

Position Number: 31001096 

Salary:  $51,339.12 

Posting Closing Date: 03/18/2026 

Total Compensation Estimator Tool

State Watch Office Duty Officer

Bureau of Response

Florida Division of Emergency Management

This position is located in Tallahassee, FL

The Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) plans for and responds to both natural and man-made disasters. These range from floods and hurricanes to incidents involving hazardous materials or nuclear power. FDEM is the liaison between federal, state, and local agencies. FDEM prepares and implements a statewide Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan, routinely conducts extensive exercises to test state and county emergency response capabilities, provides technical assistance to local governments as they prepare emergency plans and procedures, as well as conducts emergency operations trainings for state and local government agencies.

FDEM serves as the lead agency for the State Emergency Response Team (SERT), whose primary goal is the coordination of the state’s efforts during disaster response and recovery. This coordination is conducted within the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) in Tallahassee. Additionally, FDEM manages the State Watch Office; the 24-hour a day operation tasked with providing situational awareness to stakeholders statewide. After a disaster, FDEM conducts damage assessment surveys and advises the Governor of the State of Florida on whether to declare an emergency and seek federal relief funds. It is against this backdrop that FDEM strives to demonstrate its mission of, “Coordinate, collaborate, and communicate with our community stakeholders for a resilient Florida”, along with our vision of “Leading the Profession in building prepared and resilient communities”.

Position Overview and Responsibilities:

This position serves as the State Duty Officer in the State Watch Office (SWO). This position requires rotating working hours and after-hours on-call responsibilities that are split with one other Duty Officer in a seven-day period, including nights and weekends.  During on-call periods, the employee must carry an FDEM issued cell phone and be capable of immediately responding to the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) within 45 minutes to address emergency situations occurring around the state. Duties include, but are not limited to:

• Maintain all-hazards situational awareness of events and/or incidents that impact or threaten the State of Florida.
• Ensure that proper notifications are made to senior staff, state and local response, and recovery organizations.
• Assess the need for additional response actions by SERT organizations to incidents that occur in the State of Florida.
• Conduct initial and periodic refresher training for all SWO Operations Officers, documents training progress, and make recommendations for improvements to the training process.
• Coordinate shift scheduling requests from SWO Operations Officers.
• Consult with State Watch Officers on training, performance, and professional development.
• Recommend and assist in the establishment of policies and procedures related to the SWO, SEOC, and FDEM programs.
• Monitor SEOC activities to determine compliance with statewide emergency management operation goals, investigate, assess, analyze, and make recommendations to resolve issues and problems pertaining to the SEOC operational priorities involving preparedness and response issues.
• Participate in partial and full SEOC activation and perform all duties as assigned by the SERT Chief.
• Attend conferences, training, meetings, etc. as required.
• Perform travel and other related work as required.

In response to emergency events, FDEM employees may be required to work irregular hours, to work more than 8 hours per day, to work extended periods (including weekends and holidays), to work at locations other than their official headquarters, and to perform duties in addition to those outlined in the employee’s position description. Employees must be able to deploy to emergency sites with limited advance notice.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Demonstrated knowledge of state, local, and federal emergency management responsibilities during a disaster and the role of the SEOC.
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office products, including Word, Excel, Outlook, Power Point, and Access.
• Skill in Emergency Communications.
• Skill in collecting, analyzing, and summarizing data with computer software and internet-based applications.
• Ability to motivate others and foster a teamwork environment during assigned duty shifts.
• Ability to serve in an on-call capacity on a rotating basis including weekends and holidays.
• Ability to exercise good judgment in emergency/critical situations and make decisions quickly during stressful, multi-tasked conditions. 
• Ability to communicate effectively with others verbally and in writing.
• Ability to operate a personal computer, conduct internet research, and monitor news and social media sources.
• Ability to travel (on short notice and/or for extended periods of time), work in field environment (remote areas) when necessary.
• Ability to work overtime and/or 12 hour rotating shifts, including holidays and weekends, as will be required periodically to support FDEM’s responsibility in disaster response and/or preparation to disaster response.
• Ability to operate a mobile communication device (smartphone) and monitor it at all times during assigned duty rotations.

Minimum Qualifications:

• The ability and willingness to serve in an on-call capacity on a rotating basis, work irregular hours, 12-hour rotating shifts, including weekends and holidays.
• Experience using Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, Word, Outlook) with the ability to learn and navigate division enterprise business systems.
• Valid driver’s license.
• Ability to travel (on short notice and/or for extended periods of time) and work in field environment (remote areas) when necessary, during activations of the SEOC.

Special Notes:

The State of Florida is an Equal Opportunity Employer/Affirmative Action Employer and does not tolerate discrimination or violence in the workplace.

FDEM is committed to successfully recruiting and onboarding talented and skilled individuals into its workforce. FDEM appreciates the service and sacrifices made by veterans and their family members and recognizes the immeasurable value veterans bring to the workplace and is committed to increasing the number of veterans that serve in its workforce.

FDEM is committed to increasing recruitment and hiring of individuals with disabilities and improving employment outcomes. An individual with a disability is qualified if he or she satisfies the skills, experience, and other job-related requirements for a position and can perform the essential functions of the position with or without reasonable accommodation. Candidates requiring a reasonable accommodation, as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act, must contact the FDEM Human Resources Office at (850) 815-4177. FDEM requests applicants notify the Human Resources Office in advance to allow sufficient time to provide the accommodation.

The State of Florida supports a Drug-Free workplace. All employees are subject to reasonable suspicion drug testing in accordance with section 112.0455, F.S., Drug-Free Workplace Act.

Successful completion of background screening will be required for this position.

The State of Florida and FDEM participate in E-Verify. This federal law requires all employers to verify the identity and employment eligibility of all persons hired to work in the United States.

In response to emergency events, FDEM employees may be required to work irregular hours, to work more than 8 hours per day, to work extended periods (including nights, weekends, and holidays), to work at locations other than their official headquarters, and to perform duties in addition to those outlined in the employee’s position description. Employees must be able to deploy to emergency sites with limited advance notice.

Candidates requiring a reasonable accommodation, as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act, must notify the agency hiring authority and/or People First Service Center (1-866-663-4735). Notification to the hiring authority must be made in advance to allow sufficient time to provide the accommodation.

The State of Florida supports a Drug-Free workplace. All employees are subject to reasonable suspicion drug testing in accordance with Section 112.0455, F.S., Drug-Free Workplace Act.