Montgomery County, MD is seeking a Chief Labor Relations Officer. The Chief Labor Relations Officer is the primary advisor to County management and a critical liaison to collective bargaining units. The ideal candidate will understand, value, and appreciate the variety of opinions and positions of both labor and management. The CLRO will be compassionate and demonstrate common sense to labor issues in the short term, but especially for the long-term benefit of the County and its employees. This person should be prepared, willing, and eager to roll up their sleeves and explore creative labor initiatives. The CLRO will have previous experience in public sector collective bargaining, especially with contracts subject to binding arbitration. The CLRO should seek to create relationships and agreements with the freedom and flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances and at the lowest level possible. The ideal candidate must be an effective, strategic negotiator and embrace the principles of interest-based bargaining: building trust; identifying interests, not positions; and finding options for a path forward collaboratively. The CLRO should have extensive management skills as well as the capacity to administer the collective bargaining process and its implementation through all levels of the organization. Finally, the CLRO must demonstrate leadership and ownership of the collective bargaining process. This might mean admitting mistakes or making unpopular decisions and trusting in the bargaining process to achieve an ideal labor relations model.