Job Description

Under direction, the Utility Specialist independently conducts complex studies and analyses; develops analytical models and systems; independently conducts contract negotiations; works with other program controls staff in developing cost, schedule and technical tracking systems for new projects, collecting data on the cost, schedule and technical progress on those projects; develops and implements seasonal and long-term operating, financial and capital plans; develops and implements operational goals and procedures; manages and administers wholesale and retail contracts, projects and programs; conducts infrastructure planning for new service territories; provides training of analysts and technical personnel; serves as a technical expert.

Important and Essential Duties:

According to Civil Service Commission Rule 109, the duties specified below are representative of the range of duties assigned to the class and are not intended to be a inclusive list.

1. Monitors operations to ensure compliance with policy directives, laws, regulations and contractual constraints.

2. Develops analytical and predictive models; conducts technical and economic feasibility evaluations of proposed capital projects; incorporates results of analyses into cost/benefit assessments; conducts a wide variety of analytical studies related to assessment of operational effectiveness, financial and market risk, price sensitivity, and other complex studies as assigned.

3. Develops and implements seasonal, monthly and multi-year operating, financial and capital plans. Develops and maintains Critical Path Method (CPM) schedules; reviews and analyzes Precedence Diagram Method (PDM) schedules for variances and trends; maintains and makes recommendation for improvements to the cost control system to track spending relative to project budgets and schedules; and maintains a cost estimate database by providing project cost estimates and reviewing actual construction costs relative to engineers' estimates.

4. Directly negotiates large seasonal and yearly contracts, rates and service terms; provides negotiation support on division-wide multi-year contracts; establishes rate policies and negotiating parameters for short-term purchase and sale transactions and agreements.

5. Identifies operational constraints and develops, evaluates or recommends policies and procedures to improve operations, mitigate risks, increase revenues and decrease costs.

6. Develops training programs to implement policies and programs; trains analysts, technicians and other personnel on policies, procedures and compliance issues.

7. Writes a variety of documents including reports; work plans; general correspondence; operating, financial and marketing plans; program descriptions; operating procedures and policy recommendations; meeting minutes; documentation of forecast methodologies and model assumptions; legal and regulatory interpretations and issues; reports that explain schedule and cost variances and trends, provide cost-effective recommendations to mitigate adverse variances and to support negotiation of change order costs with contractors; and other types of written documents as needed to support the diverse work activities assigned to this class.

8. Develops, implements and maintains database systems for hydrologic, water supply, power operations, marketing, energy consumption and other data.

9. Supervises Utility Analysts and other technical personnel and provides technical support and expertise for assigned specialty area.

10. Supervises the preparation of section operating and capital budgets, including revenue and expense forecasts and analyses and reporting of variances.

Qualifications

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS FOR THIS RECRUITMENT

A minimum of one year as a Category 18 exempt appointee in Class 5602 by December 15, 2022. Must be a current exempt employee with the City and County of San Francisco with no break in service.

UNDERLYING MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

1. Possession of a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university preferably with major coursework in Law, Engineering, Environmental Studies, Natural Resources, Computer Science, Business Administration, Mathematics, Statistics, Economics or other field related to the utility business; AND

2. Four years of verifiable journey-level work experience in one or more of the following areas: planning, scheduling, cost estimating and resource projecting for mid to large scale projects; water supply management and planning; power operations planning and scheduling; analysis, interpretation and application of utility contracts and regulations in either water, power (electric and/or natural gas), telecommunications, or a wastewater program; utility market and environmental analysis and planning; power supply and transmission rates and contracts; generation, transmission or distribution planning and design; or long-term utility systems planning.

SUBSTITUTION: Additional qualifying experience may be substituted for the degree requirement on a year-for-year basis.

License or Certificate: Specified positions may require possession of a valid Class C driver's license.

VERIFICATION

Candidates being offered a permanent appointment will be required to submit verification of having met the underlying minimum qualifications [education and experience] at the time of appointment to the exempt position. Information on how to verify education requirements, including verifying foreign education credits or degree equivalency, can be found at https://sfdhr.org/how-verify-education-requirements

Failure to submit verification will result in disqualification from this selection process.

HOW TO APPLY

Applications for City and County of San Francisco jobs are ONLY accepted through an online process. Visit careers.sf.gov/ and begin the application process.

• Select the “I’m Interested” button and follow instructions on the screen including uploading your resume to autofill the application

Applicants may be contacted by email about this recruitment and, therefore, it is their responsibility to ensure that their registered email address is accurate and kept up to date. Also, applicants must ensure that email from CCSF is not blocked on their computer by a spam filter. To prevent blocking, applicants should set up their email to accept CCSF mail from the following addresses @sfgov.org and @smartrecruiters.com).

Applicants will receive a confirmation email that their online application has been received in response to every announcement for which they file. Applicants should retain this confirmation email for their records. FAILURE TO RECEIVE THIS EMAIL MEANS THAT THE ONLINE APPLICATION WAS NOT SUBMITTED OR RECEIVED.

SELECTION PROCESS

Qualified applicants will be ranked on an eligible list according to length of Cat 18 exempt City service and any other qualifying points such as promotive or Veteran’s Preference in accordance with CSC rules. Work history will be verified through City records which will be the final authority.

ELIGIBLE LIST/SCORE REPORT

A confidential eligible list of qualifying candidates will be created and used for certification purposes only. A score report will be established, so applicants can view the ranks, final scores and number of eligible candidates. Applicant information, including names of applicants on the eligible list, shall not be made public unless required by law. However, an eligible list shall be made available for public inspection upon request once the eligible list is exhausted or expired and referrals resolved. The eligible list/score report resulting from this selection process is subject to change after adoption (e.g., because of appeals), as directed by the Human Resources Director or the Civil Service Commission.

The duration of the eligible list resulting from this examination process will be 12 months.

For those candidates that do not have their qualifying 12 months at the time of eligible list posting, you will be placed under waiver on the eligible list and not available for appointment until you qualify. For example, if you were appointed to your Cat 18 position in November, 2021, you would be under waiver until November 2022.

CERTIFICATION RULE

The certification rule for this selection process will be Rule of the List.

TERMS OF ANNOUNCEMENT AND APPEAL RIGHTS: Applicants must be guided solely by the provisions of this announcement, including requirements, time periods and other particulars, except when superseded by federal, state or local laws, rules or regulations. Clerical errors may be corrected by the posting the correction on the Department of Human Resources website at https://careers.smartrecruiters.com/CityAndCountyOfSanFrancisco1/.

The terms of this announcement may be appealed under CSC Rule 110.4. Appeals concerning the provisions of an examination announcement must be received by the Human Resources Director within five (5) business days from the issuance date. The Human Resources Director shall rule on all appeals and shall notify appellants in writing of the decision. This decision is subject to appeal to the Commission as provided elsewhere in these Rules.

Additional Information

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REGARDING EMPLOYMENT WITH THE CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO:

• Information About The Hiring Process
• Conviction History
• Employee Benefits Overview  
• Equal Employment Opportunity 
• Disaster Service Worker
• ADA Accommodation
• Veterans Preference
• Right to Work
• Copies of Application Documents
• Diversity Statement

HR ANALYST INFORMATION: If you have any questions regarding this recruitment or application process, please contact the exam analyst, Janina Villanueva at JVILLANUEVA@SFWATER.ORG.

RECRUITMENT ID: CBT-5602-E00015

CONDITION OF EMPLOYMENT:  All City and County of San Francisco employees are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment. Someone is fully vaccinated when 14 days have passed since they received the final dose of a two-shot vaccine or a dose of a one-shot vaccine. Any new hire must present proof of full vaccination status to be appointed. Any new hire who will be routinely assigned or occasionally enter High-Risk Settings, must provide proof of having received a COVID-19 booster vaccine by March 1, 2022, or once eligible.

The City and County of San Francisco encourages women, minorities and persons with disabilities to apply. Applicants will be considered regardless of their sex, race, age, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition (associated with cancer, a history of cancer, or genetic characteristics), HIV/AIDS status, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, military and veteran status, or other protected category under the law.