Career Opportunity

1824 PRINCIPAL POLICY ANALYST

Recruitment: RTF0138993-01144805

Published: August 24, 2023

Apply using SmartRecruiters, the City and County of San Francisco's application portal.

About:

The Controller is the City’s chief financial officer. Our team includes financial, technology, analytical and other professionals who work hard to secure the City’s financial integrity and promote efficient, effective and accountable government. We hold ourselves to high standards and strive to be a model for good government. We value the diverse backgrounds, perspectives and lived experiences of our teams and clients in everything we do. We work in a collaborative and inclusive environment, promote equal opportunity, and invest in the professional development and wellbeing of our team members. You can expect to work alongside colleagues who are committed to serving the public with integrity and want to see positive impacts from their work. We are looking for smart, motivated individuals who want to make a difference and use government to play a role in solving our City’s problems, including addressing long-standing and harmful disparities in our communities. For a career with purpose and professional growth, join us in the Controller’s Office.

This 1824 Principal Policy Analyst will work on the Controller's Office's Accounting Operations and Suppliers Division (AOSD).

AOSD’s primary mission is to control the financial activities of the City. The division certifies contracts, pays vendors, approves personnel requisitions and reviews, monitors, controls, and projects departmental expenditures on a continuous basis to assess overall fiscal condition. The division assists departments to achieve fiscal compliance, accuracy, timeliness and meaningfulness for the resulting financial information. The division is also responsible for the producing the City's annual audited financial statements including the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR), the Single Audit Report, and other reports required by federal, state, and local regulations. Other functions include developing and maintaining citywide financial systems, system policies, procedures, training, security, and documentation.

AOSD is responsible for monitoring, tracking, approving and establishing guidelines, policies and procedures for central accounting across all City departments, including all City funds and grants. The City’s online accounting system, PeopleSoft, is used extensively in this work. The City’s data warehouse and analytical tool, Oracle Business Intelligence (BI), and Excel are also heavily used. The Asset Management team of AOSD manages the City’s fixed assets recording and reporting.

• Application Opening: August 21, 2023
• Application Filing Deadline: September 5, 2023 
• Annual Salary: $131,248 - $159,562

Role description

Under general direction of the AOSD Director and Accounting Manager, this position leads and develops complex projects including Citywide financial & accounting policy analysis, financial systems analysis and support, procurement card (P-Card) program monitoring and control, and emergency & disaster preparedness and responses. This position performs complex work in the design, composition and updating of the Controller’s Office Accounting Policies & Procedures in accordance with Federal, State and City rules, regulations, and standards as well as governmental accounting principles.  The policy analysis this position conducts include all aspects of the City’s accounting and financial operations. In addition, this position co-manages with the AOSD Director on AOSD divisional budgeting and contracting.

Essential duties include but are not limited to:

• Researches, reviews, updates, and performs very complex analysis for the Controller’s Office Accounting Policies & Procedures on all financial and accounting subjects
• Implements, manages, maintains and monitors the Citywide P-Card program; supervises initial training to all participating City departments; conducts complex analysis to monitor P-Card activities for internal control and audit purposes; reviews departmental P-Card policies; takes the leading role in expanding the Citywide P-Card use as part of the Government Operations Recovery Initiative (GovOps)
• Co-manages AOSD budget along with the AOSD Director including divisional spending on budgeted positions, off-budget positions, non-personnel services, and materials & suppliers
• Works closely with Controller’s Office Central Contracting in creating, modifying, and reviewing AOSD professional services RFPs and contracts; independently manages and monitors AOSD contract spending, invoicing, and payments
• Represents AOSD for disaster and emergency preparedness, responses, and recovery.  Researches, analyzes and establishes disaster and emergency procedures including related data structure setup, reporting, record retention, purchasing & payments, cost tracking, and cost recovery
• Works closely with AOSD Managers and other City managers to ensure that the financial systems, processes and procedures meet government accounting and taxation standards as well as social economic compliance requirements
• Represents AOSD for fiscal year-end planning and preparation; proposes and finalizes year-end calendars that accommodate system availability, accounting operations and budgeting deadlines, financial reporting and auditing deadlines, cash disbursement and deposit cutoff dates, and needs of the departments that operate 24/7
• Collaborates with the SMEs from AOSD, other CON divisions, Office of Contract Administration (OCA), Office of Treasurer & Tax Collector (TTX) and the City’s external auditors to present year-end workshops to Citywide accounting and financial staff; responds to Q&As and publishes year-end resources
• Develops and conducts training for the City’s 1649 Accountant Intern Program
• Plays a leading role in AOSD’s other complex accounting, budgeting and auditing functions including year-end close, financial system enhancement/modification testing, Interdepartmental Services budgeting and billing, Post Audit, and Continuous Monitoring

Employees must be willing to work a 40-hour week as determined by the department.  Overtime work may be required.  Occasional weekend and weeknight work is required.

How to qualify

These minimum qualifications establish the education, training, experience, special skills and/or license(s) which are required for employment in the classification. Please note, additional qualifications (i.e. special conditions) may apply to a particular position and will be stated on the job ad.

Possession of a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university, and five(5) years full-time equivalent experience performing professional-level analytical work. Qualifying professional-level analytical work includes analysis, development, administration, and reporting in major programs and functions of an organization in the areas of budgets, contracts, grants, policy, or other functional areas related to the duties of positions in the 182X Class series.

Substitution:

Possession of a graduate degree (Master's degree or higher) from an accredited college or university with major coursework in specialized subject matter areas such as public or business administration, management, business law, contract law, public policy, urban studies, economics, statistical analysis, finance, accounting or other fields of study closely related to the essential functions of positions in the Class series may be substituted for one (1) year of required experience.

Additional experience as described above may be substituted for the required degree on a year-for-year basis (up to a maximum of 2 years). Thirty (30) semester units or forty-five (45) quarter units equal one year.

What else should I know?

Written Multiple-Choice Examination (weight 40%) Candidates will be invited to
participate in a written, multiple-choice examination, designed to measure their relative
knowledge, skills and abilities in job-related areas. The "core" multiple-choice
examination component may include but not be limited to:

• Ability to evaluate/analyze information/data and to exercise good judgment
• relative to that evaluation or analysis.
• Knowledge of, and ability to apply, financial/fiscal principles (including the ability to use mathematical and statistical formulas).
• Ability to use various computer software programs.

The above test component is considered standardized and, therefore, test questions
and answers are not available for public inspection or review.

You will receive one or more scores with respect to the multiple-choice exam
component. One will correspond to the core test component and, should a specialty
subtest be added to that component, you also would receive one additional "specialty"
score. Any scores attained on these components will be valid and "banked" for three
years, starting from the date of the examination. This means that, during this three-year
time period, you will not be required to take any test components for which you have
already attained a score. If the selection process for the future announcement is held
within one year of the date of this examination and it includes any of these components
(i.e., core exam or specialty subtest), your score(s) for the corresponding test
component(s) will be automatically applied to that announcement. However, after one
year, you have the option to either (a) apply your test score(s) to the other
announcement or (b) re-take the test component(s). Re-testing is permitted no sooner
than one year from the date of the examination and only in association with your
eligibility for another announcement for which the test component (core or specialty
subtest) is used. Please note that, should you re-test, your retest score would become
your official score since it is the most recent.

Supplemental Questionnaire Exam (weight 60%)
The purpose of the Supplemental Questionnaire Exam (SQE) is to evaluate the experience, knowledge, skills and abilities that candidates possess in job-related areas, which have been identified as critical for this position and include but are not limited to: Ability to perform complex financial and business analysis; produce reports based on financial data and make appropriate and constructive recommendations; Ability to research, analyze, interpret and incorporate Federal, State and City rules, regulations, policies, and concepts related to accounting operations and reporting; Ability to collaborate with all stakeholders with various background, both internal and external ; Outstanding communication skills, both written and oral; ability to interpret and communicate complex information to stake holders of various backgrounds; Supervisory skills that can be applied to managing a diversified accounting/finance/analytical staff; Ability to manage complex personnel and non-personnel budget including positions and contract spending

Qualified candidates will be contacted via email to complete the Supplemental Examination. The supplemental examination must be completed and returned by the indicated deadline in order to be ranked on the eligible list.  

A passing score must be achieved on all examination components to be placed on the eligible list and continue in the selection process. Additional selection processes, like interviews, may be conducted by the hiring department prior to making final hiring decisions.

Score Report/Eligible List
A confidential eligible list of applicant names that have passed the civil service examination process will be created and used for certification purposes only. An examination 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 civil service examination process is subject to change after adoption (e.g., as a result of appeals), as directed by the Human Resources Director or the Civil Service Commission. 

Eligible List Duration: 6 months
The duration of the eligible list may be extended with the approval of the Human Resources Director. 

To find Departments which use this classification, please see https://sfdhr.org/sites/default/files/documents/Forms-Documents/Position-Counts-by-Job-Codes-and-Department-FY-2022-23.pdf

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 Civil Service Rule 111A.35.1. The standard for the review of such appeals is ‘abuse of discretion’ or ‘no rational basis’ for establishing the position description, the minimum qualifications and/or the certification rule. Appeals must include a written statement of the item(s) being contested and the specific reason(s) why the cited item(s) constitute(s) abuse of discretion by the Human Resources Director. Appeals must be submitted directly to the Executive Officer of the Civil Service Commission within five business days of the announcement issuance date.
 

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

Exam Analyst Information: If you have any questions regarding this recruitment or application process, please contact the exam analyst at Karena.Phung@sfgov.org

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.