Career Opportunity

Project Manager (Data & Technology), Government Operations Recovery Initiative (Gov Ops), Office of the City Administrator (1824)

Recruitment: RTF0139756-01150803

Published: September 15, 2023

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About:

The Office of City Administrator and its 20+ divisions and departments operate core internal and public-facing services. Our vision is to lead the nation in public administration and to enable City departments to effectively deliver critical public services. We aim to help the City run better, to connect San Francisco residents and constituents to the vital public services they seek, and to create a meaningful, diverse and inclusive work culture that is the place of choice for people who are invested in a career in public service. To learn more about our departments, divisions, and programs, click here: https://sf.gov/departments/city-administrator”

Role description

About Gov Ops

During the City’s response to and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen firsthand how some of the City’s core operational processes could be improved. This includes contracting and procurement, where the City’s processes can be complex, time-consuming, and resource-intensive for both City staff and suppliers.

In April 2022, the City Administrator’s Office, Controller’s Office, and Department of Human Resources came together to launch the Government Operations Recovery Initiative (Gov Ops), a special initiative aimed at addressing staff shortages, contracting backlogs, and financial system challenges that make it difficult to operate effectively and efficiently. Under this initiative, the three offices are creating project teams to serve as project managers, subject-matter-experts, and business analysts to plan and manage complex projects to streamline processes related to hiring, procurement and financial operations.

The Contract Reform Team

This Project Manager will join the Gov Ops Contracts Reform team under the City Administrator’s Office. Our team works on special projects that help reduce administrative burden and lower barriers to participating in public procurement opportunities to advance the City’s equitable contracting goals.

While this core team is small, the team works in close partnership with a number of other City departments and divisions who are involved in procurement and contracting, including but not limited to the Office of Contract Administration (OCA), the Contract Monitoring Division (CMD), the Department of Technology (DT), the Controller’s Office (CON), and contracts managers and analysts from around the City.

In our work, we strive to be dynamic and responsive to City staff and supplier needs, and we are guided by the key questions such as:

• How do we build better systems while minimizing unintended consequences and any potential adverse effects of change and transitions?
• How do we orient our work around the challenges that small, local businesses and community providers face to ultimately lower barriers to accessing public procurement opportunities for all?
• How do we balance a bold vision for the future with practicality and feasibility?

Job Description

As a Project Manager with our team, you will lead our data, technology, and systems portfolio to improve the City’s procurement and contracting processes and support our supplier community. The procurement technology landscape in the City is decentralized, with many departments supporting their own systems and managing related business processes. This decentralization presents challenges but also opportunities to streamline and improve systems and data. This Project Manager will be responsible for leading reform efforts that touch our systems, data, and technology from project inception to close-out.

This is a good opportunity for anyone who is motivated by convoluted but compelling challenges in governance, interested in finding the balance between incremental and transformational changes, dedicated to ensuring that public institutions serve communities equitably, enjoys bringing order to ambiguity, and sees themselves as a budding public sector leader. This role will report to the Contract Reform Manager.

The projected responsibilities for this role are described below. We are interested in bringing on someone who will grow and thrive in this role, so we encourage anyone who has an emerging interest in public procurement to apply. The candidate who fills this role will be supported by the Contract Reform Manager and enjoy increasing ownership and agency over projects over time.

System Development & Implementation

• Identify areas for improvement in the City’s procurement-related technology; research factors like potential adoption, cost, integration with existing systems, return on investment, etc.
• Work with central contracting agencies, contracts managers, and other stakeholders to explore and define scope and business requirements for the City’s procurement systems
• Manage unit testing, user acceptance testing (UAT), go-no go decision points, and other key implementation activities
• Identify, analyze, and escalate risks, issues, and trade-offs
• Facilitate change management activities, including developing communications to users, coordinating trainings, writing user guides, etc. to support the sustainability of contracting reforms and systems. 
• Develop and implement systems and/or processes to receive enhancement requests or feedback, identify resources, determine approach and priorities, track progress, and coordinate communications to impacted users

Data, Analytics, & Performance metrics

• Lead the development of a citywide procurement performance metric program to track key indicators such as competition, performance, compliance, etc.
• Develop robust analyses in response to legislative or policy questions
• Synthesize data and information into compelling, concise, action-oriented narratives for various types of audiences – from high-level decisions-makers to members of the public. 

Partnerships & Communications

• Partner with OCA, CON, DT, and others to align on citywide procurement technology priorities, identify resources, remove blockers, track progress status, etc.
• Create memos, slide decks, and other deliverables to communicate recommendations and project milestones and build support for this work.

Project Management

• Facilitate and support projects and meetings across diverse stakeholders (in terms of roles, functions, and identities) with the goal of identifying root challenges, developing solutions, mitigating risks and unintended consequences, building consensus, clarifying responsibilities, and developing clear next steps. Present ideas to and gather feedback from key stakeholders in internal and public-facing settings.
• Coordinate action items across multiple implementation partners and monitor project progress to ensure that deliverables are fulfilled in a timely manner. 
• Maintain project tracking tools to ensure proper resourcing, timelines, stakeholder engagement, etc. are implemented.

In addition, this Project Manager may be asked to supervise one or more Gov Ops staff.

Desirable Qualifications

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Experience managing complex projects with many stakeholders.
• Ability to prioritize, track, monitor, and ensure progress of projects. 
• Experience conducting complex data analysis and summarizing results and recommendations for decision-makers.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills. 
• Is creative, flexible, collaborative, and adaptable. 

How to qualify

Education:

Possession of a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university, and

Experience:

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?

• 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

• Interested candidates are encouraged to apply as soon as possible, as this job announcement will close at any time, but not earlier than September 29, 2023.
• Late or incomplete submissions will not be considered. Mailed, hand delivered or faxed documents/applications will not be accepted. 
• For questions or inquiries, please contact: Connie Poon, Senior Human Resources Analyst at Connie.Poon@sfgov.org
• Your application MUST include a resume.  To upload these item, please attach using the "additional attachments" function.

Verification: Applicants may be required to submit verification of qualifying education and experience at any point in the application and/or departmental selection process. Written verification (proof) of qualifying experience must verify that the applicant meets the minimum qualifications stated on the announcement. Written verification must be submitted on employer’s official letterhead, specifying name of employee, dates of employment, types of employment (part-time/full-time), job title(s), description of duties performed, and the verification must be signed by the employer. City employees will receive credit for the duties of the class to which they are appointed. Credit for experience obtained outside of the employee’s class will be allowed only if recorded in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Service Commission Rules. Experience claimed in self-employment must be supported by documents verifying income, earnings, business license and experience comparable to the minimum qualifications of the position. Copies of income tax papers or other documents listing occupations and total earnings must be submitted. If education verification is required, information on how to verify education requirements, including verifying foreign education credits or degree equivalency, can be found at http://sfdhr.org/index.aspx?page=456.

Note: Falsifying one’s education, training, or work experience or attempted deception on the application may result in disqualification for this and future job opportunities with the City and County of San Francisco. 
Applications will be screened for relevant qualifying experience. Additional screening mechanisms may be implemented in order to determine candidates’ qualifications. Only those applicants who most closely meet the needs of the Agency will be invited to participate in the selection process. Applicants meeting the minimum qualifications are not guaranteed advancement to the interview. Qualified applicants with disabilities requiring reasonable accommodation in the selection process must contact the Agency by phone at (415) 554-6065 or, if hearing impaired at (415) 554-6015 (TTY).

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.