Career Opportunity

Director of Real Estate - Office of the City Administrator - Real Estate Division (0953)

Recruitment: RTF0156735-01128494

Published: May 12, 2025

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

About:

• Application Opening: Friday, May 9, 2025
• Application Deadline: Apply Immediately. Application filing will be open at least through Friday, May 30, 2025, 11:59 PM PST and will close any time thereafter
• Compensation Range: $189,878 to $242,398 annually (Range A)
• Recruitment ID: RTF0156735-01128494

Appointment Type: Permanent-Exempt (PEX) Appointment. This position is excluded by the Charter from the competitive civil service examination pursuant to San Francisco Charter Section 10.104 and shall serve at the discretion of the Appointing Officer.

The Office of the City Administrator and its 25+ divisions and departments provide core internal and public-facing services in San Francisco.

Our Mission and Vision

Our vision is to lead a world-class San Francisco that delivers for everyone who lives, works and visits the City. We aim to provide exceptional core city services that enable every San Franciscan to live safe, healthy and productive lives and to create a meaningful and diverse work culture that provides a place of choice for people invested in a career in public services.

We are committed to ensuring that City services are inclusive, efficient, equitable, and culturally competent for San Franciscans of all races, ethnic backgrounds, religions, and sexual orientations.  We are also committed to ensuring that we have a safe, equitable, and inclusive workplace for individuals of all races. This includes creating opportunities for hiring, promotion, training, and development, for all employees, including but not limited to Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC).

To learn more about our departments, divisions, and programs, visit: City Administrator | SF.gov

About the Real Estate Division (RED)

The Real Estate Division (RED), part of the Office of the City Administrator, manages and provides services to more than five million square feet of space across 70+ City buildings. With over 220 full-time professionals, RED delivers a wide range of services through four core areas:

• Transaction Services: Handles purchases, sales and leases for General Fund departments and provides real estate consulting to enterprise departments, the Mayor, and the Board of Supervisors.
• Property Management: Provides full-service management for over 30 facilities, including landmark locations like City Hall and the Hall of Justice.
• Facilities Maintenance: Provides custodial and engineering services across City departments, including the Public Utilities Commission, Public Works, and the Public Library.
• Contracted Services: Manages contracts for critical systems like elevators and fire safety in City owned buildings.

Role description

The Office of the City Administrator is seeking a bold, collaborative, and forward-thinking leader to serve as the next Director of Real Estate. The ideal candidate recognizes the value of building and maintaining credibility and trust, brings a strategic mindset to partnerships, and actively mentors staff to embrace innovative thinking in daily operations.

This is a unique and impactful opportunity to lead one of the most important portfolios in the City—managing millions of square feet of facilities, overseeing complex transactions, and setting the standard for how the City leverages its property to serve the public. We are looking for someone who can help the City define what its real estate needs truly are—now and in the future—and develop smart, sustainable standards for how we work, where we work, and what spaces we invest in. The ideal candidate brings a strong mix of leadership, technical expertise, political savvy, and a service-first mindset. Candidates with a high-touch approach to customer service and a strong background in real estate transactions and property management—particularly within a public agency—are strongly encouraged to apply.

Under the general direction of the City Administrator, the Director of Real Property is responsible for overseeing the Real Estate Division with the following primary functions:

• Shaping Citywide Real Estate Strategy: Partnering with City leadership to assess needs, develop policies, and establish standards for office space, workplace design, and property utilization.
• Executing High Stakes Transactions: Negotiating and executing leases, acquisitions, and dispositions in coordination with the Mayor’s Office, Board of Supervisors, and other stakeholders.
• Overseeing Property Operations: Managing full-service property operations across 70+ City-owned facilities (totaling more than 5 million square feet), ensuring smooth delivery of custodial, engineering, rent collection, tenant and capital improvements, and security services.
• Managing a Large Lease Portfolio: Administering over 100 City leases, encompassing several million square feet and an annual rent budget exceeding $44 million.
• Leading High-Impact Teams: Supervising experienced property managers and guiding a team of professionals who support 50+ active facilities.
• Driving Operational Excellence: Managing more than 20 facility maintenance contracts to ensure high standards across the portfolio.
• Representing the department at Board of Supervisors meetings and other committees to provide guidance on real estate policies; collaborates with city departments and legal staff on property transactions, including leases, acquisitions, sales, and surplus land.

How to qualify

1. Possession of a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university, with course work in real estate, business, law, public administration or related field; AND
2. Seven (7) years of progressively responsible real property appraisal, transaction negotiation experience and/or property management experience, including five (5) years of responsible supervisory/management experience.

Substitution: Additional qualifying experience outlined above may substitute for the required education on a year-for-year basis, up to two years. One (1) year (2000 hours) of qualifying experience will be considered equivalent to thirty (30) semester units or forty-five (45) quarter units.

Every application is reviewed to ensure that you meet the minimum qualifications as listed in the job ad. Please review our articles on Employment Application and Minimum Qualifications and Verification of Experience and/or Education for considerations taken when reviewing applications. 

Applicants must meet the minimum qualification requirement by the final filing date unless otherwise noted.

All applicants are required to attach a resume and cover letter to the online application.

DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS:

• A proven leader with a strong record of success in navigating complex organizational structures, particularly within a public agency.
• Demonstrated expertise in policy development, organizational analysis, and the execution of strategic initiatives.
• Experienced in overseeing capital improvement projects, from planning through execution.
• Adept at public speaking, with a background in delivering clear, persuasive presentations to elected officials and stakeholder groups.

What else should I know?

Selection Process:
 
All applicants are required to attach a resume and cover letter to the online application. The selection process will include evaluation of applications, resumes and cover letters. Applicants meeting the minimum qualifications are not guaranteed advancement to the interview.  

Depending on the number of applicants, the City departments may establish and implement additional screening mechanisms to comparatively evaluate the qualifications of candidates. If this becomes necessary, only those applicants whose qualifications most closely meet the needs of the various department will be invited to participate in the interview process.  

What else should I know?

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

HOW TO APPLY
Applications for City and County of San Francisco jobs are only accepted through an online process. Visit https://careers.sf.gov/ to start the application process.

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, @sfdpw.org, @sfport.com, @flysfo.com, @sfwater.org, @sfdph.org, @asianart.org, @sfmta.com, @sfpl.org, @dcyf.org, @famsf.org, @ccsf.edu, @smartalerts.info, 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.

Analyst Information: If you have any questions regarding this recruitment or application process, please contact the analyst Katelynn Luong at katelynn.luong@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.