Career Opportunity

Rates Manager - Business Services Bureau - SFPUC (0931) - (157465)

Recruitment: RTF0157464-01108405

Published: June 30, 2025

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

About:

This is a Position-Based Test conducted in accordance with CSC Rule 111A.

•    Application Opening: June 30, 2025
•    Application Filing Deadline: July 7, 2025
•    Annual Salary: $152,80 - $195,026 effective until 6/30/25; $155,870 - $198,952 (Range A) effective 7/1/25
•    Recruitment ID: PBT-0931-157465, RTF0157464-01108405

WHO ARE WE?
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC)
Headquartered in San Francisco, we have 2,300 employees operating across eight counties serving more than 2.7 million customers in the San Francisco Bay Area – 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.

Our Mission: To provide our customers with high quality, efficient, and reliable water, power, and wastewater services in a manner that values environmental and community interests and sustains the resources entrusted to our care.

Our Vision: We are an innovative utility leader, recognized for excellent results in service, safety, stewardship, and inclusiveness.

We are an award-winning and industry-leading utilities organization committed to our customers, community interests, and the environment. To learn more about our organization, please visit our website at https://www.sfpuc.gov.

We are proud of our infrastructure and programs, but most importantly, we value our highly qualified and dedicated workforce which ensures that this vision becomes a reality.

To learn more about working at the SFPUC, visit our career site at https://www.sfpuc.gov/about-us/careers-sfpuc

Financial Services

Financial Services supports the SFPUC Enterprises and Bureaus in being the best financial steward for rate payer revenues. Services provided include accounting operations, asset management, audit oversight, reconciliation and financial reporting, budget management, debt management, fleet management, purchasing support, and rates administration. Accurately communicating the financial position of the SFPUC to rate payers, City departments, rating agencies, investors and other stakeholders is the central mission of the department.

Role description

The Rates Manager reports to the Director of Financial Planning and is a key member of the SFPUC's Financial Planning Team. This role is responsible for rate administration and development, the administration of the financial provisions of the Water Supply Agreement with wholesale customers, external communication on rates, and strategic financial planning.

Essential Functions:

• Directs the development, implementation, and administration of water, sewer, and power rates and charges.
  • Manages consultant cost of service studies as required by the City Charter.
  • Develops and administers contractual rates for water, sewer, and power services.
  • Administers audits related to contractual rates.
  • Manages research projects on innovative rate frameworks to achieve agency strategic goals.
  • Provides input and support for the proposed acquisition of PG&E’s distribution system which would require an extraordinary change to the framework of power rates.
  • Develops materials and represents the SFPUC in rate-related matters at Commission, Board of Supervisors, Rate Fairness Board, media, SFPUC customers, community group workshops and to other agencies. This may include presenting complex financial information, influencing, persuading and speaking in front of large audiences, key stakeholders and elected officials.
  • Serves as a trusted resource within the agency on rate-related requests and strategic financial planning.
• Supports the development of the SFPUC 10-Year Financial Plan, including: build out, provide ongoing improvements to, and keeping updated complex capital spending financial models. These models will be used to support executive and Commission-level decision-making regarding billions of dollars in capital improvements, organizing new and future resource needs for the agency.
• Supports the development of SFPUC revenue budget forecasts for the 10-Year Financial Plan, annual budget process as well as the Quarterly Budget Variance reports.
• Supervises technical staff, coaches, provides career growth and mentorship, manages staff deliverables and ensures quality control.
• Provides significant input in driving the process to develop and adopt new financial policies for the SFPUC. These policies will have organization-wide impact and guide our financial sustainability planning.
• Working alongside City Attorneys, supports the SFPUC in navigating the complex legal landscape and potential rate lawsuits. Includes supporting legally defensible rate design and providing expert testimony as needed.
• Directs major or complex projects or programs which span a number of the department's established sections or divisions.
• Other related duties as assigned.

How to qualify

Minimum Qualifications:

Education: Possession of a bachelor's degree from an accredited college/university; AND

Experience: Five (5) years of experience in utility financial planning and forecasting or utility rate setting, including 3 years supervising the work of other professionals

Substitution: May substitute up to two years of education with additional years of experience as described above on a year-for-year basis. One (1) year is equivalent to thirty (30) semester for forty-five (45) quarter units.

Desirable Qualifications: The stated desirable qualifications may be considered at the end of the selection process when candidates are referred for hiring.

• Experience performing cost allocations and/or developing cost-based utility rates
• Advanced knowledge of financial forecasting, economic analysis, and/or financial modelling
• Excellent writing and communication skills on sensitive and complex technical topics
• Experience with public speaking

One year of full-time employment is equivalent to 2000 hours. (2000 hours of qualifying work experience is based on a 40-hour work week.) Any overtime hours that you work above forty (40) hours per week are not included in the calculation to determine full-time employment.

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

Verification: Applicants may be required to submit verification of qualifying education and experience at any point during the recruitment and selection process. If education verification is required, 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.

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.

All work experience, education, training and other information substantiating how you meet the minimum qualifications must be included on your application by the filing deadline. Information submitted after the filing deadline will not be considered in determining whether you meet the minimum qualifications. 

Resumes will not be accepted in lieu of a completed City and County of San Francisco application. 

Applications completed improperly may be cause for ineligibility, disqualification or may lead to lower scores.

Selection Procedures: After application submission, candidates deemed qualified must complete all subsequent steps to advance in this selection process, which includes the following: 

Minimum Qualification Supplemental Questionnaire (Weight: Qualifying): Candidates will be required to complete a Minimum Qualification Supplemental Questionnaire (MQSQ) as part of the employment application at a later time. This MQSQ is designed to obtain specific information regarding an applicant's experience in relation to the Minimum Qualifications (MQ) for this position. The MQSQ will be used to evaluate if the applicant possesses the required minimum qualifications.

Supplemental Questionnaire Examination (Weight: 100%): Candidates who meet minimum qualifications will be invited via a separate link to complete the Supplemental Questionnaire Examination. The purpose of the Supplemental Questionnaire Examination is to evaluate the competencies that candidates possess in job-related areas, which have been identified as critical for this position and include, but are not limited to: 

• Knowledge of utility cost of service analysis
• Ability to analyze and interpret contract, legislation, and/or regulatory standards
• Supervisory skills
• Ability to communicate and present technical concepts using presentations, figures, and models
• Ability to conduct financial modeling for utility financial forecasts using Microsoft Excel

A passing score must be achieved on the Supplemental Questionnaire Examination in order to continue in the selection process and be placed on the eligible list.

Candidates will be placed on the eligible list in rank order according to their final score. Candidate scores on this examination may also be applied to other announcements involving other job titles, when directed by the Human Resources Director.

The department may administer additional position-specific selection procedures to make final hiring decisions.

What else should I know?

Eligible List/Score Report: 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. 

The duration of the eligible list resulting from this examination process will be 6 months, and may be extended with the approval of the Human Resources Director. 

To find Departments which use this classification, please see ASO FY2023-24 & FY2024-25 - FINAL 20230731.pdf. 

Certification: The certification rule for the eligible list resulting from this examination 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 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
• Seniority Credit
• 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 and begin the application process. 

•    Select the “Apply Now” button and follow instructions on the screen 

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, @first5sf.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. 

Exam Analyst Information: If you have any questions regarding this recruitment or application process, please contact the exam analyst, Queena Poon, at QPoon@sfwater.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.