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Career Opportunity

Health Worker 2 (Interpreter Services) - San Francisco Department of Public Health (2586)

Recruitment: REF54611R

Published: October 17, 2025

Contact:

Juliette Soto - juliette.soto@sfdph.org

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

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Department: Public Health
Job class: 2586-Health Worker II
Salary range: $73,398.00 - $89,206.00
Role type: Permanent Civil Service What does this mean?
Hours: Full-time
Exam type: Class Based Test
Rule: Rule of 3
List type: Combined Promotive and Entrance
 

About:

The Department of Public Health prioritizes equitable and inclusive access to quality healthcare for its community and values the importance of diversity in its workforce. All employees at the Department of Public Health work to advance equity, inclusion, and diversity with a specific lens and focus on race, ethnicity, gender, sex, sexuality, disability, and immigration status. 

The Mission of the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) is to protect and promote the health of all San Franciscans. SFDPH strives to achieve its mission through the work of multiple divisions - the San Francisco Health Network, Population Health, Behavioral Health Services, and Administration. The San Francisco Health Network is the City’s only complete system of care and has locations throughout the City, including Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center, and over 15 primary care health centers. The Population Health Division (PHD) provides core public health services for the City and County of San Francisco: health protection, health promotion, disease and injury prevention, and disaster preparedness and response. Behavioral Health Services operates in conjunction with SFHN and provides a range of mental health and substance use treatment services.

Role description

Location: Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (ZSFG) 

Shift: Days, evenings, nights, weekends, and/or holiday shifts may be required.

Under supervision, the Health Worker 2 (Interpreter Services) is responsible for providing language assistance to non-English and limited English speaking clients who are seeking health care or are visitors at various San Francisco Department of Public Health facilities.  The essential duties include, but are not limited to the following:

  • Provides interpreter services in person, by telephone and video to limited English speaking clients and their families in various venues within the San Francisco Department of Public Health;
  • Translates correspondence, medical histories, medical procedures and instructions, medical consent forms, patient education brochures and other documents as necessary;
  • Serves as office dispatcher and dispatches interpreters to the appropriate departments by using all available resources;
  • Performs telephone dispatching;
  • Performs incidental clerical duties such as keeping records, answering the telephone and arranging client appointments; and
  • Performs computer data entry.

The Health Worker 2 (Interpreter Services) performs other related duties as assigned/required.

Working Conditions: Some positions may require employees to work directly with individuals within locked jails or psychiatric facilities, the homeless population, and individuals who have or are carriers of infectious/communicable diseases.  Some positions may also require exposure to inclement weather conditions.

How to qualify

  1. One (1) year of verifiable experience within the last five (5) years, performing a combination of at least two (2) of the following duties: Serving as a liaison between targeted communities and healthcare agencies; providing culturally appropriate health education/information and outreach to targeted populations; providing referral and follow up services or otherwise coordinating care; providing informal counseling, social support and advocacy to targeted populations; escorting and transporting clients; providing courier/dispatcher functions; performing pre-clinical examinations of vital statistics, such as measuring a patient’s weight, height, temperature and blood pressure; AND
     
  2. One year of verifiable experience working as a Medical Interpreter; OR
  3. Possession of a Certificate of Completion of a Medical Interpreter educational program from an accredited college or university; OR
  4. Possession of a national certification in Interpreting from the Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreter (CCHI) or the National Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters (NBCMI); OR
  5. Possession of a Bachelor’s Degree or higher in Interpreting or Translation and Interpretation from an accredited college or University; AND
  6. A. Bilingual in English and Spanish; OR
    B. Bilingual in English and Cantonese; OR 
    C. Bilingual in Cantonese and Mandarin. 

Substitution:
Possession of a Community Health Worker Certificate from City College of San Francisco can substitute for 6 months of experience for minimum qualification #1.

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

One-year fulltime employment is equivalent to 2,000 hours (2,000 hours of qualifying work experience is based on a 40-hour work week).

SPECIAL CONDITIONS: The above minimum qualifications reflect special conditions associated with the position(s) to be filled. They may differ from the standard minimum qualifications associated with this classification. 

Important Note: Please make sure it is clear in your application exactly how you meet the minimum qualifications. Applicants may be required to submit verification of qualifying education and experience at any point during the recruitment and selection process. Please be aware that any misrepresentation of this information may disqualify you from this recruitment or future job opportunities. 

What else should I know?

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

Assessment Component
Candidates that meet the minimum qualifications will be invited to participate in an oral exam that is designed to measure the knowledge, skills, and abilities in job related areas which may include but not be limited to: Knowledge of medical interpreting protocol and techniques; Care coordination; Judgement and decision making; Knowledge of, and ability to interpret and apply practices, policies, laws, regulations, and procedures; Interpersonal relations; Knowledge of, and ability to apply de-escalation techniques with patient/client; Interviewing; Reading comprehension; Written communication; Oral communication; and/or Clerical knowledge. 

Oral Exam (Weight: 100%) 
Candidates must achieve a passing score on the oral exam in order to continue in the selection process and will be placed on the confidential eligible list in rank order according to their final score.

Additional selection processes may be conducted by the hiring department prior to making final hiring decisions.

Language Proficiency Exam: 
Candidates deemed qualified who meet the special language condition must pass a departmentally approved language proficiency exam prior to appointment. Only those eligible candidates who pass the bilingual proficiency test will be considered for the bilingual position.

Certification
The certification rule for the eligible list resulting from this examination will be the Rule of Three Scores.

Eligible List/Score Report:
Once you pass the exam, you will be placed onto an eligible list and given a score and a rank. For more information, visit https://careers.sf.gov/knowledge/process/

The duration of the eligible list resulting from this examination process will be 12 months and may be extended with the approval of the Human Resources Director.

How to apply:

Applications for City and County of San Francisco jobs are only accepted online at careers.sf.gov.

Our e-mail communications may come from more than one department so please make sure your email is set to accept messages from all of us at this link.

Applicants may be contacted by email about this recruitment. Please consider using a personal email address that you check regularly rather than a work or school account.

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.

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. [Note: The correction of clerical errors in an announcement may be posted on the Department of Human Resources website at https://careers.sf.gov/.] The terms of this announcement may be appealed under Civil Service Rule 110.4. Such appeals must be submitted in writing to the Department of Human Resources, 1 S Van Ness Avenue, 4th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94103-5413 by close of business on the 5th business day following the issuance date of this examination announcement. Information concerning other Civil Service Commission Rules involving announcements, applications and examination policies, including applicant appeal rights, can be found on the Civil Service Commission website at http://sfgov.org/civilservice/rules.  

Additional information regarding Employment with the City and County of San Francisco: 

If you have any questions regarding this recruitment or application process, please contact the analyst, Juliette Soto at Juliette.Soto@sfdph.org or (628)271-6709. 

We may use text messaging to communicate with you on the phone number provided in your application. The first message will ask you to opt in to text messaging.

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.