Career Opportunity

Assistant Real Estate Director - Real Estate Division - SFPUC (0931) - (128553)

Recruitment: RTF0128552-01116167

Published: February 07, 2023

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

About:

Amended 2/6/2023 to extend the filing deadline. Candidates who have submitted an application do not need to re-apply.

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

•    Application Opening: January 18, 2023
•    Application Filing Deadline: February 22, 2023
•    Annual Salary: $141,492 to $180,622 (Salary Range A)
•    Recruitment ID: PBT-0931-128553, RTF0128552

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.org/.

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.org/about-us/careers-sfpuc

The Real Estate Services Division (RES) of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) furthers the SFPUC’s mission of providing its customers with high quality, efficient and reliable water, power, and sewer services in a manner that is inclusive of environmental and community interest, and that sustains the resources entrusted in its care.  RES does this by carefully negotiating the best contractual terms when renting the real property over which the SFPUC has jurisdiction (SFPUC Property).  If it is determined that any SFPUC Property is underutilized and should be sold, RES conducts that process. 

RES also works to acquire property and easements for SFPUC projects, and negotiates with third parties who desire to acquire easements on SFPUC Property.  RES also negotiates leases for office and industrial space required by other SFPUC divisions. Finally, RES works with colleagues in other divisions to protect the SFPUC by vetting proposed third-party projects for potential negative impacts to SFPUC infrastructure and lands. RES does not perform facilities management, which the three enterprises handle.

Role description

The Assistant Real Estate Director position is a senior position requiring leadership, pragmatism, excellent negotiating skills, deep transactional experience, management expertise and excellent written and oral communication skills. The Assistant Real Estate Director oversees and directs the administration of SFPUC income-producing and other leased property, including financial, regulatory and legal aspects. The Assistant Real Estate Director is responsible for negotiating complex real estate agreements. Most projects are large­scale, financially significant and politically and environmentally sensitive, with potentially significant impacts on the environmental vitality of the SFPUC watershed lands. The Assistant Real Estate Director manages many real estate projects jointly with other SFPUC divisions. 

The essential duties of this position include, but are not limited to the following:

• Negotiate complex real estate agreements, including purchase and sale agreements, and administer high revenue, specialty and other leases and licenses, and easement agreements.
• Manage RES staff and consultants
• Closely direct and coordinate subordinate RES staff in negotiating commercial leases, licenses and easements for use of SFPUC lands and in establishing priorities, objectives and policies concerning each project.
• Lead in-depth financial analysis of SFPUC real estate leasing and purchase and sale opportunities, and manage a periodic fair market rent appraisal process for existing tenants, including appraisal arbitration, primarily through management of subordinate staff and consultants, including appraisers.
• Supervise subordinate staff administering over 600 existing leases and licenses to ensure that SFPUC tenants and licensees have met all financial and insurance obligations through lease administration software systems and other real estate obligations under these agreements.
• Coordinate the activities of RES staff with the staff of other SFPUC divisions, other City departments, Mayor's Office and the Board of Supervisors, and of outside agencies; explain and justify Commission procedures, policies or programs; negotiate/resolve difficult issues and problems.
• Prepare and administer RES budgets
• Maintain positive working relationships with staff, internal and external agencies, and the general public in a complex environment.
• Oversee the solicitation, negotiation and administration of consultant and vendor contracts and review work product for timeliness and effectiveness.

How to qualify

Education: Possession of a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university

Experience: Five (5) years of professional experience with commercial real estate organizations, including experience creating and analyzing detailed proformas and negotiating agreements for complex real estate transactions, of which three (3) years must be of supervisory experience

License: Possession of a valid California driver's license (to be presented at the time of appointment) 

Substitution: Additional qualifying work experience as described above may be substituted for up to two years of the required education on a year-for-year basis. (One year of work experience is equal to 30 semesters or 45 quarter units)

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.

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

• Direct experience with Yardi software application (a lease administration program), and Exigis software application (an insurance compliance program)
• Extensive experience negotiating complex real estate agreements
• Juris Doctorate or Master’s degree in Business Administration, Public Administration, Urban Studies, Accounting, Economics, Finance, or a closely related field.
• Direct experience with specialty leases such as golf course, grazing and quarry leases.
• Direct experience in making presentations to public officials, agencies and community organizations.
• Direct experience in financial analysis, budget preparation and lease administration.
• Supervisory or managerial experience with professional staff in a large utility agency.

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 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: 

• Knowledge of the principles and practices of real property acquisitions and management including property appraisal, commonly used methods of describing property, the real estate market and property values.
• Knowledge of local, state and federal laws, rules, regulations and ordinances refers to the knowledge pertaining to acquisition, leasing and sale of public property.
• Ability to effectively keep cross functional initiatives on track and ensure accountability on goals; design, manage and evaluate programs; initiate, plan, organize and manage resources in order to achieve specific goals and meet specific success criteria; includes the planning and execution of a particular project.
• Knowledge of contracting principles and practices, methods and procedures used in competitive procurement, including value analysis, and source selection techniques.
• Ability to influence, motivate, and challenge others, work with authority to identify and define problems, determine methodology, evaluate data, make recommendations with appropriate justification and develop/implement a plan of action.
• Ability to make sound, well-informed and objective decisions; perceives the impact and implications of decisions; commits to action, exercise independent and good judgment, to follow through on projects and achieve results; demonstrate resilience to setbacks and flexibility to reprioritize and to quickly adapt to changing situations.
• Ability to develop, control and administer the Division's budget and expenditures.
• Ability to work with a variety of internal and external constituencies, to create, develop, sustain and support external partnerships with important stakeholder groups and community leaders and advisory groups.
• Ability to inspire, motivate and guide others toward goal accomplishments; develop and sustain cooperative working relationships; encourage and facilitate cooperation within the organization and with customer groups; foster commitment and trust; and develop leadership in others through coaching, mentoring, rewarding and guiding employees.
• Ability to use time, energy and resources effectively to achieve goals; the ability to meet deadlines, work independently and plan for future projects.
• Ability to collect and synthesize large volumes of materials, and perform complex quantitative and qualitative analytical work
• Ability to use business-related computer applications such as Microsoft Office programs: Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Microsoft databases; and effectively navigate applications and databases for property and financial analysis.
• Ability to express information, ideas or facts to individuals or groups effectively, makes clear and convincing oral presentations, listens to others, attends to non-verbal cues and respond appropriately.
• Ability to prepare and present comprehensive technical, fiscal and administrative reports and data regarding real property acquisitions.

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 of 12 months, and 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-2021-22.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
• 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, Stefanie Lim, at SMLim@sfwater.org or 415-916-6632.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

CONDITION OF EMPLOYMENT:  All City and County of San Francisco employees are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment. Someone is fully vaccinated when 14 days have passed since they received the final dose of a two-shot vaccine or a dose of a one-shot vaccine. Any new hire must present proof of full vaccination status to be appointed. Any new hire who will be routinely assigned or occasionally enter High-Risk Settings, must provide proof of having received a COVID-19 booster vaccine by March 1, 2022, or once eligible.

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.