Career Opportunity

Director of Policy, Contracts, and Government Relations Branch (0923 Manager II)

Recruitment: RTF0133538-01082883

Published: June 16, 2023

Accepting applications until: June 21, 2023

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

About:

The Mission of the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) is to protect and promote the health of all San Franciscans. 

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 San Francisco Department of Public Health is accepting applications for a permanent civil service Director of Policy, Contracts, and Government Relations Branch (0923 Manager II).

This is a Position Based Test (PBT) administered in accordance with Civil Service Rule 111A.

• Application Opening – Tuesday, June 6th, 2023 

• Application Deadline –  The application filing will be open continuously at least through June 20th, 2023 and will close any time thereafter.

• Appointment Type: Permanent Civil Service

• Recruitment ID: PBT-0923-135466

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: 

The Department of Public Health prioritizes equitable and inclusive access to quality healthcare for its community and values the diversity of its workforce. All employees are required to participate in the Department of Public Health's work to advance equity, inclusion, and diversity through: 

• Commitment to providing exceptional care and services to all residents of the City and County of San Francisco service population, with heightened awareness of responsiveness to racially, ethnically, and culturally diverse members of the service population and the DPH workforce. 

• Desire and commitment to lead and participate in anti-racism, racial justice, and equity work that improves quality of patient care and employee experiences; along with the commitment and fortitude to drive change in these areas. 

• Desire to work with, relate to, serve, and support a diverse service population and workforce. 

• Commitment to health equity with a specific lens and focus on race, ethnicity, gender, sex, sexuality, disability, and immigration status.

Role description

Under the direction of the Deputy Director of Operations, People & Infrastructure in the Population Health Division (PHD) of the San Francisco Department of Public Health (DPH), the Director of Policy, Contracts, Purchasing, and Government Affairs Branch (0923 Manager II) will provide management and operational oversight for the Division’s policies, contracts, purchasing, and governmental affairs. Providing complex programs and services, the responsibilities for the Director in this position includes creating and maintaining the division’s Contracts Development and Management Unit, revising the Population Health Division’s and Operations Branch’s policies and procedures, and establishing the Governmental Affairs Unit. The Director will direct the research, analyses, and reporting on the status of various public health policy and legislative issues impacting the health of San Franciscans and the Division.

The Director will lead, oversee, and coordinate department policy initiatives including department strategic planning, monitoring, and analyzing health related legislation and ballot initiatives, monitoring, and analyzing Federal and State budget changes, and monitoring and analyzing government regulations for their impact on the Department of Public Health (DPH). The incumbent will plan and facilitate intra- and inter- departmental health planning processes and reports, such as the Health Care Services Master Plan, in close coordination with Mayor’s office and other City and County of San Francisco (CCSF) Departments. The Director leads, oversees, and coordinates PHD government affairs activities that affect businesses and the community including but not limited to collaborating with state and/or federal stakeholders/representatives, coordinating Health Commission agenda items, reports, and/or presentations, and working closely with the Department of Public Health’s Policy and Planning staff and other City agency or external staff. The Director will be instrumental in creating and directing the division’s Contracts Development and management team by providing support and guidance in contract development, monitoring and management.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES:
The Director of Policy, Contracts, and Government Relations Branch (0923 Manager II) performs the following essential job functions:

1. Manages programs, operational activities, and/or projects for the following Branch sections: Policy, Contracts, Purchasing and Government Affairs.
2. Evaluates procedures, identifies, and analyzes problems and issues and may implement and document new procedures for the Policy, Contracts and Government Affairs Sections supervised.
3. Directs the development and implementation of policies and workflow standards for the Branch sections and/or Population Health Division (PHD).
4. Monitors and evaluates the performance of PHD Policy, Contracts, Purchasing, and Government Affairs in relation to its programs and/or projects to ensure goals are met efficiently and effectively.
5. Monitors the work of and coaches direct reports to support career development and/or improve performance.
6. Participates in budget development and tracks budget expenditures for Branch.
7. Develops and oversees policies and legislative issues impacting the health and well-being of San Franciscans, including visitors, students, and residents; recommends changes in public policy to improve efficiency or effectiveness.
8. Directs and provides guidance to staff in completing research of topics to determine their implications for public health policy; and in reviewing proposed legislations to determine if it is consistent with current laws or if changes are needed to ensure compliance.
9. Coordinates (including meetings) and collaborates with city, federal, state, and other governmental agency and with DPH Central Administration, Office of Contract Administration, DPH Contracts and Planning leaders and staff to support public health policy, legislative work and activities.
10. Creates the Contracts section in the development of contracts, management of existing contracts and/or monitoring of contracted services performance; reviews, provides input and evaluates the contract development process for PHD leadership and staff. Identifies and escalates contracts related issues needing resolution.
11. Works closely with the City Attorney’s Office and staff on complex negotiations, actions required to resolve protests, and the interpretation and implementation of contract development meeting laws and regulations.
12. Collaborates with DPH’s Fiscal and Business Unit Teams, PHD Staff, and suppliers and other city agencies or business organizations; develops solicitations that will provide the best quality, cost, and service for PHD.
13. Provides technical assistance for PHD Branch leadership and staff for the development/ submissions of presentations and/or reports to city agencies, including Health Commission meetings. Develops reports and provides presentations; coordinates calendar and agenda items pertaining to PHD for the Health Commission meetings.

The Director of Policy, Contracts, and Government Relations Branch (0923 Manager II) performs other duties as assigned and required.

How to qualify

Required Minimum Qualifications (all applicants must verify that they meet both elements below):

         1. Education: Possession of a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university; 

AND

         2. Experience: Four (4) years of experience overseeing public health program development, public administration, or public health operations.

Education substitution: Additional experience as described above may be substituted for the required degree on a year-for-year basis up to a maximum of two (2) years. One (1) year is equivalent to thirty (30) semester or forty-five (45) quarter units.

Note: One year of full-time employment is equivalent to 2,000 hours of qualifying work experience (one year if performed full-time at 40 hours per week). Any overtime hours that were worked above 40 hours per week are not included in the calculation to determine qualifying hours worked.

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

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.

Verification of Education
Verification of Experience

DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS: The stated desirable qualifications listed below may be used to identify job finalists at the end of the selection process after candidates are referred for selection:

• Two (2) years of qualifying experience includes supervising professionals
• Master's degree in public health, public administration, healthcare administration, or another relevant social science field

Important Note: Please make sure it is absolutely 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. For more information, visit https://sfdhr.org/information-about-hiring-process#verification:~:text=Verification%20of%20Experience%20and/or%20Education

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 (MQSQ Weight: Qualifying): Applicants will be required to complete an MQSQ by email after your submit your application. 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.

Supervisory Test Battery (Weight: 40%): Candidates will be invited to participate in a computer-based examination designed to measure competencies in job-related areas which may include but not be limited to: Problem Solving; Leadership; Decision Making; Interpersonal skill; Human Resource Management; Team Building; Communication, Conflict Management and Process Improvement. For more information about this Supervisory Test (and a suggested reading list) please visit Supervisory Test Battery info Please note: this examination is only held in San Francisco. A passing score must be achieved on the Supervisory Test Battery to continue in the selection process. This is a standardized examination and, therefore, test questions and answers are not available for public inspection or review. Scores attained on the Supervisory Test Battery will be valid and 'banked' for three years, starting from the date of the examination. This means that, during this three-year time period, you will not be required to take the Supervisory Test Battery. The Supervisory Test Battery may be used for many other classes; therefore, your test score may be applied to one or more of these classes if you choose to apply to future recruitments. If the selection process for the future announcement is held within one year of the date of this examination and it includes the Supervisory Test Battery, your score will be automatically applied to that announcement. However, after one year, you have the option to either (a) apply your test score to the other announcement or (b) re-take the Supervisory Test Battery. Retesting is permitted no sooner than one year from the date of the examination and only in association with your eligibility for another announcement for which the Supervisory Test Battery is used. Please note that, should you re-test, your re-test score would become your official score since it is the most recent.

Supplemental Questionnaire (SQ) Examination (Weight: 60%): Candidates who achieve a passing score on the Supervisory Test Battery (STB) will be emailed a Supplemental Questionnaire (SQ) that is designed to measure the knowledge, skills, and abilities in job related areas which may include but not be limited to: knowledge of management and administrative principles and techniques applicable to operations in policy, contracts, purchasing, and government affairs, ability to manage, administer and/or coordinate multiple teams, programs, operations and/or projects related to policy, contracts, purchasing, and government affairs, ability to plan, coordinate and direct work of subordinates and consultants/contractors, ability to conduct analysis of policy, contract, purchasing, and/or government affairs related operations, development and/or improvement plans as required. The SQ will be emailed to the address listed on the candidate’s online application. Candidates will be required to respond to the SQ in the time frame indicated and must submit the completed questionnaire as directed in order to have it evaluated. Responses cannot be changed once submitted. Candidates will be evaluated based on their SQ responses. Candidates must achieve a passing score on the SQ 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. A passing score must be achieved on each of the above-described exams in order to be included on the confidential eligible list. After the confidential eligible list is adopted the department may administer additional selection procedures to make a final hiring decision.

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. The duration of the eligible list resulting from this examination process will be of six (6) months, and may be extended with the approval of the Human Resources Program Director. The list will be used to fill current and future vacancies within the next six (6) months.

Certification
The certification rule for the eligible list resulting from this examination will be the Rule of List. Additional selection processes may be conducted by the hiring department prior to making final hiring decisions

Confidentiality: All personal information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

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.sf.gov/ .

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.

DPH Health Critical Requirements and Information: Please review the following policies regarding DPH employment requirements that safeguard yourself and others.  

• COVID-19 Policies  

• Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) 

• Medical Examination Prior to Hiring 

• Electronic Health Record (EHR) 

• Licensure/Certification/Registration 

• Note on ICARE 

Additional Information Regarding Employment with the City and County of San Francisco:

COVID-19 Policies
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
Medical Examination Prior to Hiring
Electronic Health Record (EHR)
Licensure/Certification/Registration
Note on ICARE
Other Conditions of Employment and Important Information
Information About the Hiring Process
Conviction History
Employee Benefits Overview
Equal Employment Opportunity
Disaster Service Worker
ADA Accommodations
Veteran's Preference
Right to Work
Copies of Application Documents
Diversity Statement

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.

Applicants may be contacted by email about this recruitment therefore, it is their responsibility to contact the Analyst if they update their email address. 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. 

If you have any questions regarding this recruitment or application process, please contact the exam analyst, Beata Chapman at beata.chapman@sfdph.org or (415) 554-2912. 

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.

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.