Career Opportunity

Chemist - Water Quality Division - SFPUC (2486-U00015)

Recruitment: REF27996A

Published: July 21, 2023

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

About:

THIS IS A CITYWIDE EXAM

• Application Opening: July 19, 2023
• Application Filing Deadline: August 9, 2023
• Annual Salary: $94,198-$132,626
• Recruitment ID: CBT 2486-U00015 RTF0136638-1055469

San Francisco is a vibrant and dynamic city, on the forefront of economic growth & innovation, urban development, arts & entertainment, as well as social issues & change. This rich tapestry of culture and ideas is sustained by our City's commitment to heighten the quality of life for the diverse population of San Franciscans and residents of the greater Bay Area. Our employees play an important role not only in making our City what it is today, but also in shaping the future of San Francisco.

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

Role description

Under general supervision, performs laboratory analytical tasks and professional duties to evaluate water, wastewater, and recycled water to determine compliance with state regulations; conducts quantitative and qualitative chemical analyses using a variety of laboratory instruments and wet chemistry techniques; keeps detailed and accurate analytical records; uses a laboratory information management system to track, control and report analytical data to variety of water quality clients; conforms to laboratory safe practices; assists bureau and laboratory personnel as necessary to achieve the goals of the department.

Essential Functions:

1. Coordinates and performs chemical and physical analyses of water, wastewater, solids, and a variety of environmental matrices using Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and appropriate Standard Methods approved methodology to determine regulatory compliance; and performs analyses and whole effluent toxicity tests.

2. Coordinates and performs quantitative and qualitative organic constituent analysis using approved methods of ion and gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), and other related instrumentation.

3. Coordinates and performs quantitative and qualitative trace element analysis using approved methods of inductively coupled plasma - atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) and atomic absorption spectroscopy, inductively coupled plasma-spectroscopy (ICP-MS), and other related instrumentation.

4. Maintains detailed and accurate instrumental and analytical records; prepares updated control charts for regularly scheduled water and wastewater analyses.

5. Batches, prepares, analyzes, and reports results of environmental samples using the current laboratory information management system.

6. Interprets and summarizes data collected from analytical instruments and wet chemical analyses; summarizes quality assurance data in report form; prepares oral and written reports of analytical activities for management.

7. Troubleshoots and diagnoses rudimentary problems with laboratory instruments and equipment and takes corrective action; performs routine maintenance on laboratory instruments and equipment.

8, Maintain assigned working areas in a clean and organized manner.

9. Performs related duties and responsibilities as assigned.

How to qualify

If you are interested in a job like this, we are looking for people that have the following

Minimum qualifications:

Education:

• Possession of baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university with a major in chemistry or closely related science and

License and Certification:

• Possession of a current valid California driver's license

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

Desirable qualifications:

• Minimum of one year experience in Gas Chromatography/Mass spectrometry (GC-MS),  Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP-AES) ), Inductively Couple Plasma/Mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), and other laboratory instrumentation performing analyses on environmental samples by EPA approved methodology for water and wastewater.  
• Knowledge and theory of operating advanced laboratory instruments, i.e., ICP, ICP-MS GC/MS, IC/MS/MS, and HPLC etc.
• Knowledge and understanding of  The NELAC Institute (TNI)QC requirements for CA ELAP certified laboratories.
• Knowledge and experienced using Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS)

Special conditions: Some positions may require additional qualifications such as special conditions that may differ from the standard minimum qualifications associated with this classification.

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.

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

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

Specific Information regarding this recruitment process are listed below:

• Selection Procedure  After application submission, candidates deemed qualified must complete all subsequent steps below to advance in this selection process. Qualified candidates will be sent notices via email for completion prior to the creation of the eligible list. Each notice will include the date by which responses must be received. Failure to complete these steps by the established deadlines will result in disqualification.
  • Minimum Qualification Supplemental Questionnaire (MQSQ) to determine qualifying education and experience, and
  • Supplemental Questionnaire Exam weighted at 100%

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 Examination: (Weight 100%) Candidates who meet the minimum qualifications will be sent a Supplemental Questionnaire via electronic mail after the closing of this filing period. The Supplemental Questionnaire Evaluation is designed to measure knowledge, skills and/or abilities in job-related areas. A Supplemental Questionnaire will be emailed after the closing of this filing period. Applicants will be given a deadline to return the Supplemental Questionnaire. Those who do not respond by the established deadline will not be eligible to continue in the examination process and will not be added to eligibility list resulting from this process.  to be place on the eligible list.

The following including but not limited to KSAs are assessed:

• General knowledge of inorganic and organic chemistry
• Quantitative and Qualitative techniques of analytical chemistry
• Knowledge of procedures in chemical evaluation of water and wastewater
• Knowledge of and ability to learn and operate laboratory equipment within safe/good laboratory practices
• Ability to read, learn and stay updated on new procedures or protocals
• Knowledge of Instrumental Analysis: fundamental knowledge of conducting chemcial analysis with analytical instruments that include Gas Chromatography, High-Performace Liquid Chromatography, Inductively Couple Plasma, etc.
• Ability to apply quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) guidelines
• Interpersonal Skills - Ability interact with diverse workforce of technical and non-technical personnel, managers, and public constituents

What else should I know?

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.smartrecruiters.com/CityAndCountyOfSanFrancisco1/ and begin the application process.

• Select the “I’m Interested” 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.

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. 

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.smartrecruiters.com/CityAndCountyOfSanFrancisco1/.]

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.

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.smartrecruiters.com/CityAndCountyOfSanFrancisco1/ .] 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.

Human Resources Analyst Information: If you have any questions regarding this recruitment or application process, please contact the Ivy Hankins at ihankins@sfwater.org.

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.