Career Opportunity

Senior Benefits Analyst – SF Health Service System (1813) – (140997)

Recruitment: RTF0140996-01143119

Published: November 01, 2023

Accepting applications until: November 13, 2023

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

About:

**This announcement has been republished to update the application deadline date.**

This is a Position Based Test conducted in accordance with Civil Service Commission Rule 111A. 

Specific information regarding this recruitment process are listed below:

• Application Opening: Thursday, October 12, 2023
• Application Deadline: Monday, November 13, 2023
• Compensation: $101,608 – 123,552 annually
• Recruitment ID: PBT-1813-140997

The San Francisco Health Service System
The San Francisco Health Service System (SFHSS) provides health benefits for SFHSS members - employees and retirees - of the City and County of San Francisco, the San Francisco Unified School District, San Francisco City College and the San Francisco Superior Court, and their dependents. We administer benefits for 136,000 lives with over 29 benefit plans from 10 different vendors. These benefits plans include Medicare and Non-Medicare medical, dental, vision benefits, as well as life insurance, long-term disability benefits, flexible spending accounts for health and dependent care and COBRA.

Role description

Under direction, the 1813 Senior Benefits Analyst performs complex benefits work for the City's health, dental, vision, Flexible Spending Accounts and Voluntary Benefit programs; plans, implements and oversees special projects in an assigned benefit program. Additionally, the 1813 Senior Benefits Analyst directly oversees a team of Benefits Analysts and Benefits Technicians, providing guidance, training, and support in their daily work. The Senior Benefits Analyst is the advanced journey-level in the employee benefits series.

Typical tasks include:

• Directly supervises a group of Benefits Analysts and Technicians engaged in health, dental and vision insurance activities, such as calculating benefits, membership counseling services, membership enrollment and termination, benefits and eligibility reconciliation.
• May plan, implement and oversee special projects.
• Reviews and investigates more complex and difficult cases related to benefits enrollment and eligibility. 
• Develops training material and trains new employees in work procedures, public relations, and departmental procedures and policies.
• Develops training material and trains existing staff on updates in policies and procedures including eligibility and processing refresher trainings. 
• Provides guidance to staff in answering questions or making eligibility determinations on the more difficult or complex cases.  
• Supports in-person and by-phone member escalations. When applicable, develops written communication to members addressing their escalated issues. 
• Reviews and implements operational procedures; reviews and implements legislative changes relative to the benefit program; applies existing City Charter and Administrative Code provisions.
• Compiles and evaluates statistical and other data to prepare various reports.
• Contacts City departments, employees, employee representatives, other government agencies and various private entities to furnish and/or obtain information on specialized employee benefit matters.
• May include additional duties as assigned.

How to qualify

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

Experience: Two (2) years of professional experience in administering an employee benefit program.

SUBSTITUTION: Additional qualifying work experience may substitute for the required education on a year-for-year basis (30 semester/ 45 quarter units equals one year).

One year of full-time employment is equivalent to 2,000 hours. (2,000 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.

Desirable Qualifications:

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

• Knowledge of insurance plans structures
• Knowledge of Flexible Spending Accounts
• Knowledge of Medicare eligibility
• Understanding of COBRA benefits
• Call Center experience
• Direct supervisory experience

Verification of Education and Experience:
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 Qualifications Supplemental Questionnaire [MQSQ] - Candidates will be required to complete a MQSQ, which will be emailed within two weeks of receiving applications, as part of the employment 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.
• Supplemental Questionnaire [SQ] (100% weight) - Candidates who meet the Minimum Qualifications and complete the MQSQ will be sent a SQ via email to complete and return within a certain timeframe. The SQ has been designed to measure knowledge, skills and/or abilities in job-related areas. The SQ will be rated and scored. All relevant experience, education and/or training must be on the SQ in order to be reviewed in the rating process.

Note: Candidates must achieve a passing score on the selection components described above in order to move forward in the selection process.

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 https://sfdhr.org/sites/default/files/documents/Forms-Documents/Position-Counts-by-Job-Codes-and-Department-FY-2023-24.pdf .

Certification: The certification rule for the eligible list resulting from this examination will be Rule of Three. The hiring department may administer additional position-specific selection procedures prior to making final hiring decisions.

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.

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 in Promotional Exams
• 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 “I’m Interested,” or “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.

If you have any questions regarding this recruitment or application process, please contact the exam analyst, Stella Choi at stella.choi@sfgov.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.