Career Opportunity

Debt Analyst - Finance - SFPUC- (1823) – (151420)

Recruitment: REF45491T

Published: October 08, 2024

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About:

• Application Opening: 10/8/2024
• Application Filing Deadline: 10/22/2024
• Annual Salary: $117,676 - $143,000
• Recruitment ID: REF45491T (151420)

APPOINTMENT TYPE: PROVISIONAL (TPV)

This is not a permanent appointment. A provisional appointee must participate and be successful in a Civil Service examination for this classification and be selected through an open competitive process in order to be considered for permanent appointment. Provisional appointments may not exceed three (3) years.

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.gov.

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.gov/about-us/careers-sfpuc

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) is a Department of the City and County of San Francisco and we provide three essential service utilities: Water, Wastewater (including both sanitary and storm water) and Power, including management of a Community Choice Aggregator, CleanPowerSF delivering clean power to city residents and businesses. We are the third largest public utility in California, with 2,700 employees working in seven California counties with a combined annual operating budget of over $2 billion.   Our regional water system delivers some of the purest drinking water in the world from Hetch Hetchy Reservoir to businesses and residents in San Francisco and three other Bay Area counties, serving approximately 2.7 million people. 

Financial Services supports the SFPUC Enterprises and Bureaus in being the best financial steward for rate payer revenues. Services provided include accounting operations, asset management, audit oversight, reconciliation and financial reporting, budget management, capital financing, fleet management, purchasing support, and rates administration. Accurately communicating the financial position of the SFPUC to rate payers, City departments, rating agencies, investors and other stakeholders is the central mission of the department.

The Capital Finance group sits within Financial Services and is a team of five professionals supporting the agency's capital project financing activities including capital markets transactions, federal and state loans, banking agreements, commercial paper program activities, credit rating activities, investor relations and debt administration, among others. Under the leadership of the Capital Finance Director, the team manages the day-to-day administration of the SFPUC’s more than $11 billion outstanding debt portfolio including both drawn and undrawn Federal and State borrowing capacity.  The team manages the daily operations of the SFPUC’s $1.5 billion Interim Funding/Commercial Paper Programs across three enterprises, Water, Wastewater and Power (including the administration of 12 series of commercial paper, two revolving loans, and one credit agreement with separate bank facilities and multiple dealers), multiple federal WIFA loans, State Revolving Fund loans and other new financing tools. The team is actively involved in exploring new financial tools as the SFPUC’s capital needs evolve and based on new governance structures and federal and state initiatives.

The Capital Finance team leads the issuance of new financing, with the largest share of borrowing through tax exempt enterprise revenue bonds, for the SFPUC’s four distinct rated credits.  The SFPUC’s current adopted 10-year financial plan (2024-2033) calls for the issuance of more than $11 billion of additional Water, Wastewater and Power Bonds.   The SFPUC’s teams are actively working on the next 10-year plan adopted annually in February.

Since 2015, the SFPUC has issued more than $5 billion in green labeled bonds to finance Water, Wastewater, and Power capital projects that advance climate change mitigation or adaptation, making the SFPUC one of the largest, most innovative and most recognized municipal issuers of green bonds in the United States.

Role description

Under general direction of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) Capital Finance Director, the 1823 Senior Administrative Analyst (Debt Analyst) functions as a senior financial analyst performing professional-level analytical work to support funding for the capital programs of the SFPUC’s Water, Wastewater and Power (consisting of the separate Hetch Hetchy Power and CleanPowerSF) Enterprises.  This position will contribute to all aspects of bond transactions, including ongoing bond compliance and administration, as well as other special projects and analyses. The Debt Analyst will assist in the structuring of financings for both new money and refunding bond issuances. The position interacts with other divisions and leadership throughout the SFPUC to assist in determining the timing and sizing of debt issuances. The Debt Analyst will provide difficult, complex, sensitive, detailed analytical work to help manage the SFPUC’s debt portfolio, including analysis and recommendations involved in debt finance risk management, issuing new debt, developing policy and procedures, monitoring and administering debt portions of the ten-year financial plan and preparing a variety of comprehensive, complex and sensitive financial reports for a variety of audiences.

Essential Functions:

• Prepare complex financial analysis and reports that involve, but not limited to interest calculations, time value of money concepts, future value, present value, net present value, and amortization analysis.
• Prepare financial memos and reports to management for ongoing projects and new project analysis. Ability to construct and explain analysis both verbally and in writing is critical, as is ability to perform financial policy impact analysis including analyzing and recommending alternative courses of action and project consequences.
• Preparation of financial information directed to capital market audiences (ie, bond investors; rating agencies). Interpret complex financial information and present it in a clear, concise and simple to read format. Requires data analysis to determine the best format of presentation; data gathering of historical information; reviewing historical trends; and presenting future planned financial forecast.
• Review data to update the SFPUC’s municipal bond offering document called the Official Statement. Requires close coordination with other SFPUC departments to gather key information and to ensure the information is accurate and received timely so it can be disseminated to potential investors of the SFPUC’s revenue bonds.
• Review and update debt related information in annual financial statements, budgets, and other SFPUC documents as needed. Requires close coordination with other SFPUC and City departments to gather key information and to ensure the information is accurate and received in a timely manner.
• Assemble the disclosure of financial information to the capital markets following the Securities and Exchange Commission rules and regulations (15c2-12). Post reports to publicly available websites to ensure all bondholders are aware of any financial actions relating to the SFPUC. 
• This position is responsible for updating the content of the “Debt Management and Disclosure Reports” page on the SFPUC’s official website (www.sfpuc.org), which acts as a central information point related to the SFPUC’s debt program, as well as on Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’ s (MSRB) Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA) system, or other investor relations platform as needed
• Bond Arbitrage Rebate data compilation for review by arbitrage rebate consultant and tax counsel: Requires technical analytical research of interest earnings and expenditure reporting to facilitate the determination if any excess interest earnings should be remitted to the Internal Revenue Service as per federal tax laws. This is performed on an annual basis.
• Bond Tax Diligence: Assist bond tax counsel to compile necessary accounting and reporting information to determine compliance with relevant bond tax regulations.
• Commercial Paper Program administration: Assist with the daily operations of issuing and managing commercial paper for the SFPUC’s Water, Wastewater and Power Enterprise Commercial Paper Programs. Track expenditures, prepare tax reports, wire funds, and interact with commercial paper dealers and other financial institutions that support the program. Prepare extensive tracking and reporting systems. Create procedures and record keeping systems. Work with the SFPUC’s Financial Advisors to ensure that the commercial paper program is functioning properly. Use on-line banking systems to create reports.
• Contract Administration for Finance Professional Services: The SFPUC’s Capital Finance Group utilizes a large group of outside municipal bond finance experts to carry out the issuance, refinancing and administration of bonds and other financing projects for capital projects, as well as other debt-related activities. This task requires developing RFQ/RFPs, coordinating selection process, preparing contracts, and analyzing the overall financial performance of the contracts. Analyzing monthly invoices from professional consultants against tasks and deliverables to ensure they were completed on time and within budget and scope according to contract guidelines. Preparing quarterly financial expenditure reports for all professional service contracts and prepare report to management staff.
• Prepare SFPUC Commission Agenda Packets: Draft Commission staff reports and presentations for various contract functions, from requesting authorization to issue a request for proposal to award a contract to a vendor after a selection process. Prepare presentation materials and talking points for presenter to the Commission.
• Management of Bond Funds: In coordination with Accounting and the Controller’s Office, assist in the management of bond funds. Requires complex analyses of fund balances and ensuring that fund amounts match appropriation levels from the Board of Supervisors. Preparation of complex Supplemental Appropriation packages to the SFPUC Commission, Mayor’s Office, Controllers’ Office and the Board of Supervisors.
• Special projects to provide back up to staff in the areas of bond financings, general compliance reports, accounting, financial reporting, and provide assistance to the associated SFPUC groups when needed.
• Based on evaluating rapidly evolving market best practices, help the team to recommend refinements and participate in the preparation and continued advancement of green bond impact reports for the SFPUC’s green bond program.
• Assist in advancing the SFPUC’s labeled bond program (currently consisting of Green Bonds for three different enterprises) to address dramatic evolution of the labeled bond market since the SFPUC began issuing Green Bonds in 2015, including new frameworks, new verifiers and new regulatory and political scrutiny over labeled bonds.  Assist the SFPUC to maintain its market leadership by staying current on evolving practices and regulations and recommending refinements to SFPUC practices.
• Assist the Capital Finance Team in helping the SFPUC to leverage demand from investors who value ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) disclosure and investments.
• With support from team, procurement of appropriate consultants and related contracts for professional services which includes writing RFPs and/or bids, managing selection committees, preparing consultant contracts in consultation with the City Attorney’s office, and processing consultant contracts;
• Coordination with SFPUC, Office of Public Finance, Controller, Treasurer, City Attorney, Board of Supervisors, underwriters, municipal advisors, bond counsel, printers, trustees, etc. to execute and close bond transactions;
• Assisting with the coordination of SFPUC capital planning, bond financing and budgeting;
• Other miscellaneous projects and duties may include: preparing financial analyses and other presentation materials, as needed; conducting research on various debt-related topics; conducting negotiations on complex financial agreements; providing assistance on special projects, as needed. 
• Performs other duties and special projects, as required, at the direction of the Capital Finance Director.

How to qualify

Possession of a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university and three (3) years full-time equivalent experience performing professional-level analytical work. Qualifying professional-level analytical work includes analysis, development, administration, and reporting in major programs and functions of an organization in the areas of budgets, contracts, grants, policy, or other functional areas related to the duties of positions in the 182X Class series.

Substitution:

Possession of a graduate degree (Master's degree or higher) from an accredited college or university with major coursework in specialized subject matter areas such as public or business administration, management, business law, contract law, public policy, urban studies, economics, statistical analysis, finance, accounting or other fields of study closely related to the essential functions of positions in the Class series may be substituted for one (1) year of required experience.

Additional experience as described above may be substituted for the required degree on a year-for-year basis (up to a maximum of 2 years). Thirty (30) semester units or forty-five (45) quarter units equal one year. Please review our articles on Employment Application and Minimum Qualifications and Verification of Experience and/or Education for considerations taken when reviewing applications. 

Desirable Qualifications:

1. The ideal candidate will be a motivated individual who is professional, team oriented, collaborative, and politically savvy.

2. Proven track record of thriving in a high profile and dynamic environment of interesting challenges and multiple priorities.

3. Proven ability to interact skillfully and tactfully with people at all levels of the organization, as well as people from external government agencies, community partners and business representatives.

4. Superior oral communication and written skills, including presentation to a variety of diverse stakeholders.

5. Values excellence, respect, teamwork, trust and public service.

6. Demonstrated knowledge of Federal, State and local regulations pertaining to capital finance.

7. Demonstrated analytical, planning and organizational skills and abilities.

8. Advanced financial modeling skills are highly desirable, but not required.

9. Experience in municipal finance or public policy highly desired, but not required.

10. Experience with managing public sector debt is desirable, but not required

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

Verification of Education and Experience:

Every application is reviewed to ensure that you meet the minimum qualifications as listed in the job ad. Please review our articles on Employment Application and Minimum Qualifications and Verification of Experience and/or Education for considerations taken when reviewing applications. 

Applicants may be required to submit verification of qualifying education and experience at any point during the recruitment and selection process.

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.

What else should I know?

• 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 [required for Combined, Promotive, Entrance (CPE) Exams only]
• Right to Work
• Copies of Application Documents
• Diversity Statement

Applicants will receive a confirmation email from notification@careers.sf.gov 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.

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 updated. 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 from notification@careers.sf.gov 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.

Job Analyst Information: If you have any questions regarding this recruitment or application process, please contact the job analyst, Sanly Guan at sguan@sfwater.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.