Career Opportunity

Planner IV-Environmental Project Manager (5299) – Environmental Management Group - SFPUC (156376)

Recruitment: RTF0156375-01077468

Published: May 23, 2025

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

About:

• Application Opening: Friday, May 23, 2025
• Application Filing Deadline: Friday, June 6, 2025, at 11:59 PM (PDT)
• Recruitment ID: PBT-5299-156376 / RTF0156375-01077468

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

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.

Role description

The result from this eligible list will fill multiple vacancies within the Environmental Management Group. Please review below for more details regarding each respective position.

About the Environmental Management Group (EMG)
Part of SFPUC’s Infrastructure Division, EMG manages California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) approvals for SFPUC’s capital projects in collaboration with the San Francisco Planning Department (CEQA lead agency) and various federal agencies (NEPA lead agency). EMG also acquires resource agency permits (e.g., U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Regional Water Quality Control Board, California Department of Fish and Wildlife) and ensures environmental compliance during construction. With a variety of power, water, and sewer infrastructure from O’Shaughnessy Dam in Yosemite National Park to the San Francisco Bay, our team enjoys working on diverse projects across urban, agricultural, and natural landscapes.

Position Summary
These positions will involve environmental project management, teamwork, and supervising or providing technical guidance of EMG’s more junior staff. Projects include new construction and upgrades to pipelines, tunnels, valve houses, pump stations, treatment plants, reservoirs and dams, powerlines, and more across SFPUC’s service area. This role requires a detail-oriented, resourceful self-starter who can manage multiple projects in a fast-paced environment, develop tools, and suggest process improvements.

Planner IV-Environmental Project Manager for Environmental Review
Under the direction of EMG’s Manager, the Planner IV-Environmental Project Manager for Environmental Review will manage and perform complex planning and environmental review work for CEQA and NEPA in coordination with the SF Planning Department. This position will be responsible for managing projects, developing project descriptions, managing consultants, analyzing environmental impacts and mitigation measures, managing and reviewing technical studies and reports, supervising staff, and providing information on CEQA/NEPA matters to other SFPUC enterprises/bureaus/divisions, City Departments, and the public.

Planner IV-Environmental Project Manager for Environmental Construction Compliance
Under the direction of EMG’s Environmental Construction Compliance Manager, the Planner IV-Environmental Project Manager for Environmental Construction Compliance will manage environmental compliance during construction for complex projects, ensuring our projects are undertaken in accordance with the CEQA/NEPA mitigation measures, resource agency permit conditions, and the SFPUC’s Standard Construction Measures. This position will be responsible for managing projects, managing consultants (as well as performing these activities themselves), translating requirements into Contractor specifications, managing and reviewing technical studies and reports, supervising staff, and providing information on construction compliance matters to SFPUC Construction Management teams, Contractors, and the public.

Essential duties and responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Supervise, train, and evaluate staff.
• Solicit, negotiate, and manage consultant task orders, including scope, budget, and schedule, and deliverables.
• Prepare environmental reports such as exemptions, Mitigated Negative Declarations, and Environmental Impact Reports under CEQA and NEPA, or supervise staff/consultants doing so.
• Advise SFPUC project teams on ways to avoid and/or minimize environmental impacts to streamline environmental review, construction impacts, and mitigation feasibility.
• Direct complex consultant analyses and reporting on water and air quality, noise and vibration, traffic, hazardous materials, and biological, cultural, and paleontological resources.
• Collaborate with SFPUC staff, resource agency staff, engineers, contractors, the public, and other stakeholders, clearly communicating the legal, technical, and procedural aspects of environmental review and/or construction compliance.
• As SFPUC’s representative, drive to project sites and public meetings with other agency staff.
• Oversee consultants performing environmental-related activities such as technical studies, training, surveys, monitoring, inspections, and reporting.
• Obtain environmental authorizations for post-environmental review project changes and oversee any necessary surveys, analysis, supplemental CEQA/NEPA documentation, and permit amendments.
• Develop environmental review and compliance tools and recommend process improvements.
• Assist with staffing and budget forecasting for SFPUC’s 10-year capital plan.
• Perform acting role in the absence of the Manager.

The 5299 Planner IV-Environmental Review is required to perform other related duties as assigned.

How to qualify

Verification of Experience and/or Education:
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. If education verification is required, information on how to verify education requirements, including verifying foreign education credits or degree equivalency, can be found at How to 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. 

What else should I know?

Selection Procedures:
After application submission, candidates deemed qualified must complete all subsequent steps to advance in this selection process, which includes the following:

1. Minimum Qualification Supplemental Questionnaire (MQSQ) (Weight: Qualifying):
Candidates will be required to complete a 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.

2. Supplemental Questionnaire Examination (Weight:100%):  Applicants who meet the minimum qualifications will be sent a Supplemental Questionnaire Examination via electronic mail after the closing of the application filing period. The Supplemental Questionnaire Examination is designed to measure the knowledge, skills and/or abilities in job-related areas required for the position which may include, but are not limited to: knowledge of the principles and practices of environmental law, ordinance and regulations, and their implementation; knowledge of techniques of researching environmental and planning issues; ability to collect, analyze and interpret data pertaining to environmental impacts; interpersonal skills and written communication skills.

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/score report.

Candidates will be placed on the eligible list/score report 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 the final hiring decision.

NOTE:  Applicants who meet the minimum qualifications are not guaranteed to advance through all of the steps in the selection process.

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 twelve (12) months, and may be extended with the approval of the Human Resources Director.

To find Departments which use this classification, please see here.

Certification: The certification rule for the eligible list resulting from this examination will be Rule of Ten (10) Scores.

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 Careers with purpose | City and County of San Francisco.

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 “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 analyst, Vivian Yeung at VYeung@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.