Career Opportunity

Exempt to Permanent - Biologist III (2484) - Citywide (157644)

Recruitment: REF52840K

Published: July 14, 2025

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

About:

THIS IS A CITYWIDE RECRUITMENT FOR CURRENT CITY EMPLOYEES ONLY.

This is an Exempt to Permanent position in accordance with Class-Based Test (CBT) Civil Service Rules. This recruitment is restricted to current exempt employees of the City and County of San Francisco, San Francisco Unified School District, or San Francisco City College, working within the 2484 Biologist III classification.

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.

• Application Opening: July 14, 2025
• Application Filing Deadline:  July 21, 2025 at 11:59 PM (PDT)
• Recruitment ID: ETP-2484-157644 / REF52840K

Role description

Under general supervision, the 2484 Biologist III plans, designs, develops and coordinates special/non-routine environmental monitoring projects related to drinking water and wastewater facilities, freshwater, estuarine and marine environments and watershed resources. Works independently and in conjunction with Water Quality engineers and laboratory staff as well as other biologists to identify and resolve environmental problems associated with facility operations and to achieve compliance with regulations. Trains technical and professional personnel in effective field sampling techniques and laboratory processing procedures.

SUPERVISION EXERCISED: Positions at this level do not supervise other professional employees, but may coordinate the work of technical personnel (Water Quality Technician I/II and III) and journey-level staff (Biologist I/II). This position may exercise supervision during absence of Supervising Biologist.

The essential duties include but are not limited to the following:

1. Participates as the environmental representative with other City personnel to identify legislation and issues that will impact PUC activities.

2. Interacts with City regulatory analysts, planning staff and engineers to develop environmental components of City projects and developments.

3. Participates in negotiations with regulatory agencies and local interest groups to identify and explain environmental issues.

4. Interacts with local, regional, and national environmental research agencies to gather information and techniques to improve the integrity of existing biological programs.

5. Designs, develops, and implements studies to provide information that will satisfy the needs of special projects, future legislation, and/or current environmental concerns.

6. Analyzes environmental data with the purpose of determining the effectiveness of existing monitoring studies; proposes changes to existing studies as necessary.

7. In conjunction with the Supervising Biologist, identifies environmental problems associated with facility operations; plans, coordinates and conducts special studies to resolve those problems and to achieve compliance with regulations.

8. Trains biology personnel in effective field sampling, taxonomy, and toxicity testing procedures.

9. Reviews data and reports to determine conformance to quality assurance objectives and certification requirements.

10. Applies multivariate statistical analyses to environmental data; develops alternative data analysis methods.

11. Researches literature for most current taxonomic nomenclature; coordinates taxonomic consistency among staff; prepares technical reports and papers for management personnel, and publication in scientific journals.

12. Performs related duties and responsibilities as assigned.

How to qualify

Applicants must meet the Minimum Qualifications requirement by the final filing date unless otherwise noted.

Minimum Qualifications

• Must be a Current Category 16, 17, or 18 Exempt Employee in Class 2484 who has worked at least 2,080 hours in Class 2484 with no break in service; AND
• Education: Possession of baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university with a major in environmental biology, marine biology, aquatic biology, wildlife biology, fisheries biology, limnology, aquatic toxicology microbiology, biochemistry, or a related environmental science; AND
• Experience: Six (6) years of verifiable environmental experience in field or laboratory biology; AND
• License: Possession of a California valid driver’s license.

Note: One year of full-time employment is equivalent to 2000 hours. (2000 hours of qualifying work experience is based on a 40-hour work week.) 

Verification of Experience and/or Education: Applicants may be required to submit verification of qualifying education and experience at any point during the recruitment and selection process.

Please review the information on Employment Application and Minimum Qualifications and Verification of Experience and/or Education for considerations taken when reviewing applications. 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.

Failure to submit verification will result in disqualification from this selection process.

Special Requirements: Special Qualifications including specialized knowledge, abilities, education, experience, or license may be established for individual positions.

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 a lower score.

SELECTION PROCEDURES:

1. Job Application - Applicants must fully complete the job application. Information from resumes does not substitute for the information on the job application or preliminary questionnaire.
    
2. Preliminary Questionnaire – Training and Experience Assessment (100% Weight) -During the application process, applicants will be prompted to complete a Preliminary Questionnaire as part of the online employment process. Please answer the Preliminary Questionnaire carefully and thoroughly. It will serve as the Training and Experience Assessment for this recruitment and will be used to determine your eligibility for this recruitment as well as your score and rank on the eligible list. Qualified applicants will be ranked on the eligible list based on the length of their exempt City service (in Category 16, 17, and/or 18) in the Class 2484-Biologist III, along with any additional qualifying points (e.g., promotive status), as outlined in Civil Service Commission (CSC) rules. All work history will be verified using official City records, which will serve as the final authority in determining qualifying service.

NOTE:  Applicants who meet the minimum qualifications are not guaranteed to advance through all of the steps in the selection process. The department may administer additional position-specific selection procedures to make the final hiring decision.

What else should I know?

Eligible List/Score Report: A confidential eligible list of qualifying candidates will be created and used for certification purposes only. A 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 selection process is subject to change after adoption (e.g., because 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.

Certification Rule: The certification rule for this selection process will be Rule of the List.

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.sf.gov/.] 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 https://sf.gov/departments/civil-service-commission.
 

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

Note: 

1. Please ensure the information on your application is complete and accurate.
2. Your first and last name should match your legal ID for verification purposes.
3. Your email address should be consistent across all jobs applied.
4. Use a personal and not a shared email address. Doing so may prevent your application from submitting properly.

Upon successful submission, applicants will receive a confirmation email from notification@careers.sf.gov. Keep this email for your records. If you do not receive it, your application was not submitted successfully.

Important Email Contact Information: Applicants may be contacted by email about this recruitment and, therefore, it is your responsibility to ensure that your registered email address is accurate and kept up-to-date. Also, applicants must ensure that emails from CCSF is not blocked on your 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). 

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

If you have any questions regarding this recruitment or application process, please contact the analyst, Laurie Gee, at LGee@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.