Distribution Manager - Water Supply & Treatment Division - SFPUC (0933) - (149468)

Amended March 28, 2025 to extend the filing deadline. Candidates who have already submitted an application do not need to re-apply.

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

• Application Opening: March 17, 2025
• Application Filing Deadline: April 22, 2025
• Recruitment ID: PBT-0933-149468; REF48922I

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

ABOUT WATER SUPPLY AND TREATMENT DIVISION

One of the three largest operating divisions in the Water Enterprise serving 2.7 million residential, commercial, and industrial customers in the Bay Area, the Water Supply and Treatment Division manages a complex water supply and treatment system stretching from the Tesla Treatment Facility in San Joaquin County to San Francisco, featuring a series of reservoirs, tunnels, pipelines, and treatment facilities. The division has a staff of 240 employees and is managed by a team headquartered in Millbrae consisting of a division manager and 5 section managers overseeing its business operations, distribution, engineering, maintenance, and system operations sections.

Under general direction of the Water Supply and Treatment Division (WSTD) Manager, the WSTD Distribution Manager exercises responsible charge of the Regional Water System (RWS) transmission system operations and maintenance activities.  This requires day-to-day oversight of the operations and maintenance of the RWS transmission system, including pipelines, tunnels, appurtenances, rights of way, customer turnouts/service connections, reservoirs, and water treatment facilities; coordination with other Water Enterprise divisions and SFPUC departments to maintain a high-level of service and responsiveness; collaboration in all WSTD management initiatives, both as the distribution lead and as a team member in support of administrative, operations, and engineering leads.

The essential duties of this position include, but are not limited to the following:

• Oversee and coordinate operations and maintenance activities for RWS pipelines, tunnels, facilities, and pipeline rights-of-way to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements, asset management objectives, and SFPUC level of service goals      
• Manage response to unplanned outages including fires, earthquakes, floods, failure of other utilities located near water facilities, and other natural and man-made disasters          
• Provide review and support for capital improvement and maintenance projects including design review for operational impacts and development and oversight of shutdown and lockout/tagout plans         
• Support condition assessment of pipelines, tunnels, and transmission facilities    
• Oversee preventative and corrective maintenance activities for pipelines, tunnels, rights of way, customer turnouts/service connections, and reservoirs to assure preventative maintenance goals and schedules are met, regulatory preventive maintenance requirements are met, and priority corrective maintenance activities are completed and documented in Maximo
• Plan, organize, direct, and control pipeline operations in coordination with system operations, engineering, water quality monitoring, environmental compliance, and capital construction activities.            
• Perform short-term and long-term planning and create reports to ensure adequate resource levels (staffing, equipment, and training) are provided  
• Manage materials, equipment, vehicles and other resources assigned to subordinate staff effectively, efficiently, and maintain a high level of accountability   
• Prepare and analyze system performance reports, recommend changes and improvements, and continuously implement and enforce policies and procedures
• Enforce existing policies and procedures for subordinate work groups and develop and update policies and procedures with management oversight appropriately          
• Develop and implement work procedures and standards for RWS transmission operations and maintenance        
• Implement and oversee training and development of subordinate staff; mentor staff to provide advancement opportunities and succession planning   
• Plan and manage consultant contracts as needed             
• Prepare and direct the preparation of a variety of reports, correspondence, and records including budgets, policies, and procedures
• Perform other duties as assigned

Nature of Work: The WSTD Distribution Manager has direct responsibility over transmission system pipelines and facilities that are in operation 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Operational anomalies that occur afterhours may require response. 

Education: Possession of a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university in civil engineering, construction management, industrial engineering, or related field; AND

Experience: Seven (7) years of experience in operations, maintenance, and/or planning of water or wastewater facilities, systems, or programs, which must include three (3) years in direct supervision of water or wastewater utility staff; AND

License: Possession of a valid California Driver’s License.

Substitution: Additional qualifying experience may be substituted for the degree requirement on a year-for-year basis. One year (2,000 hours) of qualifying experience will be considered equivalent to 30 semester units/ 45 quarter units. 

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.) Any overtime hours that you work above forty (40) hours per week are not included in the calculation to determine full-time employment.

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

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

• Possession of a D4 or higher Water Distribution Operator Certificate
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Construction management and scheduling experience, particularly working on water facility construction and complex maintenance projects   

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. 

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 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.

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

Supplemental Questionnaire Examination (Weight: 100%): Candidates who meet minimum qualifications will be invited via a separate link to complete the Supplemental Questionnaire Examination. The purpose of the Supplemental Questionnaire Examination is to evaluate the experience, knowledge, skills and abilities that candidates possess in job-related areas, which have been identified as critical for this position and include, but are not limited to: 

• Knowledge of asset management, water transmission operations, and preventative maintenance principles
• Knowledge of operation and maintenance of water distribution systems including major components of pumping plants, reservoirs, and rate control valves            
• Knowledge of principles and practices of servicing, repairing, and calibrating water distribution system equipment               
• Knowledge of computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) and other applications related to asset management    
• Ability to identify, analyze and report upon activities, issues, and problems and recommend appropriate solutions               
• Ability to manage, train, and develop subordinate staff 
• Ability to lead during emergency response          
• Ability to develop and manage budget   
• Ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing

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.

Candidates will be placed on the eligible list 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 final hiring decisions.

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. 

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 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. 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 “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. 

Exam Analyst Information: If you have any questions regarding this recruitment or application process, please contact the exam analyst, Stefanie Lim, at [email protected] or 415-916-6632.

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.