Department: Municipal Transportation Agency
Job class: 1314-Public Relations Officer
Salary range: $109,434.00 - $143,234.00
Application Opening: January 26, 2024

Deadline to Apply: Applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible as this announcement may close any time after 11:59 PM on February 16, 2024
Compensation Range: $109,434 - $143,234 (For more information, click here.)
Recruitment ID: TPV-1314-143881 | RTF143880
Appointment Type: Temporary 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.

Division: External Communications and Marketing
Section/Unit: Public Outreach and Engagement – Community Liaison Program
Work Location: One South Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA
Work Hours: Monday – Friday, 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM

The SFMTA, a department of the City and County of San Francisco, oversees Muni (the historic Municipal Railway), parking and traffic, bicycling, walking and taxis. Over one million people get around San Francisco and rely on us to ensure safe and reliable travel.

Our Vision: Excellent transportation choices for San Francisco.

Our Mission: We connect San Francisco through a safe, equitable, and sustainable transportation system.

The External Communications, Marketing & Outreach Division is responsible for the management of communications, marketing and outreach with the purpose of engaging and sharing information with agency customers, stakeholders, partners, consultants, the media and the public for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), which oversees all transportation modes for the City and County of San Francisco, including San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni), bicycle, pedestrian, parking and taxis. The division handles media and public relations, public outreach and engagement, marketing and creative services, digital communications and social media, public events, and customer communications.

The Public Outreach and Engagement Team Strategy (POETS) provides standards, guidance and resources to support the division’s engagement with customers, stakeholders and the public for our array of transportation services, as well as capital improvement plans and projects that affect the communities we serve. Working across the agency, we also facilitate outreach and engagement with a variety of stakeholders, including merchant, neighborhood and advocacy groups, businesses, elected and government officials, metropolitan planning organizations, media, and other stakeholders, with a goal of soliciting meaningful public participation. We focus on building trusting relationships that better enable the SFMTA to fulfill its mandate as San Francisco's transportation agency.

The Public Outreach and Engagement Team is establishing a Community Liaison program to address the needs of the major limited English proficient groups in San Francisco and help build relationships between the SFMTA and the public. This includes an increase and improvement of multilingual materials and services offered by the SFMTA to its community stakeholders, including residents, Muni passengers, visitors, motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians, etc.

Role description

Under direction of the Public Outreach and Engagement Manager, the Community Liaison Public Relations Officer will work to develop a comprehensive public participation program and expand the agency’s capacity to accommodate the pressing needs of the Spanish speaking community throughout San Francisco. The position will work closely with internal and external stakeholders to help increase culturally appropriate engagement and address concerns around MTA issues particularly as pertaining to projects and/or policies that will impact local communities and represent the agency at external events with the community and key stakeholders including SFMTA Government Affairs and the Board of Supervisors.

EXAMPLES OF IMPORTANT AND ESSENTIAL DUTIES:
According to Civil Service Commission Rule 109, the duties specified below are representative of the range of duties assigned to this job code and are not intended to be an inclusive list.

1. Increases participation among stakeholder groups by consulting residences, businesses, and community-based organizations adjacent to proposed changes; conduct linguistically appropriate and culturally relevant outreach to involve stakeholders and high concentrations of low-income and minority populations and solicit public feedback to be incorporated and improve the project, keeping the public informed on how they can influence design and delivery of project proposals.
2. Participates in outreach events and activities to promote awareness of SFMTA services, share information and raise awareness about project proposals and their effects on affected communities.
3. Develops and implements a comprehensive public participation program for assigned projects.
4. Establishes, develops, and maintains relationships with key stakeholders, both internal and external.
5. Keeps the public, public officials, advocates, advisory committees, interested organizations and staff informed of the agency’s activities by applying the appropriate public participation technique, reaching out to and engaging individuals and groups and providing information to the media, as necessary.
6. Develops and provides presentations to community, staff, or policymaker groups to explain the activities and services of the department.
7. Represents the agency at meetings of elected and appointed boards and commissions, executive staff, and conferences; reports to the subdivision head regarding the discussions involved at each meeting or conference.
8. Drafts, designs, prepares and/or supports the preparation of visual content and communications materials that help facilitate the delivery of San Francisco transportation projects including press releases, reports, social media and presentations for oversight bodies, members of the public and stakeholder communications.
9. Prepares correspondence in response to public or other stakeholder inquiries, tracks, and reports on correspondence and constituent feedback trends.
10. Maintains relationships with stakeholders, advocacy groups and other relevant communities.
11. Maintains and updates computer files, databases and lists of relevant stakeholder groups and committees and generate computerized reports.
12. May supervise staff performing moderately complex work.
13. Performs other duties and responsibilities as assigned.

Nature of Work:

The position may require working weekends and nights on an as-needed basis, driving a motor vehicle, working outdoors in varying weather conditions, standing, walking and/or sitting for prolonged periods of time, occasional lifting of objects weighing up to 15 pounds and the transport of materials and equipment.How to qualify

1. Possession of a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university; AND
2. Four (4) years of verifiable full-time professional experience in editorial, newspaper, magazine, radio, television, public relations, social media, digital engagement, or advertising. This experience must be equivalent to job code 1312 Public Information Officer for the City and County of San Francisco and must include at least one (1) year of experience in planning and conducting a public relations, public information, or public education program.

Substitution

1. 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.
2. Possession of a master’s degree from an accredited college or university in public relations, journalism, mass communications or a closely related field may substitute for up to one (1) year of the required experience.

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.

Special Condition

1. Fluent in speaking, reading, and writing Spanish in a professional setting. Must pass the Bilingual Certification exam.
2. Possession of a current valid driver’s license.

The above minimum qualifications reflect special conditions associated with the position to be filled. They may differ from the standard minimum qualifications associated with this class code.

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

• Strong public relations skills, including experience in public outreach, community relations, government affairs, communications, and conflict resolution.
• Ability to communicate with diplomacy, facilitate dialogue, conduct meetings, and build consensus with a wide range of stakeholders through an open and inclusive public involvement process.
• Knowledge, experience and demonstrated understanding of regional government, political environment, and key stakeholders.
• Strong ability to thrive in a dynamic, fast-paced environment with multiple demands and priorities.
• Ability to distill highly technical information into simple concepts for non-technical stakeholders and demonstrated experience communicating complex information to a diverse population.
• Strong writing and public speaking skills including experience making public presentations.
• Genuine interest in promoting public transportation, enhancing transportation networks and a desire to learn about transit infrastructure projects and their funding and planning complexities.
• Ability to use office automation and software applications to facilitate public relations activities, including but not limited to:
  • Online research
  • Microsoft Office (Word, Outlook, Excel and PowerPoint)
  • Maintaining databases, such as Salesforce
  • Posting to/updating website information (with training)
  • Ability to learn proprietary online systems as needed

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 here.

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 PROCEDURE:
The selection process will include evaluation of applications in relation to minimum requirements. Depending on the number of applicants, the Department may establish and implement additional screening mechanisms to comparatively evaluate qualifications of candidates. If this becomes necessary, only those applicants whose qualifications most closely meet the needs of the Department will be invited for an interview.

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

What else should I know?

Additional Information Regarding Employment with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency:

• Information About the Hiring Process
• Conviction History
• Employee Benefits Overview 
• Equal Employment Opportunity
• Disaster Service Worker
• ADA Accommodation
• Right to Work
• Copies of Application Documents
• Diversity Statement
• SFMTA Employee Wellness Program

How to Apply
Applications for City and County of San Francisco jobs are only accepted through an online process.

1. Visit Careers with Purpose | City and County of San Francisco (sf.gov)
2. Type "1314" in to the "Search by class or keyword" field.
3. Click the link to open the Job Announcement.
4. 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 the exam process, please contact the exam analyst, Maggie.lau@sfmta.com. ML|TPV-1314-143881|

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.