CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER (1165-Manager, Department of Public Health)

Job Description

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER (1165-Manager, Department of Public Health)

POSITION OVERVIEW

The Department's workforce, technology, facilities, safety, security, compliance, and administrative systems support healthcare delivery, public health services, emergency response, and daily operations across DPH. The scale and complexity of these functions require strong operational leadership, effective coordination, and the ability to execute priorities across a large and highly interconnected organization.

DPH is seeking an impact-driven Chief Operating Officer (COO) to lead the operational systems that support one of the nation's premier and most complex integrated public health systems. This is both an operational and a strategic role, and a defining leadership opportunity: to build and drive the operational foundation of a modern, high-performing public health system. It calls for a leader with a strong vision for performance transformation and a demonstrated ability to deliver measurable outcomes through top-to-bottom, end-to-end execution, translating strategy into results across the full length of a large and interconnected organization. Depending on the final organizational design, the COO may also lead financial planning and budget for the Department, aligning resources to strategy and connecting funding directly to performance and outcomes.

ABOUT THE ROLE

The COO serves as the Department's senior executive responsible for enterprise operations, operational excellence, and organizational performance. Reporting to the Director of Health, the position ensures that these functions operate effectively and remain aligned with departmental priorities. This is a role for a builder and a driver: the mandate is to raise operational performance.

The COO translates strategic priorities into operational execution, aligns resources with organizational needs, and drives continuous improvement and performance transformation across administrative and operational functions.  Effective leadership requires a deep understanding of how clinical services, public health programs, administrative operations, and workforce dynamics intersect to support DPH's mission and deliver results across a complex public health system.

The COO works closely with City leaders, elected officials, labor representatives, regulatory agencies, and external stakeholders to advance departmental priorities and address complex operational challenges. Success in this role requires sound judgment, political acumen, strong negotiation skills, and the ability to build alignment, navigate competing interests, and drive results in a highly visible public-sector environment.

The position provides leadership for approximately 650 employees across:

• Information Technology
• Human Resources
• Capital Planning and Facilities
• Safety and Security
• Compliance and Privacy Affairs

Together, these functions provide the operational foundation that supports every employee, program, facility, and service location across DPH.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Drive Operational Excellence

• Lead enterprise operational functions that support DPH's public health and healthcare mission.
• Establish clear priorities, performance expectations, and accountability structures that strengthen organizational effectiveness.
• Identify opportunities to improve operational performance, remove barriers to execution, and enhance service delivery across the Department.
• Foster a culture that promotes respect, results, innovation, agility, and continuous improvement.

Set Strategic Direction and Drive Transformation

• Translate enterprise strategy into a clear, multi-year operational plan, and own execution end to end from priority-setting through delivery and measurable results.
• Direct strategic planning across operations and administrative systems, aligning resources and priorities to the Department's goals.
• Drive performance transformation across operational and administrative functions, redesigning how work is done to raise performance.
• Establish performance expectations and a review cadence that give leaders reliable visibility into progress, risk, and results.

Align Operations with Strategy

• Translate departmental priorities into coordinated action across workforce, technology, facilities, safety, compliance, and operational support functions.
• Align resources, infrastructure, and operational investments with current and future organizational needs.
• Support enterprise initiatives that improve performance, strengthen coordination, and advance departmental goals.
• Guide organizational planning efforts that strengthen the Department's capacity to meet evolving healthcare, public health, and regulatory demands.

Build Organizational Capacity

• Strengthen the systems and infrastructure necessary to support a workforce of nearly 10,000 employees.
• Guide modernization efforts affecting technology, facilities, workplace safety, security, and administrative operations.
• Ensure DPH has the operational capabilities required to support evolving healthcare, public health, and regulatory demands.

Advance Stewardship and Accountability

• Lead development and execution of operational and capital budgets.
• Promote data-informed decision-making and effective stewardship of public resources.
• Direct major investments in facilities, technology, infrastructure, workplace safety, and organizational capacity.
• Lead responses to audits, regulatory reviews, compliance requirements, corrective actions, and operational risks affecting the Department.

Lead Financial Planning and Budget (If Assigned)

Where this work is assigned to the COO, the following responsibilities apply: 

• Direct financial planning, budgeting, and forecasting so that funding and investments reinforce departmental priorities and support informed trade-offs.
• Ensure resources are aligned to strategy, with clear visibility into how spending connects to performance and outcomes.
• Strengthen the systems that connect funding and performance to execution, supporting disciplined stewardship of public resources.

Lead Enterprise Partnerships

• Partner with executive leadership, labor representatives, City agencies, elected officials, regulatory bodies, and external stakeholders to advance operational priorities and address complex organizational challenges.
• Represent DPH on matters involving operational strategy, infrastructure investments, workplace safety, compliance, organizational performance, and enterprise initiatives.
• Build alignment across divisions and functions to support consistent execution and measurable results.
• Assess the operational impact of legislative and policy changes and guide implementation across the Department.
• Lead departmental participation in citywide initiatives, multi-agency efforts, and capital planning activities.

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

• Operational priorities are translated into coordinated action across divisions.
• Technology, workforce, facilities, security, and compliance functions operate as integrated systems rather than separate departments.
• Leaders have confidence in the Department's operational capacity to support strategic priorities.
• Infrastructure investments improve performance, safety, reliability, and service delivery.
• Strategic priorities move from vision to measurable outcomes through disciplined, end-to-end execution.
• The organization delivers stronger results through greater operational discipline, coordination, accountability, and execution.

WHY THIS ROLE MATTERS

• Every public health outcome depends on operational excellence.
• The systems, infrastructure, workforce support services, technology, facilities, and safety functions led by this role affect every employee, every program, and every resident served by DPH.
• The Chief Operating Officer helps ensure that one of the nation's premier and most complex integrated public health systems has the modern, high-performing operational foundation necessary to deliver results today while preparing for the challenges of tomorrow.

Qualifications

Education: Possession of a master’s degree from an accredited college or university in Hospital Administration, Nursing, Medicine, Public Health Administration, Public Administration, Public Policy, Business Administration, Behavioral Science, or a closely related field.

Experience: Requires at least three years of experience as an administrator of a large hospital, public health network, or related organization; three years of complex health care administrative experience; or three years of executive public administration experience.

Substitution: Possession of a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in Hospital Administration, Nursing, Public Health Administration, Public Administration, Public Policy, Business Administration, Behavioral Science or a closely related field AND two additional years of qualifying work experience as described above may be substituted for the required master’s degree.

VERIFICATION OF EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

Every application is reviewed to ensure that you meet the minimum qualifications as listed in the job ad. Review SF Careers Employment Applications 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 or experience verification is required, information on how to verify education and experience requirements, including verifying foreign education credits or degree equivalency, can be found at https://careers.sf.gov/knowledge/experience-education/. 

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. 

Additional Information

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
• Right to Work
• Copies of Application Documents
• Diversity Statement

Where to Apply  

All job applications for the City and County of San Francisco must be submitted through our online portal. Please visit https://careers.sf.gov/ to begin your application process.  

Applicants may be contacted by email about this recruitment. Please consider using a personal email address that you check regularly rather than a work or school account. 

Computers are available for the public (9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday) to file online applications in the lobby of the Dept. of Human Resources at 1 South Van Ness Avenue, 4th Floor and at the City Career Center at City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 110. 

Ensure your application information is accurate, as changes may not be possible after submission. Your first and last name must match your legal ID for verification, and preferred names can be included in parentheses. Use your personal email address, not a shared or work email, to avoid unfixable issues. 

Applicants will receive a confirmation email from notification@smartrecruiters.com 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, Marielle Saldajeno at marielle.saldajeno@sfdph.org or (628) 271-6820.

We may use text messaging to communicate with you on the phone number provided in your application. By applying, you accept the Trust and Privacy Policy and you may opt out of text messaging anytime. 

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.

Company Description

The Department of Public Health prioritizes equitable and inclusive access to quality healthcare for its community and values the importance of diversity in its workforce. All employees at the Department of Public Health work to advance equity, inclusion, and diversity with a specific lens and focus on race, ethnicity, gender, sex, sexuality, disability, and immigration status. 

• Application Opening: Friday, September 25, 2026
• Application Deadline: Continuous
• Salary: $274,196 to $349,934 Annually (Range A)
• Appointment Type: Permanent Exempt  
• Recruitment ID: PEX-1165-RTF0168464-01154807
• Work Arrangement: Onsite

The Mission of the San Francisco Department of Public Health (DPH) is to protect and promote the health of all San Franciscans. Fulfilling this mission requires employees working across our hospitals, clinics, programs, and offices to deliver services and support the communities we serve. Individuals interested in joining DPH should expect to work in person across these settings.

DPH operates one of the most complex and integrated public health systems in the nation, encompassing approximately $3.6 billion in annual funding, a workforce of nearly 9,000 employees, and services delivered through two hospitals, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center and Laguna Honda Hospital & Rehabilitation Center, and more than 45 primary and specialty care clinics, behavioral health programs, population health services, emergency preparedness, managed care, and a broad network of community-based partners.