Executive Director, San Francisco Health Service System

**The minimum qualifications for this position were updated on January 29, 2025 and the application deadline has been extended to February 5, 2025 at 11:59 pm PST.**

Application Opening: Monday, January 6, 2025
Application Deadline: This position will be considered “open” until final selection is made. Candidates must apply by February 5, 2025 at 11:59pm PST for first consideration.
Compensation Range: $213,018 - $271,778 annually.

The San Francisco Health Service System (SFHSS) is dedicated to negotiating and administering comprehensive health benefits for over 123,000 employees, retirees, and their dependents from the City and County of San Francisco, the San Francisco Unified School District, the Community College of San Francisco, and the San Francisco Superior Court. SFHSS is responsible for executing all phases of benefit operations and administration, ensuring that the programs are effective and meet the diverse needs of its members. The SFHSS manages a benefits budget of over $1.9 billion and an administrative/operations budget of $19 million, both of which are subject to approval by the Board of Supervisors. With a strong focus on Well-being and Data Analytics programs, SFHSS continuously reviews and improves the health and pharmacy utilization and performance of its insurance programs, including Accountable Care Organizations.

Reporting to the San Francisco Health Service System Board, the Executive Director of SFHSS is the key executive and management leader responsible for the overall strategic planning, administrative, and operational effectiveness of SFHSS. The Director oversees all divisions within SFHSS, including Administration, Finance, Operations, Data Analytics, and Well-being. The Director's responsibilities include setting organizational objectives, monitoring performance, ensuring compliance with local, state, and federal laws, and managing relationships with various stakeholders, including city departments, elected officials, and external partners. The Director plays a crucial role in developing and implementing health benefit programs, ensuring they provide enhanced value while controlling healthcare costs and maintaining high-quality standards.

Duties include:

• Subject to the policy determinations of the Health Service Board, the Director is responsible to and works with the Board in developing, negotiating, and implementing employee benefit programs, including those required by the Charter, provided for in Memoranda of Understandings, and Voluntary benefits, for the City and County of San Francisco, the San Francisco Unified School District, the Community College of San Francisco and the San Francisco Superior Court, employees, retirees, and their dependents. The Director is responsible for the smooth overall functioning and management of all divisions within HSS: Administration, Finance, Operations, Data Analytics and Well-being.
• The Director is responsible for establishing and updating the operating budget and the Healthcare Sustainability Fund as defined in the Charter with the approval of the Health Service Board. The Director also works to obtain the Board of Supervisors’ approval of rates and benefits on an annual basis, as defined in the City Charter. The Director adheres to the budget and is focused on prudent fiscal management and accountability.
• The Director establishes a meaningful and realistic vision for the future of the System by developing, with HSS Board participation, a multi-year strategy for health benefits programs for employees and retirees (such as health insurance, wellness programming, long-term disability, and/or voluntary health benefits). The Director sets appropriate priorities, anticipates and prepares for future requirements, develops contingencies and realistic short and long-range plans to meet System objectives, and carries out the System’s mission.
• The Director is responsible for cultivating key relationships between the City and County of San Francisco elected officials, key departments, and the three other HSS participating employers, as well as with other public entities and strategic entities outside the organization.
• The Director ensures compliance with all local, state, and federal laws, including HIPAA, COBRA, IRS Section 125, and the ACA. The Director anticipates the need to change strategies in a changing legislative and regulatory environment. The Director ensures compliance with City contracting processes in end-to-end administration. The Director is responsible for directing the preparation, review, approval, and maintenance of important records and reports affecting SFHSS and ensures accurate financial reporting and unqualified external audits.
• The Director is responsible for ensuring excellent customer service and for resolving member complaints, grievances, and appeals in a timely manner. The Director communicates and makes presentations of policies, rules, and regulations with boards, administrative officials, representative groups, and members of the Health Service System. The Director is responsible for the accuracy and appearance of all HSS materials produced and distributed, including electronic and social media materials.
• The Director is responsible for providing analysis and well-supported advice on policy initiatives, including any legislative issues related to administering various benefit programs that may impact HSS.

**Minimum qualifications updated**

Education: Possession of a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university; AND

Experience: Increasing levels of responsibility in employee health benefits policy, design, and administration, with a minimum of 5 years of management-level employee benefits/health plan administrative/healthcare administrative or related experience including a minimum of 3 years of senior management/executive level employee benefits/health plan administrative/healthcare administrative or related experience. All experience described above must include supervisory experience.

Substitution:

• Applicants may substitute up to two (2) years of the required education with additional qualifying experience in employee benefits/health plan administrative/healthcare administrative or related experience at the senior management/executive level on a year-for-year basis. One year (2000 hours) of additional qualifying experience will be considered equivalent to 30 semester units/45 quarter units.
   
• Applicants may substitute a Masters in Human Resources Management, Health Administration, Health Economics, or a related discipline for one year of experience

Desirable Qualifications:

• Possession of an advanced degree such as a MBA or a Masters’ Degree in another related discipline.
• Possession of a Professional Certification such as CEBS (International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans), SPHR (Human Resources Certification Institute) or SHRM-SPC (Society for Human Resource Management).

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 https://sfdhr.org/how-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.

Information about the Hiring Process
Conviction History
Employee Benefits Overview
Equal Employment Opportunity
Disaster Service Worker
ADA Accommodation
Veterans Preference
Right to Work
Copies of Application Documents
Diversity Statement

HOW TO APPLY: 
Interested applicants must apply two ways:

• Directly with Berkeley Search Consultants. You can apply with them here.

         AND

• Through the City and County of San Francisco's 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. 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 application process, please contact Julia Morse at [email protected].

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.