Environmental Program Manager, Senior

Our diverse and inclusive workforce of more than 7,000 employees play a key role in the success of San José, the heart of the Silicon Valley. All City of San José employees work together as one team to make San José a vibrant, innovative, and desirable place to live and work. Visit here to learn more about our One Team Leadership Values and Expectations, including quality and excellent customer service and here to learn more about San José.

The City of San José is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants for all job openings will be considered without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, disability, veteran status or any other consideration made unlawful under any federal, state or local laws. The City of San José is committed to offering reasonable accommodations to job applicants with disabilities. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, please contact us at 408-535-1285, 711 (TTY) , or via email at CityCareers@sanjoseca.gov .

About the Department

The Environmental Services Department (ESD) is a national leader in pollution prevention, watershed protection, utility service provision, and climate action. Together, ESD employees positively impact every resident and business in San Jose.

Our department is an exceptional place to start or grow your career. We have a supportive leadership team, numerous professional growth opportunities, and an inclusive workplace culture that is welcoming of your talents! We offer an array of meaningful career paths and value flexibility - offering hybrid work and alternative work schedules in select roles. Additionally, the City offers excellent health and pension benefits, as well as 15 paid holidays!

To learn more about ESD, follow @sjenvironment on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and San Jose Environmental Services on LinkedIn.

About Integrated Waste Management

The Environmental Services Department (ESD) is recruiting for a Senior Environmental Program Manager to oversee the Department’s Residential Garbage and Recycling team. Join us in contributing to the bigger purpose of protecting the environment at a local level.

ESD’s Integrated Waste Management (IWM) division leads one of the largest privatized solid waste management systems in the United States. IWM supports new and cutting-edge technologies, making our services some of the most innovative, and continuing our advancements towards zero waste. IWM staff collaborate with other City departments and establish strong partnerships with private companies, other government agencies, nonprofits, and the community on a wide variety of key efforts.

IWM’s Residential Garbage and Recycling team manages the contracts for all of San Jose’s residential and City facilities solid waste collection and processing and the landfill contract. Residential services include single-family and multi-family dwelling collection and processing of garbage, recycling, yard trimmings, and junk pickup. These services connect with our communities on a weekly basis, making them an essential, critical service to over one million residents.

Position Duties

The Senior Environmental Program Manager (SEPM) position will lead the Residential Garbage and Recycling program in all aspects, including, contract and agreement management, the development and implementation of operating budgets, management and oversite of a cost recovery residential rate program, regulatory compliance, and representing the solid waste utility with local, regional, and state partners, and stakeholders.

The SEPM will lead the Residential program in new focus areas, such as preparing for future long-term residential solid waste contracts through the request for proposal process and implementation of new contracts and services. The SEPM will lead and continue the current efforts to reduce residential recycling contamination, improving the quality of our recycling stream and reducing the costs of our recycling contracts.

Additional responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Leads utility to follow solid waste regulations, ensures program compliance with State Regulations, and manages data required for annual State reports.
• Develops and manages an annual operating budget of approximately $300,000,000.
• Oversees and manages data collection and analysis from waste characterization studies, pilot projects, and other studies.
• Oversees and manages five long-term, high-value contracts.
• Ensures residents continue to receive uninterrupted solid waste services at a great value with excellent customer service.
• Coordinates with other departments, divisions, jurisdictions, and organizations to develop & implement policies, procedures, initiatives, and regulations.
• Serves as a member of IWM’s management team and provides professional and technical advice to the management team.
• Researches and prepares a variety of highly technical and administrative reports; prepares written correspondence on sensitive issues; and presents at City Council and commission/committee meetings.
• Leads and supervises managerial and professional staff; participates in the selection of personnel; sets goals and objectives; participates in employee performance management, training, and development.

Minimum Qualifications

(These qualifications are typically required. An equivalent combination of education and experience sufficient to satisfactorily perform the duties of the job may be substituted.)

Education and Experience

A Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university with major course work in environmental sciences, public or business administration, or a closely related field, AND six (6) years of increasingly responsible experience in overseeing and administering complex environmental programs, including three (3) years of progressively responsible supervisory experience.

Other Qualifications

The ideal candidate will possess the following competencies, as demonstrated in past and current employment history.

Competencies

The ideal candidate will possess the following competencies, as demonstrated in past and current employment history. Desirable competencies for this position include:

Job Expertise - Demonstrates knowledge of and experience with applicable professional/technical principles and practices, Citywide and departmental procedures/policies and federal and state rules and regulations, including but not limited to:

• Knowledge and experience in managing agreements and contracts, compliance with state and federal regulations

Teamwork & Interpersonal Skills - Develops effective relationships with co-workers and supervisors by helping others accomplish tasks and using collaboration and conflict resolution skills

Planning -Acts to align own unit's goals with the strategic direction of the organization; Defines tasks and milestones to achieve objectives, while ensuring the optimal use of resources to meet those objectives.

Leadership - Leads by example; demonstrates high ethical standards; remains visible and approachable and interacts with others on a regular basis; promotes a cooperative work environment, allowing others to learn from mistakes; provides motivational supports and direction.

Problem Solving - Approaches a situation or problem by defining the problem or issue; determines the significance of problem(s); collects information; uses logic and intuition to arrive at decisions or solutions to problems that achieve the desired outcome.

Fiscal Management - Understands the relationship of the budget and resources to the strategic plan; complies with administrative controls over funds, contracts, and procurements.

Political Skill - In taking action, demonstrates an understanding and consideration of how it will impact stakeholders and affected areas in the organization.

Communication Skills - Communicates and listens effectively and responds in an timely, effective, positive and respectful manner; written reports and correspondence are accurate, complete, current; well-organized, legible, concise, neat, and in proper grammatical form; responds to statements and comments of others in a way that reflects understanding of the content and the accompanying emotion; asks clarifying questions to assure understanding of what the speaker intended, ensures consistent communication takes place within area of responsibility.

Selection Process:

The selection process will consist of an evaluation of the applicant's training and experience based on the application and responses to all the job specific questions. You must answer all questions to be considered or your application may be deemed incomplete and withheld from further consideration. Only those candidates whose backgrounds best match the position will be invited to proceed in the selection process. Additional phases of the selection process will consist of one or more interviews.

Additional Information:

Employment Eligibility: Federal law requires all employees to provide verification of their eligibility to work in this country. Please be informed that the City of San Jose will NOT sponsor, represent or sign any documents related to visa applications/transfers for H1-B or any other type of visa which requires an employer application.

You must answer all job-specific questions to be considered for this vacancy or your application will be deemed incomplete and withheld from further consideration. Applicants are expected to write their own essays/responses. Please be advised that use of AI content in your responses may result in your removal from the hiring process.

Please note that applications are currently not accepted through CalOpps or any other third party job board application system.

This recruitment may be used to fill multiple positions in this, or other divisions or departments. If you are interested in employment in this classification, you should apply to ensure you are considered for additional opportunities that may utilize the applicants from this recruitment.

Please allow adequate time to complete the application and submit before the deadline or the system may not save your application. If your online application was successfully submitted, you will receive an automatic confirmation email to the email address you provided. IF YOU DO NOT RECEIVE THE CONFIRMATION, please email CityCareers@sanjoseca.gov and we will research the status of your application.

The City of San Jose offers a wide range of core health benefits including Medical, Dental, Vision, Employee Assistance Program, Life Insurance, Disability, and Savings Plans. Please visit the City's benefits pagefor detailed information on coverage, cost, and dependent coverage.

For information on the City’s Retirement Plan(pension for full-time employees), please visit the Office of Retirement Services website. You will be able to view information based on different Sworn/Federated job classification.

In additional to the benefits above, there is an additional perks siteto explore further benefits of working for the City of San Jose like paid leave, educational reimbursements, and holiday pay are specific to the job classification and union membership.

Closing Date/Time: 4/7/2025 11:59 PM Pacific

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• City of San Jose

• 408-535-1285

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