1209-Benefits Technician

Company Description

Who We Are

The San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System (SFERS) is dedicated to securing, protecting, and prudently investing the pension trust assets, administering mandated benefits programs, and providing promised benefits to the active and retired members of the City and County of San Francisco.

Established in 1889 as a fund for families and orphans of firefighters and police officers, today the San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System serves more than 75,000 active, vested, and retired employees of the City and County of San Francisco and their survivors.

What We Do

The Retirement Services Division plays a crucial role in administering retirement benefits for both active and retired employees as well as their beneficiaries. Staff provide comprehensive retirement counseling services to guide individuals through their retirement planning journey and process various benefit applications, including service and disability retirements, survivor benefits, vesting allowances, refunds, reciprocity, and the purchase of service credit. The Retirement Services Division also manages the disbursement of approximately $150 million in monthly benefit payments to around 32,100 retirees and beneficiaries, ensuring timely and accurate payments.

Specific information regarding this recruitment process is listed below:

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

• Application Opening: October 31, 2025
• Application Deadline: May close at any time, but not before Friday, November 7, 2025.
• Recruitment ID: PBT-1209-158534
• Appointment Type: Permanent Civil Service
• Reporting Location: 1145 Market Street, San Francisco, CA
• Work Schedule: Full time, Monday – Friday, Hybrid Telecommuting work schedule available up to 1 day per week.

This job announcement will not close before Friday, November 7, 2025. Interested applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible.

Job Description

What We’re Looking For

Under supervision of a Senior Benefits Analyst or Benefits Supervisor, the Benefits Technician at SFERS performs technical, administrative, and research functions related to retirement benefit matters. SFERS routinely reassigns employees in this job class to different units within the Retirement Services Division to provide cross-training opportunities and to fulfill the current needs of the department.

Examples of primary duties may include:

1. Provides support services to Retirement Services staff in processing benefit entitlements.
2. Provides general information to City employees regarding retirement benefits, eligibility, memberships, etc. 
3. Researches member payroll records for prior membership, account discrepancies, requested information, buybacks, withdrawal status, payment history, overpayments, underpayments, and adjustments in database; reconciles member accounts based on a variety of discrepancy reports; researches prior service history and salary figures using microfiche, data files, and other sources.
4. Processes a variety of membership forms for status changes.
5. Performs various calculations to support the determination of retirement benefits including years of service, update of balance shortages, closeouts, final account balances, and refunds of terminated member's contributions and interest.
6. Sets up retired member’s estimated benefits in PeopleSoft - Pension Administration System.
7. Communicates with employees, retirees, dependents, beneficiaries, human resources, City payroll personnel , representatives from outside agencies, and other professionals to resolve routine problems, and provides general information regarding benefits and benefit payments.
8. Completes standard form letters, and maintains reports and records. 
9. Acts as a verifier to check work performed other Benefits Technicians.
10. Staffs Retirement Services reception desk by booking appointments, receiving visitors, and answering general retirement related questions in person or on the telephone.
11. Performs other related duties as assigned/required. 

Qualifications

Education

Completion of two (2) years of college-level course work

Substitution

Verifiable clerical or technical experience administering employee benefits programs including: researching records, claims adjudication, database maintenance, reviewing forms, performing calculations, and responding to general inquiries may be substituted for the required education on a year-for-year basis. Thirty (30) semester units/forty-five (4