Engineering Director - Digital Services (0932)

Company Description

The Office of the City Administrator and its 25+ divisions and departments operate core internal and public-facing services in San Francisco.   

The Office of the City Administrator’s Mission and Vision 
Our vision is to lead the nation in public administration and to enable City departments to effectively deliver critical public services. We aim to help the city run better, to connect San Francisco residents and constituents to the vital public services they seek, and to create a meaningful and diverse work culture that is the place of choice for people who are invested in a career in public service 

We are committed to ensuring that the City's services are inclusive, efficient, equitable, and culturally competent for San Franciscans of all races, ethnic backgrounds, religions, and sexual orientations. This commitment requires comprehensive review and thorough analysis of existing practices and policies to remove barriers to real inclusion.   

We are also committed to ensuring that the Department is a safe, equitable, and inclusive workplace for individuals of all races. This includes creating opportunities for hiring, promotion, training, and development, for all employees, including but not limited to Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC). 

About Digital Services

The San Francisco Digital Services team works across City departments to build user-centered digital services. Its mission is to make it easy for all residents to access the City’s services and information online, from any device.

Over the past seven years, the team has expanded to support a wide range of digital services, including SF.gov, the City’s central website. SF.gov was at the forefront of the City’s Covid-19 response and has replaced more than 100 separate websites into one unified platform. Designed with accessibility and equity as core, it delivers a consistent user-centered experience for all San Franciscans.

In addition to SF.gov, Digital Services maintains a dedicated product team focused on the development of DAHLIA, the City’s online affordable housing application service. The team is also driving efforts to digitize permitting in partnership with PermitSF and all permitting departments.

 Moving forward, Digital Services must now scale its impact by empowering other departments to build services themselves using shared platforms.

Job Description

Job Type: Permanent Exempt: This is an Exempt position excluded by the Charter from the competitive Civil Service examination process, pursuant to the City and County of San Francisco, Charter Section 10.104. It is considered "at will" and shall serve at the discretion of the Appointing Officer.  

Position Description
Our goal is to become the source of standards and platforms that allow the City to make services for residents accessible online. This will be achieved through training, support, standardization, shared platforms, and citywide policies. We aim to make platforms the easiest, fastest, most accessible, and most cost-effective way to deliver services to ensure that platforms not only meet the needs of San Franciscans, but also make City staff’s work easier.

You will join the team at a pivotal moment when we face big questions raised by the increasing power of generative AI.  As a small software team serving a huge city, we are excited by the opportunity to use AI tools that scale our impact.  As the stewards of the city’s service-delivery platforms, we see lots of potential to improve resident experience.  At the same time, we also take seriously our responsibility to introduce new technology in ways that earn the public trust.

As we enter this new phase, the Engineering Director will play a crucial role as part of the Chief Digital Services Officer’s senior leadership team.

Responsibilities

Overall scope:

The Engineering Director is responsible for ensuring the technical excellence, stability, and strategic evolution of the City’s digital platforms and services. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Core Platforms & Applications
  • Oversees ongoing development, technical quality, and reliability of SF.gov, its integrations, DAHLIA (the City’s affordable housing portal), 40+ independent permit and grant applications, and supporting infrastructure.
• Innovation & Emerging Technologies
  • Guides the team’s adoption of AI and other emerging technologies, identifying high-impact use cases beyond traditional solutions like chatbots.
• Citywide Technical Leadership
  • Serves as a resource for engineering best practices and evaluating technical proposals from vendor