Financial Services Officer (Contract Management Option)

THE AGENCY
Alameda County Social Services Agency is comprised of 2,400 men and women working collectively and in partnership with community-based organizations to serve the needs of the community. Services are provided through five departments: Agency Administration and Finance, Adult, Aging, and Medi-Cal Services, Children and Family Services, Workforce and Benefit Administration and Policy Office.  

Our mission is to promote the economic social well-being of individuals, families, neighborhoods and communities.  The Agency assists approximately 11.3 percent of Alameda County's residents. Benefits programs contribute over $278 million to the local economy through cash assistance and CalFresh. Every month more than 52,000 people receive CalWORKs (assistance for families with children), CalFresh and General Assistance. Every month health insurance is made available to more than 78,000 people through the Medi-Cal program. Every month more than 11,000 frail, elderly and disabled individuals receive in home care, adult protection and support managing their affairs, and throughout the year 16,000 seniors will receive services through the Area Agency on Aging. There are 3,700 children in foster care and more than 1,600 reports of child abuse or neglect are filed with SSA each month. Emergency shelter is made available to 415 people nightly.

To read more about the department, please visit their website at: http://www.alamedasocialservices.org/

THE POSITION 
This position is located in the Social Services Agency.  Under administrative direction, the Financial Service Officer manages and oversees various financial services staff and functions; serves in a consultative role to management in addressing and resolving financial, revenue, contract, grant and related administrative, programmatic and policy matters; facilitate the implementation of a wide variety of programs and projects; and perform related work as required.

This position will function as the contract administrator reporting to the Social Services Agency Deputy Director.  This position supervises two (2) units of program-financial and accounting staff who are responsible for developing RFP's, administering and monitoring contracts (over 150+ contracts annually).

THE IDEAL CANDIDATE
In addition to the minimum qualifications stated below, successful candidates will have a proven background in administrative and financial analysis; demonstrated experience in governmental budgeting and public finance;  and have strong analytical, written and oral communication skills  demonstrating a strong ability to and two years of full-time experience in directing and evaluating the work of procurement/contract staff that includes performing contract administration duties and experience working with procurement and contract guidelines. 

• Demonstrate considerable technical and professional astuteness and financial and programmatic expertise in the field of Social Services with a focus on leveraging state and federal resources.
• Apply strong supervisory skills and a demonstrated ability to train, coach, counsel and manage subordinate staff in order to optimize individual performance.
• Collaborate and build consensus with exceptional organizational skills and a demonstrated ability to plan and organize work for self and others in order to ensure that work is completed efficiently and in a timely manner.
• Work with a wide variety of stakeholders to identify opportunities and build strategic relationships between one’s area and other areas, teams, departments, units, or organizations to help achieve business goals.
• Use strong business acumen  to understand and improve business results; use one’s understanding of major business functions, industry trends, and own organization’s position to contribute to effective business strategies and tactics pertaining to social services.
• Effectively meet customer needs and apply a customer centered approach; build productive internal and external customer relationships and take responsibility for customer satisfaction.
• Act strategically and creatively in forecasting the financial needs of programmatic areas by identifying & understanding complex problems, exercising good judgment in making effective decisions, and formulating and articulating action plans proactively and collaboratively.
• Effectively communicate and clearly convey information and ideas; and interact well with others by relating to people from varied backgrounds and in different situations; and who exemplifies understanding, courtesy, tact, empathy, concern, and politeness.
• Take personal satisfaction and pride contributing as a valued organizational leader with direct responsibilities for the financial health of the organization.
• Make a positive impact on others by exuding an air of confidence, creating good first impressions by professionally commanding attention, and earning the professional trust and respect of others.  

Special Requirements:
In addition to meeting the minimum qualification below, candidates must possess a minimum of two years of full-time experience in directing and evaluating the work of procurement/contract staff that includes performing contract administration duties and experience working with procurement and contract guidelines.

For a detailed listing of the duties and essential competency requirements for this position, please see the complete job description for Financial Services Officer. 

THE EXAMINATION WILL CONSIST OF the following steps: 1) A review of candidates' applications to verify possession of minimum requirements. Those candidates who possess the minimum requirements for the class will move on to the next step in the examination process. 2) A review of candidates’ Supplemental Questionnaires to select the best qualified applicants to continue in the process. 3) An oral interview which will be weighted as 100% of the candidate's final examination score. The oral interview may contain situational exercises. CANDIDATES MUST ATTAIN A QUALIFYING RATING ON EACH PORTION OF THIS EXAMINATION. We reserve the right to make changes to the announced examination components.

Alameda County utilizes a Civil Service Selection System founded on merit. Such a system is competitive and based on broad recruitment efforts and equal opportunity for qualified applicants to test in an examination process designed to determine the qualifications, fitness and ability of competitors to perform duties of the vacant position. Many of our recruitments are targeted and specific to the needs of a current vacant position, in which case, the eligible list may be exclusively used for that current vacant position. Other recruitments many be more broadly used for both current and future vacancies, or for other alternate jobs with comparable scopes of work.

To learn more about our recruitment and selection process, please visit the “What You Need to Know” section of our website, www.acgov.org/hrs.

TENTATIVE SELECTION PLAN:

 *WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO MAKE CHANGES TO THE ANNOUNCED RECRUITMENT & SELECTION PLAN*

Alameda County and the Human Resource Services Department will make reasonable efforts in the examination and/or selection process to accommodate qualified individuals with disabilities and/or medical conditions in accordance/compliance with the State Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), Federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Alameda County’s Reasonable Accommodation Policy and applicable statues.  To request an accommodation due to a disability/medical condition during this or other phases of the examination/selection process, please contact the assigned Human Resources Representative listed on the job announcement before the last date of filing. Alameda County requires applicants to provide supporting documentation to substantiate a request for reasonable accommodation. In order to qualify for a reasonable accommodation, applicants must have a disability/medical condition pursuant to the ADA, FEHA and applicable statues.

For more information regarding our Reasonable Accommodation procedures, please visit our website, www.acgov.org/hrs