Principal Project Analyst (1824)-Office of the City Administrator

City and County of San Francisco•San Francisco, CA

7d•$146,016 - $177,528•Hybrid

About The Position

The Office of the City Administrator is seeking a Principal Project Analyst to join their team. This role is crucial for a portfolio of complex, high-priority initiatives led by the City Administrator’s Office. It offers a unique opportunity to work as a senior generalist on a wide range of new and time-sensitive projects across City divisions and departments, including areas such as real estate, technology, policy, operations, and interdepartmental initiatives. The ideal candidate will be a highly skilled analyst with strong project management capabilities, intellectual curiosity, excellent communication skills for complex ideas, a collaborative spirit, and a passion for research and strategic problem-solving. The role requires comfort in bringing structure to complex or underdefined issues and a commitment to producing thoughtful, high-quality work. The position involves close collaboration with senior leaders, department partners, and other stakeholders on sensitive, consequential, and politically nuanced issues within a fast-paced, high-performing, and supportive environment. This is an opportunity to contribute to improving government operations.

Requirements

Possession of a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university.
Five (5) years full-time equivalent experience performing professional-level analytical work. Qualifying professional-level analytical work includes analysis, development, administration, and reporting in major programs and functions of an organization in the areas of budgets, contracts, grants, policy, or other functional areas related to the duties of positions in the 182X Class series.

Nice To Haves

Leading complex, cross-functional work – leading or advancing complex projects or initiatives involving multiple functions, departments, or organizational units, particularly in a large or decentralized organization.
Conducting qualitative and organizational research – conducting stakeholder interviews, qualitative research, process analysis, organizational analysis, or similar work to understand complex problems and identify opportunities for improvement.
Communicating with executive audiences – preparing concise written analyses, presentations, briefings, or recommendations for senior leaders and other decision-makers.
Designing and improving how organizations work – developing or implementing improvements to policies, processes, operating models, organizational structures, roles and responsibilities, or other ways of working.
Navigating diverse stakeholder perspectives – facilitating groups or coordinating work among stakeholders with differing responsibilities, priorities, expertise, or organizational interests.
Government or other complex institutional environments – Familiarity with government operations or experience working in another large, complex institutional or bureaucratic environment. Experience with the City and County of San Francisco is helpful but not required.
Breadth across public administration or related functions – Familiarity with one or more areas such as policy, budgeting, contracting, capital planning, real estate, technology, organizational development, or other functions relevant to public administration. Deep expertise in any particular subject area is not required.

Responsibilities

Lead the planning and advancement of complex initiatives and workstreams.
Independently drive workstreams forward, maintaining ownership of follow-through and surfacing risks, decisions, and issues requiring escalation.
Manage competing priorities and adapt quickly as new leadership questions and time-sensitive assignments arise, while maintaining high-quality results.
Bring structure to complex or underdefined issues and develop effective analytical approaches.
Conduct independent research and policy analysis to understand complex issues and support strategic decision-making.
Synthesize complex legal, operational, and stakeholder information, identifying the findings and insights that matter most.
Interpret evidence, assess implications and tradeoffs, and develop clear, actionable recommendations, including processes, operating models, or other solutions where appropriate.
Plan and facilitate stakeholder engagement, meetings and multi-stakeholder processes.
Lead and coordinate work across organizational boundaries without formal authority, navigating differing responsibilities and perspectives and recognizing when disagreements or decisions should be surfaced or escalated.
Prepare concise briefings, slide decks, written analyses, and recommendations for senior leadership.
Distill research, analysis, and stakeholder perspectives into clear, actionable insights that support decision-making on complex, sensitive, or underdefined issues.
Respond to sensitive information requests with discretion, professionalism, and sound judgment.