Deputy Commissioner Jobs

About The Position

Requirements

• For appointment at City Research Scientist Assignment Level II or above, candidates must meet one of the specified education and experience pathways: a doctorate in an appropriate physical, biological, environmental, or social science field plus one year of responsible supervisory, administrative, or research experience; a master's degree in an appropriate field plus three years of responsible full-time research experience; or equivalent education and/or experience.
• Candidates qualifying through the stated education and experience equivalency must have at least a master's degree in an appropriate field and at least two years of the described experience.
• Two years as a City Research Scientist Level I may substitute for the experience required under the doctorate or master's pathways.
• Appointments are subject to a minimum probationary period of one year.

Nice To Haves

• Experience implementing suicide prevention programming, training, and capacity-building efforts.
• Experience leading community engagement, coalition-building, capacity-building, or public health initiatives.
• Experience working with communities and populations disproportionately affected by suicide or other adverse health outcomes.
• Experience engaging individuals with lived expertise in program or policy development.
• Experience supervising staff and managing complex, cross-sector initiatives.
• Experience developing or coordinating training, technical assistance, or community capacity-building initiatives.
• Knowledge of behavioral health, trauma-informed practice, and health equity.

Responsibilities

• Lead efforts to gather and assess information from communities, organizations, and stakeholders to identify suicide prevention needs, gaps, assets, and emerging concerns.
• Coordinate community needs assessments, listening activities, surveys, focus groups, and other information-gathering approaches, particularly to understand populations and settings disproportionately affected by suicide.
• Integrate community-generated information with epidemiologic data, surveillance findings, and available research evidence in collaboration with Office research and subject matter experts.
• Identify trends, disparities, service gaps, and intervention opportunities, and translate findings into recommendations for prevention planning and practice.
• Ensure information-gathering approaches reflect community context, health equity, and populations that may be underrepresented in traditional data sources.
• Develop and coordinate community capacity-building strategies based on identified needs, surveillance, research evidence, and community priorities.
• Coordinate access to evidence-informed training, technical assistance, tools, and other resources responsive to capacity gaps.
• Work with subject matter experts and community partners to implement and adapt evidence-informed suicide prevention practices across diverse settings.
• Monitor implementation and emerging evidence to identify opportunities to strengthen or modify community-based approaches.
• Promote culturally responsive and equitable prevention approaches that account for differences in risk, protective factors, access to resources, and community context.
• Lead the Office’s Lived Expertise Advisory Board and related engagement activities to incorporate lived experience and community knowledge into suicide prevention planning.
• Develop processes for gathering, synthesizing, and applying lived expertise to research priorities, program design, policy recommendations, and prevention strategies.
• Ensure people with lived expertise and communities disproportionately affected by suicide have meaningful opportunities to shape Office priorities and initiatives.
• Promote trauma-informed, equitable, and culturally responsive approaches to engaging with and interpreting community knowledge.
• Translate community assessment, surveillance, research, and stakeholder-engagement findings into recommendations for policy, programs, services, and prevention planning.
• Collaborate with Office leadership, Department bureaus, City agencies, and external partners to apply evidence and community-informed findings to citywide suicide prevention initiatives.
• Identify opportunities to adapt or scale prevention strategies based on evidence, population needs, and implementation experience.
• Prepare analyses, recommendations, and briefings for Office leadership that synthesize research, surveillance data, community perspectives, and health equity considerations.
• Develop and maintain partnerships with community organizations, healthcare systems, academic institutions, schools, advocacy organizations, and other stakeholders.
• Coordinate multidisciplinary initiatives combining community knowledge, public health surveillance, research, and implementation expertise.
• Facilitate information-sharing and collaboration among partners to identify emerging issues, research needs, and opportunities for coordinated prevention action.
• Represent the Office in community, professional, academic, and public forums, communicating evidence and findings accessibly to diverse audiences.
• Develop work plans, implementation strategies, and performance measures for community engagement and capacity-building initiatives.
• Establish processes to monitor activities, assess implementation, and identify opportunities for improvement.
• Coordinate collection and review of qualitative and quantitative information to assess reach, effectiveness, equity, and community responsiveness.
• Use monitoring and evaluation findings to recommend adjustments to programs, partnerships, and resource allocation.
• Supervise assigned staff and provide direction and oversight for community research, engagement, and capacity-building activities.

Benefits

• Potential eligibility for federal or state loan forgiveness and repayment assistance programs.
• Premium-free health insurance plan; the posting states it saves employees over $10,000 annually according to a 2024 assessment.
• Additional health, fitness, and financial benefits may be available based on the position’s associated union or benefit fund.
• Public-sector defined-benefit pension plan with steady monthly payments in retirement.
• Tax-deferred savings program.
• Worksite Wellness Program.
• Depending on the position, the ability to work from home up to two days during the week.
• Job security compared with private-sector employment.