ABOUT THE TEAM:

The San Francisco Digital Services team is transforming how residents interact with the City by building services designed around the people that use them.

We’re taking a service-oriented approach to make local government more accessible and easier to navigate. Building on the City’s website SF.gov, we are focusing particularly on permitting services, affordable housing, and building scalable tools for our partners in City government.

Led by the Chief Digital Services Officer, our team of product managers, designers, developers, and content people is growing. We’re building services and shaping the City’s approach to technology.

THE ROLE:

You could be working on a better way to get construction permits. Or you might build a smoother experience for opening a business in the City. Or you could work on making it easier to get permits for events from block parties to Pride. You could be designing elements of the City’s approach to affordable housing, or ways for people experiencing homelessness to get the support they need.

Whatever project you pick up first, you’ll be part of a small, multi-disciplinary team, building things that matter to San Franciscans. You’ll be working with partners across the City, helping them to understand and be part of the user-centered design process. You will need to work closely with these partners and experts to build a movement, not just a product.

As part of the Digital Services content team, you will also work on our tools and standards, to make what we build easy for our City partners to run and maintain. You’ll also help lead and contribute to the community of content professionals across the City. You’ll be running training and workshops, as well as blogging about your work and sharing good practices.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

As a senior content strategist, we expect you to be an expert UX writer and content designer. But mostly you’ll solve problems and make things easy for San Franciscans and City staff. You will need to take lengthy, complex city processes like getting building permits or opening a cannabis business and make them understandable.

You will lead content on cross-department projects. You’ll run workshops to engage stakeholders, keep feedback loops open, and manage engagement after launch. You will manage both content and the information architecture for those projects.

You’ll run or be involved in user research (with your team), synthesize learnings and report findings. You’ll be able to improve content based on that feedback, and get ready for another round of feedback, synthesis and iteration.

You will work with and persuade at senior levels of City government. You will guide City departments moving their websites to SF.gov, building a user-centered website that meets their business goals.

And you’ll help departments work out how to measure success on that website or digital service. You’ll work in Google Analytics and other analytics packages to report on the success of digital products and websites. And you’ll suggest improvements based on those findings.

You’ll pave the way for others by building up the content community, designing replicable processes and working on content standards for the City. You’ll contribute to a strong content team at Digital Services as part of content crits and share-outs.

Possession of an associate's degree in content strategy, content design, copy writing, editing, user experience (UX) writing, or a closely related field from an accredited college or university OR its equivalent in terms of total course credits/units [i.e., at least sixty (60) semester or ninety (90) quarter credits/units with a minimum of twenty (20) semester or thirty (30) quarter credits/units in content strategy, content design, copy writing, editing, user experience (UX) writing or a closely-related field]; AND

Five (5) years of relevant experience in content strategy, content design, copy writing, editing, or User Experience (UX) writing.

SUBSTITUTION:  Additional experience as described above may be substituted for the required degree on a year-for-year basis (up to a maximum of two (2) years). One (1) year is equivalent to thirty (30) semester units / forty-five (45) quarter units with a minimum of 10 semester / 15 quarter units in content strategy, content design, copy writing, editing, or User Experience (UX) writing or a closely related field.

Possession of an bachelor's degree in content strategy, content design, copy writing, editing, user experience (UX) writing, or a closely related field may substitute for one (1) year of required experience.

DESIRABLE SKILLS:

User-centered content design

• Experience designing content to meet user needs
• Can break down and make sense of complex processes
• Experience designing and iterating content for end-to-end services
• Experience managing website migrations
• User research champion, able to run and synthesize research 
• History of talking to a wide range of users
• Understanding of how content is consumed by screen readers and other assistive technology
• Gets the challenges people face using websites and can design content to bridge gaps
• Can write and validate user needs and user stories
• Can prioritize user needs over user wants
• Can measure and evaluate outcomes in content and services
• Can identify and implement the best delivery method for content

Working with stakeholders

• Can manage stakeholder relationships effectively, through clear and regular communication
• Values collaboration and can involve stakeholders so they are truly part of the process
• Can plan and facilitate content workshops with stakeholders
• Has a range of prototyping tools to share work
• Can train partners to take responsibility for web content after launch
• Understands how government processes work

Strategic thinking

• Leads the design and implementation of strategy, directing the evaluation of strategies and policies to ensure business requirements are being met
• Experience setting up website metadata or tagging, or service-related information architecture

Community and relationship building

• A visible leader and champion of content design across the City, defining content standards, supporting departments with content design work, training, and promoting the City externally as a home for great content design
• Someone who gives back to the City-wide content community, through blogs, tweets, and events

Agile working

• Unafraid to take risks, willing to learn from mistakes, and appreciates the importance of agile project delivery for digital projects in government
• Comfortable in a fast-paced, evolving environment
• Can help the team prioritize delivery and rapid iteration over perfection

Technical skills

• Google Analytics, Amplitude or other metrics programs
• Proficiency conducting and analyzing user research
• Content Management Systems (like Drupal, Contentful, Sitecore or enterprise versions)
• HTML
• CSS
• Social media, like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram
• Design software like InVision, Figma or Adobe Creative Suite (InDesign, PhotoShop, Illustrator)
• Video editing software
• Project management tools like Trello or Jira
• Documentation experience with Confluence or Wikis
• Localization and translations services like Smartling, AvantPage, or others
• Database management systems like AirTable, Coda or Quick Base

• Information About The Hiring Process
• Conviction History
• Employee Benefits Overview  
• Equal Employment Opportunity 
• Disaster Service Worker
• ADA Accommodation
• Veterans Preference
• Right to Work
• Copies of Application Documents
• Diversity Statement

Compensation:  $136,162 - $171,288 annually

Applicants are encouraged to apply immediately as this recruitment may close at any time, but not before March 3, 2023.

Late or incomplete submissions will not be considered. Mailed, hand delivered or faxed documents/applications will not be accepted.

Note:  While we are currently remote due to Covid-19, you are expected to attend in-person meetings throughout the City on a regular basis.

Applications will be screened for relevant qualifying experience. Additional screening mechanisms may be implemented in order to determine candidates’ qualifications. Only those applicants who most closely meet the needs of the Agency will be invited to participate in the selection process. Applicants meeting the minimum qualifications are not guaranteed advancement to the interview. Qualified applicants with disabilities requiring reasonable accommodation in the selection process must contact the Agency by phone at (415) 554-6000 or, if hearing impaired at (415) 554-6015 (TTY).

CONDITION OF EMPLOYMENT:  All City and County of San Francisco employees are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment. Someone is fully vaccinated when 14 days have passed since they received the final dose of a two-shot vaccine or a dose of a one-shot vaccine. Any new hire must present proof of full vaccination status to be appointed. Any new hire who will be routinely assigned or occasionally enter High-Risk Settings, must provide proof of having received a COVID-19 booster vaccine by March 3, 2023, or once eligible.

The City and County of San Francisco encourages women, minorities and persons with disabilities to apply. Applicants will be considered regardless of their sex, race, age, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition (associated with cancer, a history of cancer, or genetic characteristics), HIV/AIDS status, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, military and veteran status, or other protected category under the law.

CONDITION OF EMPLOYMENT:  All City and County of San Francisco employees are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment. Someone is fully vaccinated when 14 days have passed since they received the final dose of a two-shot vaccine or a dose of a one-shot vaccine. Any new hire must present proof of full vaccination status to be appointed. Any new hire who will be routinely assigned or occasionally enter High-Risk Settings, must provide proof of having received a COVID-19 booster vaccine by March 1, 2022, or once eligible.

The City and County of San Francisco encourages women, minorities and persons with disabilities to apply. Applicants will be considered regardless of their sex, race, age, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition (associated with cancer, a history of cancer, or genetic characteristics), HIV/AIDS status, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, military and veteran status, or other protected category under the law.