Utility Specialist - Risk Management & Business Analysis - Power Enterprise – SFPUC (5602) (164129) (EXEMPT)

  • Full-time
  • Job Code and Title: 5602-Utility Specialist
  • Fill Type: Temporary Exempt

Company Description

  • Application Opening: 8/21/2026
  • Application Filing Deadline: 9/11/2026
  • Recruitment ID:  RTF0164128-01137126

APPOINTMENT TYPE: Exempt: This position is excluded by the Charter from the competitive Civil Service examination process and shall serve at the discretion of the Appointing Officer. The duration of the appointment shall not exceed 36 months.

WHO ARE WE?
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC)
Headquartered in San Francisco, we have 2,300 employees operating across eight counties serving more than 2.7 million customers in the San Francisco Bay Area – 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.

Our Mission: To provide our customers with high quality, efficient, and reliable water, power, and wastewater services in a manner that values environmental and community interests and sustains the resources entrusted to our care.

Our Vision: We are an innovative utility leader, recognized for excellent results in service, safety, stewardship, and inclusiveness.

We are an award-winning and industry-leading utilities organization committed to our customers, community interests, and the environment. To learn more about our organization, please visit our website at https://www.sfpuc.gov.

We are proud of our infrastructure and programs, but most importantly, we value our highly qualified and dedicated workforce which ensures that this vision becomes a reality.

To learn more about working at the SFPUC, visit our career site at https://www.sfpuc.gov/about-us/careers-sfpuc

Power Enterprise

The Power Enterprise, within the SFPUC, has two separate power programs, Hetch Hetchy Power, San Francisco’s Publicly Owned Utility serving 150 MW of retail load, and CleanPowerSF, San Francisco’s Community Choice Aggregation program, serving 500+ MW of retail load. Power Enterprise serves this load with a combination of owned and purchased resources. SFPUC owns and operates the Hetch Hetchy Water and Power Project, which includes hydro-electric power generation in Moccasin, California; solar arrays throughout San Francisco; and biogas cogeneration facilities, which together produce cost-effective energy with a zero greenhouse gas (GHG-free) emission profiles. Both of these power programs’ supply portfolios exceed State minimum renewable content. Power Enterprise provides its retail customers with distributed energy resource programs. In addition to these retail electricity service offerings, Power Enterprise is responsible for San Francisco street and pedestrian lighting.

Job Description

Project: Special Projects & Financial Feasibility   

Power Enterprise is experiencing a growing number of high-impact electricity service requests from large and strategically important customers, including SFO, the Steam Loop system, Port electrification initiatives, and other major infrastructure projects. These opportunities require rigorous and defensible financial evaluation to manage capital investment, cost recovery, and long-term risk exposure.

To address this surge in complex project activity and to build structured evaluation capability, this position will lead financial feasibility analysis for these large, complex electricity service requests and strategic electrification initiatives, including development of detailed business case evaluations, scenario and risk analysis, and coordination of cross-functional inputs to support executive decision-making.

In addition to supporting active high-priority projects, the position will develop and document financial modeling tools and evaluation methodologies during the project term to enable transition of this capability into regular business functions.                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Essential Functions:

  • Lead financial feasibility evaluations for large load projects and strategic electrification initiatives, including development of comprehensive business cases and valuation analyses (NPV, IRR, payback, and cost recovery assessment).
  • Develop and enhance project financial models to evaluate capital investment, revenue sufficiency, rate impacts, and long-term financial exposure.
  • Conduct project sensitivity, scenario, and risk analyses to assess load uncertainty, market volatility, regulatory changes, and potential stranded asset risk.
  • Collaborate with cross-functional teams (Customer Engagement, Engineering, Retail Services, Reg/Leg, and Finance) to gather inputs, validate assumptions, and ensure analytical consistency.
  • Improve model structure and functionality by incorporating validation checks, documentation, and version control practices to enhance reliability and transparency.
  • Develop and document consistent project evaluation methodologies, including cost estimation, forecasting approaches, discounting assumptions, and performance metrics.
  • Prepare clear, concise executive-level reports, presentations, and decision memoranda summarizing findings, risks, trade-offs, and recommendations.
  • Organize and maintain centralized records of assumptions, models, and historical analyses to support transparency, continuity, and audit readiness.
  • Provide training and structured knowledge transfer to internal staff and support implementation of documented processes to enable transition of analytical capability into regular business functions.
  • Perform other related duties.

 

Qualifications

Education:

1. Possession of a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university preferably with major coursework in Law, Engineering, Environmental Studies, Natural Resources, Computer Science, Business Administration, Mathematics, Statistics, Economics or other field related to the utility business; AND

Experience:

2. Four years of verifiable journey-level work experience in one or more of the following areas: planning, scheduling, cost estimating and resource projecting for mid to large scale projects; water supply/infrastructure management and planning; power operations planning and scheduling; analysis, interpretation and application of utility contracts and regulations in either water, power (electric and/or natural gas), telecommunications, or a wastewater/clean water program; utility market and environmental analysis and planning; power supply and transmission rates and contracts; generation, transmission or distribution planning and design; or long-term utility systems planning.

License and Certification:

Specified positions may require possession of a valid California Class C driver's license.

Substitution:

Additional qualifying experience may be substituted for the degree requirement on a year-for-year basis.

Applicants must meet the minimum qualification requirement by the final filing date unless otherwise noted.

Desirable Qualifications: The stated desirable qualifications may be considered at the end of the selection process when candidates are referred for hiring.

  • Experience conducting complex financial feasibility, business case, and risk analyses for utility, energy, infrastructure, or other capital-intensive projects.
  • Advanced financial modeling skills, including NPV, IRR, cost recovery, sensitivity, and scenario analysis.
  • Knowledge of electric utility economics, rate design, power supply, and relevant energy market and regulatory frameworks.
  • Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, including the ability to evaluate uncertainty, reconcile complex inputs, and develop well-supported recommendations.
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills, with demonstrated ability to collaborate across functions and communicate complex analysis to technical and executive audiences.
  • Strong project coordination and management skills, including managing multiple workstreams, stakeholders, and deliverables and developing documentation to support knowledge transfer. 

Verification of Education and Experience:

Every application is reviewed to ensure that you meet the minimum qualifications listed in the job ad. Please review our articles on Employment Application and Minimum Qualifications and Verification of Experience and/or Education for considerations taken when reviewing applications. 

Applicants may be required to submit verification of qualifying education and experience at any point during the recruitment and selection process.

Note: Falsifying one’s education, training, or work experience or attempted deception on the application may result in disqualification for this and future job opportunities with the City and County of San Francisco.

All work experience, education, training and other information substantiating how you meet the minimum qualifications must be included on your application by the filing deadline. Information submitted after the filing deadline will not be considered in determining whether you meet the minimum qualifications. Applications completed improperly may be cause for ineligibility, disqualification or may lead to lower scores.

Important Note:

Please make sure it is absolutely clear in your application exactly how you meet the minimum qualifications. Applicants may be required to submit verification of qualifying education and experience at any point during the recruitment and selection process. Please be aware that any misrepresentation of this information may disqualify you from this recruitment or future job opportunities.

One-year full-time employment is equivalent to 2,000 hours (2,000 hours of qualifying work experience is based on a 40-hour work week). Any overtime hours that you work above 40 hours per week are not included in the calculation to determine full time employment.

Additional Information

Additional Information Regarding Employment with the City and County of San Francisco:

Applicants will receive a confirmation email from [email protected] that their online application has been received in response to every announcement for which they file. Applicants should retain this confirmation email for their records. Failure to receive this email means that the online application was not submitted or received.

HOW TO APPLY

Applications for City and County of San Francisco jobs are only accepted through an online process. Visit https://careers.smartrecruiters.com/CityAndCountyOfSanFrancisco1/ and begin the application process.

  • Select the “I’m Interested” button and follow instructions on the screen

Applicants may be contacted by email about this recruitment and, therefore, it is their responsibility to ensure that their registered email address is accurate and updated. Also, applicants must ensure that email from CCSF is not blocked on their computer by a spam filter. To prevent blocking, applicants should set up their email to accept CCSF mail from the following addresses (@sfgov.org, @sfdpw.org, @sfport.com, @flysfo.com, @sfwater.org, @sfdph.org, @asianart.org, @sfmta.com, @sfpl.org, @dcyf.org, @first5sf.org, @famsf.org, @ccsf.edu, @smartalerts.info, and @smartrecruiters.com).

Applicants will receive a confirmation email from [email protected] that their online application has been received in response to every announcement for which they file. Applicants should retain this confirmation email for their records. Failure to receive this email means that the online application was not submitted or received.

Job Analyst Information: If you have any questions regarding this recruitment or application process, please contact the job analyst, Rocio Mendoza at [email protected].  

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.

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