Director of Risk Management (0941) - Risk Management, Office of City Administrator

Company Description

Permanent Exempt (PEX) : Full Time position is excluded by the Charter from the competitive civil service examination process and shall serve at the discretion of the appointment officer.

Specific information regarding this recruitment process are listed below:

- Application Opening:  Monday, October 5, 2026
- Application Deadline:  Sunday, November 15, 2026 
-  ✅ A resume and cover letter are required at the time of application. Your cover letter should briefly explain why you are a strong candidate, a public‑sector risk management or insurance issue you would prioritize, and your interest in public service.

About the Office of the City Administrator:
The Office of the City Administrator   includes 20+ agencies and over 1,000 dedicated staff who provide essential services to San Francisco residents and businesses and improve the administration of government.

Our Mission 
The City Administrator’s Office is strongly committed to ensuring efficient and effective government services, increasing the City’s safety and resiliency, strengthening the local economy, supporting equity and inclusion, and optimizing the City’s capital planning and infrastructure.

Our Vision

We are committed to ensuring that the City's services are inclusive, efficient, equitable, and culturally competent for San Franciscans of all races, ethnic backgrounds, religions, and sexual orientations. This commitment requires comprehensive review and thorough analysis of existing practices and policies to remove barriers to real inclusion.

We are also committed to ensuring that the Department is a safe, equitable, and inclusive workplace for individuals of all races. This includes creating opportunities for hiring, promotion, retention, training, and development, for all employees, including but not limited to Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC).

To learn more about our departments, divisions, and programs, visit:  https://sf.gov/departments/city-administrator

About Risk Management

Risk Management is a division of the Office of the City Administrator. We help departments manage their risks of uncertainty through:

- Providing Risk Management guidance to all departments of the City
- Setting Insurance Requirements
- Advising on Indemnity
- Insurance Program Administration

Risk Management also helps with small contractor bonding and technical assistance through the Contractor Development Program (CDP) Administrator.

Job Description

The Director of Risk Management is the executive leader of the City and County of San Francisco's Office of Risk Management and serves as the City's principal advisor on risk management, insurance, and contractual risk transfer. Reporting to the City Administrator, the Director leads the development and execution of a comprehensive Citywide risk management strategy that supports informed decision making, protects public resources, strengthens organizational resilience, and enables the effective delivery of public services.

San Francisco is an innovative City, with more than 50 departments and a diverse portfolio of operations, infrastructure, assets, and public services. The City's risk environment encompasses an international airport, port and waterfront, public utilities, transportation systems, major capital and infrastructure programs, real estate, technology, public safety, health and human services, and arts and cultural institutions.

The Director provides strategic leadership across this decentralized operating environment, establishing Citywide risk management policies, standards, frameworks, and practices while partnering with departments that manage risk within their individual operations. The Director advises the City Administrator, Mayor, Board of Supervisors, City Attorney, commissions, department heads, and other senior officials on significant and emerging risks and opportunities.

The successful candidate will be a strategic and collaborative executive who can modernize and strengthen the City's approach to risk while ensuring continuity and excellence in its core operations. San Francisco is continuously innovating, and the Director will contribute to the next evolution of this division in meeting the strategic needs for the City.

Examples of Important and Essential Duties:

Enterprise Risk Leadership

- Lead the City's enterprise risk management strategy, including the identification, assessment, mitigation, monitoring, and reporting of significant and emerging risks.

- Establish Citywide risk policies, standards, frameworks, and performance measures and integrate risk considerations into major decisions and initiatives.

- Serve as the City's principal risk advisor to the City Administrator, Mayor, Board of Supervisors, City Attorney, commissions, department heads, and other senior leaders.

- Advise and coordinate with departments on complex risks and promote consistent risk management practices across the City.

Insurance and Risk Transfer

- Direct the City's insurance and risk-financing programs, including commercial insurance, self-insurance, and insurance strategies for capital projects.

- Lead negotiations and manage relationships with insurers, brokers, consultants, third-party administrators, and other professional service providers for the City’s insurance portfolio through the department’s $50M annual insurance budget.

- In partnership with the City Attorney's Office, establish Citywide insurance requirements, indemnification provisions, and contractual risk-transfer standards.

- Advise departments on complex contracts, procurements, leases, permits, claims, and other matters involving insurance or risk transfer.

Insurance Claims and Risk Analysis

- Lead, facilitate, negotiate and settle insured claims processes through collaboration with insurer clai representatives and legal counsel as well as City departments and Office of the City Attorney.

- Monitor legislative, regulatory, legal, insurance-market, and other developments affecting the City's risk profile and recommend appropriate action.

Qualifications

Education – Possession of a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university; AND

Experience - Four (4) years of managerial experience in risk management, commercial insurance, public finance, internal audit, regulatory compliance, or law, of which all must include supervising professional staff.

Note(s):

- One-year full-time employment is considered equivalent to 2000 hours (2000 hours of qualifying work experience is based on a 40 hour work week). Any overtime hours that you work above forty (40) hours per week are not included in the calculation to determine full-time employment. 
- Applicants must meet minimum qualification requirements by the final filing date unless otherwise noted. 
- Every application is reviewed to ensure that you meet the minimum qualifications as 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.

Desirable Qualifications:
The ideal candidate is an accomplished risk management executive who combines strategic vision with operational and technical expertise. The successful candidate understands that effective public-sector risk management is not solely about avoiding risk, but about enabling leaders to make informed decisions, protect public resources, and responsibly pursue opportunities that advance the City's mission.

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

- Executive-level strategic leadership and the ability to operate effectively in a large, complex, decentralized organization and manage the day-to-day operations of a core team. 
- Ability to design, implement, and continuously improve enterprise risk management frameworks and programs. 
- Exceptional analytical ability and judgment in complex, high-profile, sensitive, or rapidly evolving situations. 
- Effective executive presence, communication skills, and political and organizational acumen. 
- Ability to build trusted relationships with executives, elected officials, attorneys, finance professionals, City departments, insurers, brokers, consultants, and other stakeholders. 
- Experience leading organizational change, modernization, and continuous improvement. 
- Ability to lead collaboratively and influence outcomes without direct authority. 
- Unwavering integrity, discretion, professionalism, and commitment to public service.

Additional Information

Selection Procedures

The selection process will include evaluation of applications in relation to minimum requirements. Depending on the number of applicants, the Department may establish and implement additional screening mechanisms to comparatively evaluation qualifications of candidates. If this becomes necessary, only those applicants whose qualifications most closely meet the needs of the Department will be invited for an interview.

Applicants who meet the minimum qualifications are not guaranteed to advance through all of the steps in the selection process.

A resume and cover letter are required at the time of application. Your cover letter should briefly explain why you are a strong candidate, a public‑sector risk management or insurance issue you would prioritize, and your interest in public service.

Verification

- Please make sure it is 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 in the application and/or departmental selection process.

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

- Information About The Hiring Process (https://sfdhr.org/information-about-hiring-process)
- Conviction History (http://sfdhr.org/conviction-history-faq)
- Employee Benefits Overview  (https://sfdhr.org/benefits-overview) 
- Equal Employment Opportunity (https://sfdhr.org/equal-employment-opportunity) 
- Disaster Service Worker (https://sfdhr.org/disaster-service-workers)
- ADA Accommodation (https://sfdhr.org/information-about-hiring-process#applicantswithdisabilities)
- Veterans Preference (http://sfdhr.org/information-about-hiring-process#veteranspreference)
- Right to Work (https://sfdhr.org/information-about-hiring-process#identification)
- Copies of Application Documents (https://sfdhr.org/information-about-hiring-process#copies)
- Diversity Statement (https://sfdhr.org/information-about-hiring-process#diversitystatement)

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.

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 kept up-to-date. 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).

HR Analyst Information: If you have any questions regarding this recruitment or application process, please contact the HR analyst 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.