Assistant Director, Public Works Agency

The City of Oakland is an equal opportunity employer that values workforce diversity, inclusion, and equity. Oakland has a long history of activism around issues of justice and equity. Both oppression and this resistance to oppression have shaped the city’s historical roots and the lives of its residents to this day. As public servants in one of the most diverse cities in the nation, we strive to develop employees who understand the harm and impacts of systemic inequity to create lasting, meaningful outcomes for everyone.

Oakland strives to establish an environment that embraces the richness of culture, community, and individualism of employees.

Oakland Public Works (OPW) strives to maintain, improve, and preserve Oakland's infrastructure and environment for residents, businesses, visitors, and future generations of every neighborhood in our diverse City. The Bureau of Administration provides HR, IT, business Analysis, and other support to OPW. The Bureau serves three bureaus:
Environment, Maintenance, and Internal Systems that help us deliver well-maintained public infrastructure. We are seeking a dynamic leader who sets a great course for the bureau.

• A proven leader who brings people together. You know how to set a clear direction, build trust, motivate staff, and lead teams through competing priorities while keeping them focused on shared goals.
• A relationship builder, collaborator, and champion of employee engagement. You build productive relationships across organizational boundaries, bring people together to achieve shared goals, and foster a workplace where employees feel supported, engaged, and motivated to do their best work.
• A strategic thinker and creative problem solver. You see the big picture while understanding the details needed to move work forward, navigate complex issues, evaluate options, weigh risks, and find practical solutions.
• Results-oriented and accountable. You set clear goals, follow through, use data and sound judgment to track progress, and deliver high-quality services while balancing competing demands, complex budgets, limited resources, and organizational priorities.
• An effective communicator. You explain complex operational, financial, and policy issues clearly to different audiences and communicate with confidence when presenting to the City Council, City Administrator's staff, bureau employees, community stakeholders, and other public bodies.
• Someone who understands and can navigate complex public-sector systems. You understand organizational processes, know how to move work forward through hiring, procurement, contracting, and other City systems, and help others navigate these processes effectively.

• Setting and tracking clear goals for the bureau and troubleshooting where the bureau is not meeting goals.
• Reporting to Council and its Committees on OPW's budget development and monitoring.
• Translating complex topics and reporting to colleagues and policy makers in plain, easy to understand language.
• Building staff morale and improving employee engagement.
• Improving intra-Bureau and inter-Bureau communication and collaboration.

• You will interact with and support Oakland's amazing staff.
• You will help make Public Works a great place to work.
• You will exercise your experience, creativity, and nimbleness every day.
• You will be an important bridge between stakeholders, public officials, the City Administrator's staff, and the Bureau.

• You will navigate our bureau's high vacancy rate, significant workload, and some turnover.
• You will have to be creative to "get…