Human Resources Division Managers - Employee Benefits and Talent Acquisition (County Promotional)

Job Description:

Human Resources Division Managers - Employee Benefits and Talent Acquisition (County Promotional)

Description

Description

The County of San Mateo Human Resources Department is seeking well-qualified candidates for two of our Human Resources Division Manager positions - Employee Benefits Manager and Talent Acquisition Manager.

This is a County Promotional Only recruitment. Only current employees of the County of San Mateo with at least six months (1040 hours) of continuous service are eligible to apply.

Under the leadership of one of the Deputy Directors of Human Resources, the Employee Benefits Manager and Talent Acquisition Manager are responsible for shaping the County's workforce strategy and delivering innovative human resources programs by:

• Developing, modifying, and administering the Human Resources Department's goals, policies, and procedures.
• Planning and directing the activities of staff.
• Conducting and reviewing analytical studies.
• Making recommendations regarding program administration, issues, and improvements.
• Reviewing and analyzing proposed legislation and advising the County Board of Supervisors, County Executive, and the County Human Resources Director on County impacts.
• Participating in collective bargaining discussions and agreements with employee unions.
• Managing Requests for Proposals and contracts.
• Analyzing workforce and economic trends and recommending new or updated business processes.
• Providing highly responsible and complex administrative support to the Human Resources Director and Deputy Directors.

Additional duties include:

• Consulting with and advising County staff and the public regarding policy issues and participating in the development of program standards and solutions for those issues.
• Consulting and collaborating with department leaders on matters affecting their departments and developing strategies for addressing them.
• Analyzing workforce practices and making recommendations for improving services and systems.
• Leading special projects and preparing complex analytical and statistical reports in Benefits or Talent Acquisition.
• Representing the Human Resources department at meetings, committees, and external organizations, serving as a key liaison on behalf of department leadership.
• Taking on other high-level responsibility and special assignments as needed to support the county's recruitment and retention strategies.

Employee Benefits Manager

The County of San Mateo Human Resources Employee Benefits Division manages the County's comprehensive benefits programs, including communication, customer service, and education to employees, retirees, and family members to attract and retain employees, optimize health and productivity, and promote a healthy and supportive work environment.

The division administers an extensive portfolio of programs for approximately 6,000 employees, 1,000 extra help employees, 3,000 retirees and their eligible family members. These programs include: Medical Insurance, Dental Insurance, Vision Insurance, Life Insurance, Short-Term Disability, Flexible Spending Accounts, Health Savings Accounts, Employee Assistance Program, Voluntary Benefit Offerings, Voluntary Time-Off Program, Catastrophic Leave Program, Family Services, Childcare, Housing, Financial Planning, Deferred Compensation Workplace Mediation, Retiree Health Benefits, COBRA, and Preventive Services,

Opportunities

The Benefits Manager will have the opportunity to help develop the strategic plan and manage enhancements of the employee benefits program which may include:

• Implementing additional voluntary benefits programs.
• Balancing Aetna and Kaiser enrollment
• Increasing financial program utilization, including Deferred Compensation and Retirement Readiness.
• Developing strategies to ensure beneficiaries are "educated consumers" and utilizing preventive care.
• Supporting Childcare and Housing initiatives
• Implementing and enhancing benefits to support our recruitment and retention strategies of making the County of San Mateo an employer of choice.

Talent Acquisition Manager

The County of San Mateo Human Resources Talent Acquisition Division provides innovative, responsive, fair, and consistent recruitment and selection services to County departments, employees, and job applicants to ensure the County employs a qualified and diverse workforce that delivers essential services to the public.

Key Priorities include:

• Building talent pipelines for employment into the County, with a focus on hard-to-fill positions.
• Collaborating with departments on talent acquisition strategies customized for the needs of their workforce.
• Promoting the use of hiring guides and resources for hiring managers to enhance recruitment efforts.
• Customizing recruitment outreach and advertising based on position, department needs, and market trends.

Opportunities

The Talent Acquisition Manager will lead a team of dedicated staff committed to identifying the next generation of local government professionals. A significant portion of the Talent Acquisition Manager's portfolio will consist of building relationships with internal and external partners in pursuit of building out the County's workforce pipeline infrastructure, as well as re-envisioning which talent acquisition efforts make sense to continue, and which processes are ready for modernization. The Talent Acquisition Manager will also facilitate high level recruitments, e.g. Department Directors and Assistant Directors, across the County,

Ideal Candidates

The Human Resources Department is seeking inspiring and collaborative Human Resources leaders who are passionate about public service and committed to delivering exceptional results.

Shared ideal candidate characteristics for all HR Division Managers include:

• A positive, approachable, politically astute leader with a management style that quickly fosters trust, loyalty, respect, commitment, and partnership from staff, executive leadership, all employees, consultants, vendors, labor organizations, and members of the public.
• A customer-focused and collaborative leader that establishes and maintains effective working relationships.
• A strategic thinker and planner that is outcome focused and offers innovative approaches to meet organizational goals.
• An effective and persuasive communicator, both orally and in writing.
• A team builder who is flexible and who welcomes new, creative ideas and appreciates different perspectives.

• Highly demonstrated success interviewing, selecting, hiring, training, supervising, evaluation, motivating, and developing program staff.

• Calmness under pressure and adeptness at prioritizing tasks, handling multiple responsibilities, and producing clear and comprehensive results.
• Dedication and commitment to excellence and high levels of critical thinking and analytical skills with demonstrated success applying those skills.

The Benefits Division Manager will:

• Be financially and analytically skilled to manage Benefits Trust Funds, premium costing, utilization reports, and cost containment strategies.
• Have demonstrated success partnering with Labor toward common goals, including leading discussions at the Labor Management Benefits Committee.
• Have demonstrated success negotiating benefit and health plans with service providers.
• Expertly manage the Other Post-Employment Benefits Trust Fund and Benefits Trust Fund.
• Monitor utilization and claims reporting to enhance and create new programs.
• Administer benefits in compliance with Federal, State, and IRS regulations.

The Talent Acquisition Division Manager will be:

• Knowledgeable of existing and emerging candidate outreach and sourcing technologies.
• Skilled in evaluating new applicant tracking technologies, including how to potentially integrate them into County business processes.
• A collaborative partner who can build positive relationships with community workforce development efforts and bridge these with existing County initiatives.
• Adept at process improvement, including process mapping to identify gaps in the recruitment and time-to-fill processes.
• A skilled recruiter, capable of facilitating high-level recruitments while managing the business of the division.

Qualifications

County Employment: This is a County Promotional Only recruitment.

• Only current employees of the County of San Mateo with at least six months (1040 hours) of continuous service in classified, regular, probationary, or extra-help/limited term positions may apply.

Education and Experience: Any combination of education and experience that would likely provide the required knowledge, skills, and abilities is qualifying. A typical way to qualify is:

• Four years of increasingly responsible experience managing large, complex public service programs including two years of experience in a senior-level management position. Experience with benefit and health programs is strongly preferred.

Knowledge of:

• Principles and practices of public administration, and program management, including planning, implementation, and evaluation.
• Principles, theories, and practices of human resource management.
• Principles and practices of, and trends in human resources programs.
• Laws and legal guidelines pertaining to human resources.?
• Personnel management principles and techniques, including interviewing, selection, training, supervision, evaluation, motivation, discipline, and staff development.
• Information systems applications designed for benefits and health and wellness administration or application tracking.
• County policies and procedures, including the Civil Service Rules, labor contracts, County Ordinance, County Charter, departmental regulations, and pertinent Federal, State, and local laws relating to human resource management.
• Effective negotiating principles and techniques.
• Research and analysis methods and principles.
• Federal, state, and county legislative processes.
• Functions, services, and business culture of a local government organization.

Skills and Abilities to:

• Plan, organize, direct, manage, and evaluate a major human resources program, specifically benefits, health, and wellness or talent acquisition.
• Supervise, train, and evaluate staff and set workload priorities under deadline pressure.
• Gather and analyze data, including numerical data, and make effective recommendations to address complex human resource problems.
• Prepare complex and detailed written reports, program policies, procedures, and contracts.
• Comprehend written material and interpret, apply, and explain County policies, benefit laws and regulations, labor contracts, and other relevant State, Federal, and local policies, procedures, laws, and regulations.
• Establish and maintain effective working relationships with a diverse group of individuals contacted during work, including employee groups and labor representatives.
• Effectively utilize automated information systems.
• Communicate well to diverse audiences, both orally and in writing, and write clear, concise, and professional reports, memos, and other correspondence.
• Maintain a participatory management style while promoting differing viewpoints and persuasively working towards consensus among individuals.
• Organize and prioritize work, manage deliverables within schedule, and communicate delays as necessary.
• Take reasonable risks and proactively seek innovative solutions or changes within established guidelines.
• Learn complex HRIS administration systems.
• Reason logically and creatively and utilize a variety of analytical techniques to resolve complex problems.
• Develop and evaluate alternatives.
• Analyze data and present ideas and information effectively.
• Consult with and advise County elected officials, executives, managers, and other interested individuals and groups on a wide variety of benefits related topics.
• Gain and maintain the confidence and cooperation of those contacted during work.
• Utilize inter-disciplinary teams effectively when conducting studies and surveys.
• Establish and achieve program goals, objectives, and priorities.

Application/Examination

This is a County Promotional Only recruitment. Only current employees of the County of San Mateo with at least six months (1040 hours) of continuous service in classified, regular, probationary, or extra-help/limited term positions may apply.

The examination process will consist of the steps detailed below:

• Initial Review of Application Materials. At this step applicants submitting incomplete applications, lacking relevant qualifications, and/or not following instructions will be disqualified. The quality of your responses to the supplemental questions will also be evaluated for correct grammar and spelling, content, and relevance.
• Application Screening. The application and supplemental responses for applicants who pass the initial review will be evaluated by a panel of subject matter experts. All applicants passing this step will be invited to the panel interview.
• Panel Interview. At this step, applicants will be invited to the Civil Service panel interview, which may include the evaluation of a written and/or performance exercise given immediately preceding the interview. Applicants passing this stage will be placed on an eligible-for-hiring list.

Depending on the number of applicants, an application appraisal of education and experience may be used in place of other examinations or further evaluation of work experience may be conducted to group applicants by level of qualifications. All applicants who meet the minimum qualifications are not guaranteed advancement through any subsequent phase of the examination. All examinations will be given in San Mateo County, California and applicants must participate at their own expense.

Applications for this position will only be accepted online. If you are currently on the County's website, you may click the 'Apply' button. If you are not on the County's website, please apply at https://jobs.smcgov.org.

The supplemental questionnaire must be submitted in addition to our regular employment application form. A resume will not be accepted as a substitute for the required employment application and the supplemental questionnaire.

Tentative Recruitment Timeline

Deadline to Submit Applications: August 6, 2026, at 11:59 PM

Application Screening: August 11-12, 2026

Combined Civil Service and Departmental Panel Interviews: Week of August 17, 2026

San Mateo County is centrally located between San Francisco, San Jose, and the East Bay. With over 750,000 residents, San Mateo is one of the largest and most diverse counties in California and serves a multitude of culturally, ethnically, and linguistically diverse communities. The County of San Mateo, as an employer, is committed to advancing equity to ensure all employees are welcomed in a safe and inclusive environment.

The County of San Mateo, as an employer, seeks to hire, support, and retain employees who reflect our diverse community. We encourage applicants with diverse backgrounds and lived experiences to apply. Eighty percent of employees surveyed stated that they would recommend the County as a great place to work.

The County of San Mateo is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion at all levels.

Analyst: Chet Overstreet (07242026) (Human Resources Division Manager - D050)

Salary:

$154,876.80 - $193,585.60 Annually