Assistant City Manager (Two Positions)

Back View Details And Apply

Assistant City Manager (Two Positions)

Tri Star Gov Solutions Sacramento, CA, USA

Job Description:

Assistant City Manager (Two Positions)

Description

CALIFORNIA’S CAPITAL CITY: ROOTED IN HISTORY. BUILT FOR WHAT’S NEXT.

Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers, Sacramento is a vibrant and evolving capital city where history, culture, recreation, and opportunity come together. Home to more than 500k residents, Sacramento offers the amenities of a major metropolitan area while maintaining distinctive neighborhoods and an approachable quality of life. As one of California’s most diverse cities, Sacramento embraces its diversity as a defining strength and is committed to advancing equity, inclusion, and opportunity across every neighborhood and community.

The city has earned a reputation for its farm-to-fork culinary scene, with restaurants, farmers markets, breweries, wineries, and local producers reflecting the richness of the surrounding region. Downtown and Midtown offer an active mix of dining, nightlife, arts, entertainment, and community events, while destinations such as the Golden 1 Center, Crocker Art Museum, Old Sacramento Waterfront, and the SAFE Credit Union Convention and Performing Arts District contribute to a lively cultural and visitor experience.

Outdoor recreation is equally accessible. With more than 200 parks and 80 miles of trails, Sacramento offers abundant opportunities for cycling, running, kayaking, and enjoying its rivers and green spaces. Its central Northern California location also puts residents within easy reach of Lake Tahoe, the Sierra Nevadas, Napa Valley, and the Bay Area.

As California’s capital, Sacramento is also a center for government, business, education, healthcare, and innovation, with institutions such as Sacramento State and UC Davis contributing to the region’s talent and economic ecosystem. Continued investment in the city’s neighborhoods, commercial corridors, waterfront, entertainment offerings, and major development projects is helping shape an increasingly dynamic place to build a career, establish a business, and call home.

CITY GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE. ONE CITY, ONE FUTURE.

The City of Sacramento is a charter city operating under a Council-City Manager form of government. The nine-member City Council consists of a Mayor elected at large and eight Councilmembers elected by district. Together, the Mayor and City Council establish policy, adopt the City’s budget, and appoint the City Manager, City Auditor, City Clerk, City Treasurer, and City Attorney. The City Manager serves as the City’s Chief Executive Officer and is responsible for implementing Council direction and overseeing City operations.

City Council Priorities:

Through the “One City, One Future” Strategic Workplan, City Departments are bringing city services and City Council priorities into alignment with greater focus and accountability on coordinated action and measurable results. For FY2026/27, the Council has established three priorities that guide the City’s work:

These priorities are supported by the strategic workplan which identifies specific objectives and initiatives across City departments, creating clearer accountability for moving from policy direction to implementation and results.

THE CITY MANAGER’S OFFICE

The City Manager serves as Sacramento’s Chief Executive Officer, providing executive leadership for a full-service municipal organization with 13 departments, approximately 4,884 FTEs, and a $1.7B FY2026/27 Budget. As members of the City’s executive leadership team, Assistant City Managers provide oversight of assigned departmental portfolios while working across organizational boundaries to advance City Council priorities, coordinate complex Citywide initiatives, and strengthen alignment, accountability, and results across the organization.

THE TWO ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER POSITIONS

Reporting directly to the City Manager and serving as members of the City’s Executive Team, Assistant City Managers (ACMs) serve as trusted partners to the City Manager, Mayor and City Council, providing executive leadership across assigned departmental portfolios and helping advance the City’s most important priorities. The City is seeking two (2) ACMs to provide direction and support to department directors, connect work across organizational boundaries, and help ensure Citywide priorities move forward with strong alignment, accountability, and execution. These positions carry broad executive authority and advise the City Manager on complex policy, operational, fiscal, and organizational matters; represent the City in critical internal and external settings; and act on behalf of the City Manager as assigned.

Sacramento’s ACMs are enterprise leaders first and foremost. The City benefits from highly experienced and technically strong department directors who bring deep subject-matter expertise to their respective functions. As a result, the ACMs do not need to be the technical experts in every area they oversee. Their value comes from bringing the versatility, strategic perspective, leadership, and organizational judgment to lead experts, connect priorities and resources, and help translate strategy into coordinated action and measurable progress.

The breadth of these roles creates opportunities to provide leadership across a wide range of municipal functions and Citywide initiatives. Depending on organizational needs, assignments may span areas such as economic and community development, finance and administrative services, human resources, technology, culture and destination development, and other critical City functions. Portfolios may evolve over time, allowing the City to align executive leadership with changing priorities while drawing on each ACM’s strengths and experience. The ACMs may also step across portfolio lines and support one another as priorities shift.

At the heart of these positions is the ability to see across the organization: understanding how decisions in one area affect another, bringing the right people together around complex challenges, and helping strong departmental leaders translate Citywide strategy into coordinated action and measurable progress.

The ACMs’ key areas of responsibility include:

STRATEGIC PRIORITIES & OPPORTUNITIES AHEAD

Sacramento’s ACMs will have the opportunity to help advance a range of significant Citywide priorities, bringing executive leadership, cross-departmental coordination, and a strong focus on execution to work already underway and emerging priorities, including:

THE IDEAL EXECUTIVE LEADERS

The ideal candidates will be empathetic, collaborative, and action-oriented executives who understand that meaningful progress does not always require disruption. Sacramento has talented teams, significant initiatives underway, and a clear strategic direction. The next ACMs will recognize what is working, identify where greater focus or alignment is needed, and create the conditions for department directors and their teams to succeed, while fostering an organizational culture where diverse perspectives are valued and equity and inclusion inform how the City leads, makes decisions, and serves its communities.

These leaders will be approachable, responsive, and committed to exceptional customer service and organizational partnership. They will build trusted relationships across departments, listen to and understand operational needs, and approach challenges with a solutions-oriented mindset. Rather than focusing solely on barriers or why something cannot be done, they will look for thoughtful, responsible pathways to support departments in achieving their goals while balancing broader organizational priorities, policies, and requirements.

Importantly, Sacramento is not seeking executives defined by expertise in a single discipline. The successful candidates will bring the curiosity, versatility, executive judgment, and enterprise perspective to lead across diverse functions, support strong subject-matter experts, navigate complex issues, and adapt as priorities and assignments evolve.

To thrive in these roles, the ideal candidates will bring:

Salary:

$242,215.51 - $340,812.60 DOE/DOQ
Back View Details And Apply

other diversity sites