SOLUTION CENTER SUPERINTENDENT

About the City of Tucson:

Tucson offers an array of activities, including parks, hiking trails, entertainment, recreation, local breweries, resorts, golf courses, restaurants, and ample shopping opportunities make Tucson one of Arizona's great places to live with 350 days of sunshine a year.

About Tucson Water:

Tucson Water is the second-largest water utility in Arizona, serving over 750,000 customers over a 390 square mile service area. The City of Tucson's water utility is recognized as an industry leader in conservation, water resources management, and innovation. 

About the Solution Center Division: 

The Solution Center is the central point of contact for our ~240,000 customer accounts and 130,0000 walk-in customers and receives over 350,000 customer calls annually. 

About the Position:

Tucson Water Department seeks a competent, well-organized professional to oversee our communications center. The position is an exciting opportunity for a dynamic individual to direct the daily operations and personnel in the Solution Center. This leader will have deep contact center experience and hands-on management skills with the ability to drive change and deliver exceptional service.

To be successful, the Superintendent is responsible for motivating, inspiring, and developing a staff of (54) Utility Account Relations Specialists, (19) Utility Account Relations Specialists (Overfills), (7) Supervisors, (3) Assistant Superintendents, (1) Work Force Analyst, (1) Administrative Assistant, (1) Engineering Associate (2) Sr. Engineering Technician, (1) Water Services Supervisor. The Superintendent identifies, investigates, and resolves operational and personnel issues. A strong emphasis on improving call center metrics, identifying trends, analyzing data, and maximizing efficiency. In addition to direct customer interaction, the Superintendent ensures accurate utility billing, utility collections, and compliance with all applicable City codes and Administrative Directives.

The City of Tucson offers a wide range of generous benefits for eligible employees. Some of those benefits include:

· Medical: Choice between a high deductible plan (HSA or HRA), or Network plan

· Dental: Choice between a national dental PPO and a local dental HMO

· Vision: Coverage for annual eye exam and glasses or contacts, plus LASIK

· Life: City-paid coverage for you & dependents, plus option to buy more

· Long-Term Disability: Income replacement of up to 60% of your base salary in the event of a qualifying disability

· Employee Assistance Program: Enhance your wellbeing when life doesn’t go as planned

· Flexible Spending: Pay for qualified health and dependent care expenses using pretax dollars

· Colonial Voluntary Benefits: Financial help in the event of cancer, hospitalization, accident, and more

Your Security and Future

· Pension: Generous pension plans that help both civilian and public safety employees retire more comfortably

· Deferred Compensation: Save more toward a comfortable retirement with a 457(b) plan

· Training & Tuition Assistance: Pursue your dream through internal training or financial help toward a degree

· Back-Up Care: Care for your loved ones when your regular care is unavailable

Your Peace of Mind

· Paid Parental Leave: Six (6) weeks paid leave when you welcome a child, plus other generous leave policies for FML, Medical and USERRA

· Paid Time Away: New hires enjoy 37 days of paid time off in the first year, with time increasing steadily thereafter (In year one: 13 accrued days of vacation, 13 accrued days of sick leave, and 11 paid holidays)

· Employee Discounts: Generous discounts, ranging from car rentals to computers, gifts to groceries, electronics to entertainment

· Social Connectedness: Forge connections with the community we serve through paid volunteerism and payroll-deducted charitable giving

For a full description of benefits offered to eligible employees, or to inquire further about the City of Tucson's benefits options, please visit: https://www.tucsonaz.gov/hr/employee-benefit-snapshot

Manages personnel and directs daily water systems operations. 

Identifies, investigates, and resolves operational and personnel problems, and coordinates and monitors programs and budgets.

Examples of essential duties may include but are not limited to:

• Directs the Communication Center's work processes, including accurate billing, payment processing, customer inquiries, delinquent accounts, high water bill investigations, and water tampering.
• Supervises and assists in developing, installing, and administering new technologies and efficiency improvements.
• Manages IVR phone/payment system, internet payments, phone recording system, staff forecasting, and call management software.
• Provide oversight in tactical/strategic planning for the Solution Center team to provide exceptional customer service to internal and external customers.
• Demonstrates continuous effort to improve operations, decrease call-wait times, streamline work processes, and work collaboratively to provide exceptional customer service.
• Displays the ability to interpret rules, regulations, and policies.
• Develops, administers, and oversees the budget and tracks expenses with staff assistance.
• Responds to complex or sensitive customer service issues; research/identifies solutions and develops an implementation strategy.
• Review process flows to identify systemic challenges to customer service concerns.
• Research and investigates complaints referred by the City Manager's Office, the Mayor's Office, and the City Council Office, and report findings or actions taken.

Minimum Education Level & Type:  Bachelor's Degree or Arizona Department of Environmental Quality Water Distribution Grade 3 Certification or equivalent state certification

Minimum Experience Qualifications: At least 5 years in directing programs and budgets and managing daily water systems operation.  At least 3 of required 5 years in a Lead or Supervisory capacity in a related functional area.

"Lead" is defined as leading at least one (1) full-time FTE in a work unit. It does not include leading projects, departments, contractors, interns, etc.

"Supervisory" is defined as having supervised at least one (1) full-time FTE.

Bachelor’s Degree in Public or Business Administration, Accounting, Finance, or a directly related degree

Five years of supervisory experience simultaneously managing employees in a Communication Center or similar environment to include: performance evaluations, training, and counseling, assigning work and schedules, approving leaves of absence, recommending or initiating discipline, and decisions affecting the employment status of others.

Previous water or other utility experience.

Highly desirable candidates will possess:

• Experience with direct oversight of work processes which include accurate calculation of billing and collection of payments.
  
• Demonstrated excellent treatment of customer inquiries, including delinquent accounts and high bill investigations.
  
• Demonstrated broad knowledge of call center management systems and technologies.
  
• Demonstrated hands-on and enthusiastic leadership style with excellent interpersonal skills.

Applicants who meet the minimum qualifications will be evaluated on the education and work experience in their employment profile and the responses to their supplemental questions. The highest scoring applicants will then be invited to participate in a Writing Exercise. 

The Writing Exercise will be emailed to the highest scoring applicants by 5:00 pm (Tucson time) on 4/5/2023, with a firm deadline to return the completed exercise by 11:00 am (Tucson time) on 4/10/2023.

The highest scoring written exercise applicants will then be invited to participate in a Power Point Presentation and a Panel Interview. Applicants will receive a detailed email by 11:00 am (Tucson time) on 4/13/2023 with instructions on how to access the Power Point and schedule a time slot. 

· Oral Presentation & Panel Interview will be held: 4/20/2023

Upon completion of all examination processes, the highest scoring applicants will be placed on the Civil Service Employment List.  An applicant's ranking on the Civil Service list will be based on their final score which will be calculated as:

· 10% of your rating for education and work experience

· 25% of your written work product

· 65% of your oral presentation & panel interview

This recruitment will establish a civil service list that may be utilized to fill vacancies occurring within the next 6 months.

Veterans, Native American, or Disability preference points will be added to the final score for those that are placed on the Civil Service Employment List.  If you qualify for preference points as outlined in the Employment Profile, you must upload your documentation as part of the application process or email it to Ashley.Tellez@tucsonaz.gov. The DD 214 must be a copy that indicates characterization of service.  

If you are in need of Americans with Disabilities Act-related accommodation during the testing process, please contact Ashley Tellez at 520-837-2251 at least 48 hours prior to the evaluation.

To ensure accurate payroll information for tax purposes, the successful candidate will need to provide their original Social Security Card or original letter from the Social Security Administration with their social security number prior to beginning work with the City of Tucson.

The City of Tucson hires lawful workers only - US citizens or nationals and non-citizens with valid work authorization - without discrimination. Federal immigration laws require all employers to verify both the identity and employment eligibility of all persons hired to work in the United States. In its efforts to meet the law's requirements, the City of Tucson participates in the E-Verify program established by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA) to aid employers in verifying the eligibility of workers.

Retired City of Tucson employees receiving benefits from the Tucson Supplemental Retirement System who are considering reemployment with the City should be aware that pursuant to Section 22-37(g) of the Tucson City Code, retirement benefits shall be suspended during the period of reemployment with the City of Tucson unless you have been separated at least twelve consecutive months before returning to work AND you return to a non-permanent employment classification. Creditable service does not accrue during any reemployment period.