Administrative Analyst - Budget & Purchasing

City of San Ramon; San Ramon (CA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

The City of San Ramon Public Works Department seeks an analytical, detail‑oriented professional to manage budgets, purchasing, and contracts for roads, parks, facilities, and public spaces. This role builds reports and dashboards, interprets policies, and supports grant administration.

Reporting to the Administrative Program Manager, you will oversee budgeting across divisions, monitor expenditures, and ensure compliance with government requirements.

Qualifications

• Requires budget development, monitoring, forecasting across divisions and funds.
• Experience with purchasing, contracts, and bid processes is valued.
• Public agency budgeting and purchasing experience is highly desirable.
• Strong Excel and financial systems skills for trackers, reports and dashboards.
• Ability to translate policies and financial data into plain language for leadership.

Responsibilities

• Develop and manage the Public Works budget across three divisions and multiple funds.
• Oversee purchasing activity, accounts payable and receivable.
• Review RFPs, construction bids, and contracts for accuracy before issue.
• Interpret purchasing policies, cooperative contracts, and wage requirements.
• Support CIP budgets and grant administration when needed.

Skills

Excel

Budgeting

Financial analysis

Contract management

Public sector knowledge

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in public administration or related field

Tools

ERP software

Accounting software

Job description

Bring your skills. Support the work that keeps San Ramon running.

The City of San Ramon Public Works Department is looking for an analytical, detail-oriented professional to manage the budgets, purchasing, and contracts behind the City’s roads, parks, facilities, and public spaces. If you like turning numbers into decisions and making systems work better, your work here will show up across the community every day.

Public Works plans, builds, and maintains the City’s infrastructure through three divisions. Engineering delivers capital projects, Transportation keeps people moving safely around town, and Public Services maintains parks, roadways, creeks and drainage, landscaping, City facilities, and aquatics centers.

Reporting to the Administrative Program Manager in the Public Services Division, this position is the lead for developing and managing the Public Works Department’s operating budget. You’ll build, track, and report on the budget across all three divisions and multiple funds; oversee purchasing activity; manage accounts payable and receivable; and review RFPs, construction bids, and contracts for accuracy before they go out. The role also interprets purchasing policies, cooperative contracts, and prevailing wage requirements, and may support the department’s Capital Improvement Plan and grant administration. Experience with public agency operating budgets and purchasing is highly desirable.

Ideal Candidate

• You’re a public sector budget professional who’s comfortable building, monitoring, and forecasting an operating budget across multiple divisions and funds. You understand how field operations, revenues, and long-term needs like equipment replacement and aging infrastructure shape where the money goes, and you can explain it clearly to people who don’t live in spreadsheets.
• You have purchasing and contract experience, or a real interest in learning it. You read a scope of work, bid package, or contract with a careful eye and catch issues before they become problems. Familiarity with formal bidding, cooperative purchasing, or prevailing wage is a plus.
• Experience supporting capital projects or grants is a plus, including tracking CIP budgets and project spending alongside Engineering, keeping grant‑funded work on schedule for reporting and reimbursement, and making sure the paperwork holds up to an audit.
• You’re an approachable, responsive resource for managers and supervisors across Engineering, Transportation, and Public Services. You enjoy helping people work through budget and purchasing questions, ask thoughtful questions, and look for ways to make the process simpler for the next person.
• You’re strong with Excel and financial systems, building trackers, reports, and dashboards people actually use, and spotting spending or contract trends before they turn into surprises.
• You’re a clear writer and presenter who can turn policies, regulations, and financial data into plain‑language guidance, and present with confidence to department leadership, executive staff, and City Council when needed.
• You’re flexible and creative. You adapt when priorities shift (and in Public Works, they will), spot opportunities to improve budget and purchasing processes, and bring practical ideas to complex financial challenges.
• You’re organized and self‑directed, able to juggle the budget cycle, purchase requests, and contract renewals at the same time and take a project from start to finish on your own.
• You’re a teammate who will collaborate and build trust with field staff, Finance, the City Attorney’s Office, and the City Clerk, and value relationships as much as results.

Definition

Under general direction, provides varied, complex and confidential management and operational analysis in support of a department, division or program(s); analyzes practices, procedures and data including financial and geospatial; and makes recommendations for organizational, operational, financial, policy, staffing, and procedural improvements; conducts needs analyses, feasibility studies, and evaluations for assigned projects and programs; oversees and administers a variety of projects, grants and contracts; provides technical advice to staff, other departments, the public and other agencies; and performs related work as required.

Supervision Received and Exercised

Receives general direction from assigned supervisory or management personnel. May provide general supervision, direction and training over assigned professional, technical and administrative staff within assigned department.

Class Characteristics

This is the first professional level within the administrative series. Incumbents support departmental management staff by conducting organizational, managerial, and operational analyses and studies. Incumbents develop and implement policies and procedures for a variety of projects and programs within an assigned department, including budget administration, contract administration, complex data or financial analysis, and program evaluation. Successful performance of the work requires the ability to work independently and perform complex analyses and research. This class is distinguished from the Administrative Coordinator in that the latter primarily organizes and oversees day to day program or office administration. It is further distinguished from the Program Manager in that the latter oversees and manages one or more program areas.

Examples of Typical Job Functions (Illustrative Only)

Management reserves the right to add, modify, change, or rescind the work assignments of different positions and to make reasonable accommodations so that qualified employees can perform the essential functions of the job.

• Conducts a variety of analytical and operational studies regarding departmental and programmatic activities; evaluates alternatives, makes recommendations, and assists with the implementation of procedural, administrative, and/or operational changes after approval; prepares comprehensive technical records and reports.
• Coordinates and performs professional‑level administrative and programmatic work in such areas as budget development, financial administration and reporting, grants, purchasing, database management and analysis, contract administration, management analysis, public information, and program evaluation.
• Assists in developing goals, objectives, policies, procedures, work standards, and administrative control systems for the department to which assigned.
• Oversees and ensures that the administrative functions of the organizational unit or program(s) to which assigned are effectively carried out.
• Conducts special research projects, including gathering, compiling and analyzing information; provides alternatives and makes recommendations on courses of action.
• Prepares complex reports, manuals, bid proposals, requests for proposals and other documents for special projects, programs and research; gives presentations on findings.
• Implements technological improvements as required; provides technical information and training to City staff as required.
• Answers questions and assists in resolving problems requiring professional advice.
• Compiles information and maintains complex databases for tracking information for reporting purposes.
• Prepares and administers contracts for projects and programs including determining sources and vendors, coordinating activities and tracking expenditures.
• Prepares grant proposals and monitors grant activities ensuring compliance with stipulations and reporting requirements.
• Represents the City/Department/Program on various boards and committees; attends meetings ensuring the City/Department/Program’s views are represented.
• Represents the City, the department and/or a program area in meetings and maintains liaison with a variety of public agencies and community groups and organizations.
• May plan, prioritize, assign, supervise, and review the work of assigned staff; train staff, evaluate employee performance, counsel employees, and effectively recommend initial disciplinary action; assists in selection and promotion.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Knowledge of

Principles and practices of municipal management and government; basic principles, practices, and procedures of funding sources and grant funds disbursement; project and/or program management, analytical processes, and report preparation techniques; municipal programs such as, but not limited to, purchasing, finance, budgeting, and other related governmental programs; organizational and management practices as applied to the analysis, evaluation, development, and implementation of programs, policies, and procedures; basic principles and practices of public administration as applied to operational unit and program administration; research and reporting methods, techniques, and procedures; sources of information related to a broad range of municipal programs, services, and administration; applicable Federal, State, and local laws, regulatory codes, ordinances, and procedures relevant to assigned area of responsibility; public relations techniques; principles and practices of contract administration and evaluation; and public agency budget development and administration, and sound financial management policies and procedures; recent and on‑going developments, current literature, and sources of information related to the operations of the assigned division; record keeping principles and procedures; modern office practices, methods, and computer equipment and applications related to the work; English usage, grammar, spelling, vocabulary, and punctuation; and techniques for providing a high level of customer service by effectively dealing with the public, vendors, contractors, and City staff.

Ability to

Coordinate and oversee programmatic administrative, budgeting, and fiscal reporting activities; plan and conduct effective management, administrative, and operational studies; conduct research on a wide variety of administrative topics including grant funding, contract feasibility, budget and staffing proposals, and operational alternatives; analyze, interpret, summarize, and present administrative and technical information in an effective manner; evaluate and develop improvements in operations, procedures, policies, or methods; research, analyze, and evaluate new service delivery methods, procedures, and techniques; prepare clear and concise reports, correspondence, policies, procedures, and other written materials; interpret, apply, explain, and ensure compliance with applicable Federal, State, and local policies, procedures, laws, and regulations; effectively represent the department and the City in meetings with governmental agencies, community groups, and various businesses, professional, and regulatory organizations, and in meetings with individuals; provide supervision and training to employees within the assigned department; establish and maintain a variety of filing, record keeping, and tracking systems; organize and prioritize a variety of projects and multiple tasks in an effective and timely manner; organize own work, set priorities, and meet critical time deadlines; operate and maintain modern office equipment, including computer equipment and specialized software applications programs; use English effectively to communicate in person, over the telephone, and in writing; use tact, initiative, prudence, and independent judgment within general policy and legal guidelines; and establish, maintain, and foster positive and effective working relationships with those contacted in the course of work.

Any combination of training and experience that would provide the required knowledge, skills, and abilities is qualifying. A typical way to obtain the required qualifications would be:

Education

Equivalent to graduation from a four‑year college or university with major coursework in business or public administration, public policy or a field related to the area of assignment.

Experience

Two (2) years of experience in providing professional‑level administrative or operational support in a staff capacity, conducting operational research and assisting with the budgeting process.

Licenses and Certifications:

• Possession of, or ability to obtain, a valid California driver's license by time of appointment. A valid California Driver’s License is not a requirement for this position. However, persons hired into this class who intend to drive their personal vehicle and/or a City vehicle as part of their job duties will be required to possess a valid California Driver’s License; alternatively, persons hired into this class could use alternative means of transportation as part of their job duties.

Additional Information

Physical Demands

Must possess mobility to work in a standard office setting and use standard office equipment, including a computer; to operate a motor vehicle and to visit various City and meeting sites; vision to read printed materials and a computer screen; and hearing and speech to communicate in person and over the telephone. This is primarily a sedentary office classification although standing and walking between work areas may be required. Finger dexterity is needed to access, enter, and retrieve data using a computer keyboard, typewriter keyboard, or calculator and to operate standard office equipment. Positions in this classification occasionally bend, stoop, kneel, reach, push, and pull drawers open and closed to retrieve and file information. Employees must possess the ability to lift, carry, push, and pull materials and objects up to 25 pounds.

Environmental Elements

Employees work in an office environment with moderate noise levels, controlled temperature conditions, and no direct exposure to hazardous physical substances. Employees may interact with upset staff and/or public and private representatives in interpreting and enforcing departmental policies and procedures.

FLSA: EXEMPT

REVISED: MARCH 2019

Resumes cannot be substituted for a completed application.

The recruitment process is as follows:

1. The most qualified candidates, as determined by initial screening of applications, will be invited to participate in a oral panel interview.
2. Zoom panel Interviews are tentatively scheduled for early December 2026.
3. The eligibility list will be established from the interview process. Individuals on the eligibility list may be asked to participate in a second round of interviews based on specific individual qualifications and the City's needs. The eligibility list will remain in effect for one (1) year for potential future vacancies.

The City of San Ramon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex origin, sexual orientation or disability. In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, should special accommodations be necessary at any stage of the selection process, please contact the Human Resources Department at [e-mail].

Information contained herein, including the recruitment process, is subject to change without notice.