Sheriff's Communications Dispatch Manager - Promotional

Full Job Description

This recruitment is promotional only. You must presently be a full or part-time regular or probationary County of Sonoma, Community Development Commission, Sonoma County Fairgrounds, or Sonoma County Water Agency employee in order to apply for this position.

The Sheriff's Office has requested a county-wide promotional certification to fill a Sheriff's Communications Dispatch Manager position.

Qualified County employees who wish to be considered for future positions should consider applying to this recruitment.

This employment list may also be used to fill future full-time positions as they occur during the active status of the list.

The Civil Service title for this position is Communications Dispatch Manager.

The Sheriff’s Office is seeking an experienced and highly skilled Communications Dispatch Manager to oversee the daily operations of its 24/7 emergency communications and dispatch center.

Reporting to the Operations Captain, this position provides strategic leadership, ensures operational excellence, and supports a team dedicated to delivering critical public safety services.

This role oversees 16 Communications Dispatchers, four Senior Communications Dispatchers, four Supervisors, and extra-help dispatch staff. Additional responsibilities include:

• Supervising, training, evaluating, and supporting dispatch personnel and supervisory staff
• Ensuring compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, policies, and operational standards
• Overseeing quality assurance, performance metrics, and continuous improvement initiatives
• Managing dispatch technology systems, including computer-aided dispatch (CAD), 911 telephone, and radio communications
• Preparing and managing budgets, staffing plans, and administrative reports.
• Coordinating with allied agencies and serving as a liaison during major incidents or critical events
• Providing strategic leadership, contributing to policy development, and making recommendations to executive staff

The ideal candidate is an experienced leader with strong operational judgment, proven supervisory skills, and will possess many of the following:

• Leadership experience in a 911 dispatch, emergency communications, or law-enforcement setting
• Experience managing daily operations, staffing needs, and service demands
• Strong performance-management skills, including evaluations, feedback, and corrective action
• Familiarity with labor agreements, personnel rules, and established policies
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to prepare reports and recommendations
• The ability to foster accountability, teamwork, employee wellness, and continuous improvement

Note: As a condition of employment, individuals are required to undergo and maintain a Sheriff's Office background clearance.

About the Sheriff's Office

Serving the community since 1850, the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office employs over 650 employees to protect and secure the half-million residents within the 1,768 square miles of Sonoma County. With more than 30 different highly trained and specialized units, you can be confident that a career with the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office will be anything but monotonous.

The Sheriff's Office policy is that all employees, civilian and law enforcement, are required to successfully complete a thorough background investigation prior to employment. This policy is imperative in order to keep the Sheriff's Office employees and the public safe, and to maintain high standards in the law enforcement and detention community. For more details, see the background investigation section of this job announcement.

Application submissions require the Supplemental Questionnaire to be completed.

Requirements

Experience: Any combination of paid work experience which demonstrates possession of the knowledge and abilities listed. Normally, five years of emergency dispatch experience in a public agency dispatching the full range of public safety personnel would provide this opportunity. Two years of this experience should be in a position comparable to Supervising Communications Dispatcher.

Education: Any combination of educational course work and training which would provide the opportunity to acquire the knowledge and abilities listed.

License: Possession of a valid driver’s license at the appropriate level including special endorsements, as required by the State of California, may be required depending upon assignment to perform the essential job functions of the position.

The position advertised on this announcement does not require possession of a valid California Driver’s License.

Qualifications

Thorough knowledge of: the operations of the varied and complex public safety radio systems, 911 systems, telecommunications and telephone equipment in use by the Sheriff's Dispatch Bureau; the functions of the Sheriff's Department and other public safety agencies; applicable rules, regulations and procedures including those of the Federal Communications Commission and their application; the principles and practices of effective supervision.

Knowledge of: streets, roads, major buildings and geography of Sonoma County.

Working knowledge of: principles and practices relating to modern budget, programs and systems management; the operations and functions of county government; research methodology, report writing and basic statistics, and their application; modern office methods and procedures.

Ability to: plan and organize research and statistical work relating to the various aspects of administration, budget and general management matters; understand, interpret, explain, and apply rules, regulations and ordinances, and federal, state and local legislation; effectively communicate orally and in writing, and present conclusions before advisory and policy bodies; establish and maintain effective working relationships with Sheriff's Department personnel, other public safety agencies, community organizations and the public; accurately dispatch public safety equipment and personnel in a coordinated manner; speak clearly and concisely in English; react quickly, effectively and calmly in an emergency situation, and to adopt an effective course of action; perform data collection, interpretation and evaluation pertaining to administrative, fiscal and management matters; analyze administrative problems, budgets, and a variety of programs, systems and procedures.

Additional Information

• Your application information and your responses to the supplemental questions are evaluated and taken into consideration throughout the entire selection process.
• You should list all employers and positions held within the last ten years in the work history section of your application. Be as thorough as possible when responding to the supplemental questions.
• You may include history beyond ten years if related to the position for which you are applying. If you held multiple positions with one employer, list out each position separately.
• Failure to follow these instructions may impact your competitiveness in this process or may result in disqualification.

Please visit Getting a Job with the County of Sonoma to review more detailed information about the hiring process, including the application process, examination steps, and department selection process.

Application submissions require the Supplemental Questionnaire be completed.

Responses to supplemental questions may be scored using position-specific criteria.

Please provide specific and detailed responses of a reasonable length to allow for a thorough assessment of your qualifications.

Responses that state, "See Resume" or "See Application" may be considered insufficient and therefore may not be scored.

The selection procedure will consist of the following examination:

An Application and Supplemental Questionnaire Appraisal Examination (weight 100%) will be conducted to evaluate each applicant's application and supplemental questionnaire for satisfaction of minimum qualifications (pass/not pass); and for educational coursework, training, experience, knowledge, and abilities which relate to this position.

Personally identifiable information (PII) is removed from the standard application fields and applicable attachments.

This PII blind screening practice redacts a candidate’s personal information that could potentially influence or bias the scoring process.

Personal information includes the applicant’s name, former last name, address, phone number, email, driver's license number, school name, education start and end dates, age, date of birth, gender, and race.

This PII blind screening practice helps contribute to a fair and equitable examination process.

Each applicant will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Relevance of work history, related experience, and achieved level of education and/or training as described in the application and responses to the supplemental questions.

Candidates demonstrating possession of the minimum qualifications will be placed on an employment list in order of most qualified to least qualified based on the achieved score received in the Application and Supplemental Questionnaire Appraisal Examination.

Scores may be adjusted based on such factors as the number of candidates, anticipated vacancies, past practice, and natural breaks in the scores achieved by this group of candidates.

Additional Information

Being part of the Sheriff's Office and being expected to keep the public safe requires a thorough background investigation process.

This process includes an assessment of prior work history, verifying educational experiences, court reports, public records searches, and understanding past patterns relating to drug usage, financial patterns, etc.

This entails gathering a significant amount of information from job candidates and speaking to former employers, friends, family members, etc.

Polygraphs, drug tests, and medical and physical examinations are also part of this process. Candidates must be honest and forthcoming about information that may arise during the background process.

Deception during any portion of this process is grounds for disqualification, even after employment. This process can take anywhere from 3-5 months.

Many factors are taken into consideration, and one should not assume a credit issue or prior drug use is automatically disqualifying.

Candidates will be given the opportunity to present mitigating information they feel should be considered.

You are encouraged to be as responsive as possible while this process is taking place to help expedite the timeline, and we encourage you to stay patient and interested in this great career opportunity while this process is taking place.

You may also review the Job Classification Screening Schedule to determine the requirements for this position.

Please read the Sheriff's Office Pre-Employment Drug Use Guidelines for further information.

How to Apply

Applications are accepted online at www.yourpath2sonomacounty.org. Paper applications may be submitted by person, fax (707-565-3770), email, or through the mail.

All applications and appropriate supplemental information as outlined in the job announcement must be received by the time and date specified on the first page of this job announcement.

Applications received after the recruitment closes will not be accepted.

The County of Sonoma values diversity and is dedicated to creating a workplace environment that provides individuals with a sense of belonging.

We are committed to having a diverse workforce that is representative of the communities we serve.

The County is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer where all aspects of employment are based on merit, competence, performance, and business need.

HR Analyst: KK

HR Technician: VH