The County of San Mateo is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Equity and Belonging Manager.
The vision of the Office of Racial and Social Justice (ORSJ) is one where all San Mateo County residents, workers, and staff experience just and fair inclusion into a society in which all can participate, prosper, and reach their full potential. All residents are better off, when we enable everyone to fully participate in the civic, social, and economic opportunities. Our work is to help create the institutional conditions that enable all our clients, communities, and partners to reach their full potential.
The Equity and Belonging Manager will work with the Chief Equity Officer in the development and management of innovative and effective strategies to advance the ORSJ’s vision and day-to-day operations. The work requires considerable initiative and judgment and the ability to make sound recommendations to the Chief Equity Officer and departmental leadership.
The Equity and Belonging Manager may provide direct and indirect supervision over lower level supervisory, professional, technical, and clerical employees and contractors.
The Equity and Belonging Manager will optimize and support the functions of the ORSJ, which include but are not limited to the following:
- Collaborate with the County’s Chief Equity Officer and other equity-focused staff to normalize and institutionalize the implementation of an equity lens to improve relationships, decision-making, structures, and systems of County operation and delivery of services.
- Consult with and advise management, multi-disciplinary staff, community organizations, providers, external agencies, and other stakeholders on complex matters concerning efforts to advance just and fair governance and improving life outcomes for all populations.
- Sustain and improve the operations of an interdepartmental Core Equity Team and its committees to advance their annual action plans.
- Facilitate community and agency partnerships and learning opportunities across government and community leaders.
- Design, implement, promote, deliver, and evaluate programs and tools designed to advance equity, including staff development, community engagement and partnership, organizational assessments, policy and systems changes, public information, and individual and group trainings.
- Manage the County’s Targeted Strategies: Improving Outcomes for All action plans.
- Shepherd the implementation of the County’s Anchor Institution framework to ensure the success of inclusive procurement, investment, and staffing efforts.
- Conduct public solicitation processes and develop and monitor contracts.
- Participate in the development and implementation of County goals, objectives, policies, procedures, and priorities.
- Prepare and manage a variety of reports, correspondence, and other written materials, and present reports and studies as necessary.
- Provide guidance and training to support internal and external partners in the development and delivery of equity programs, policies, and tools, and develop related work plans and training materials as needed.
- Participate in designing and implementing performance measurement plans that help determine the effectiveness of the goals and strategies.
- Monitor changes in laws, regulations, and technology that may affect County or departmental operations; implement policy and procedural changes as required.
- Select, supervise, train, and evaluate professional, technical, and clerical employees and contractors.
- Perform related duties as required.
QUALIFICATIONS
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:
- Education: Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university with major coursework in public policy, sociology, education, ethnic studies, public relations, social work, public health, public administration, or a related field, includes trainings and education specific to issues related to racial and social equity.
- Experience: Five years of experience in the administration of community, public policy, educational, or social and racial justice programs, including at least three years in a supervisory level AND life experience related to interacting with inequitable systems that can provide an integral perspective to the position.
Demonstrated track record of success engaging with underserved and marginalized communities, and experience in making transformational changes to advance equity is required.
Knowledge of:
- Theories, principles, and practices of effective management and strategic planning processes and techniques.
- Social, political, economic, and environmental issues influencing issues related to equity.
- Strategies to advance equity in a governmental setting.
- Frameworks promoted by the Government Alliance on Race and Equity
- History of racial inequities and current institutional and systemic factors that maintain, reinforce and/or create inequities.
- Cultural competencies, cultural humility, and intercultural communication to facilitate dialogue and partnership with diverse groups of community members.
- Principles and practices of effective institutional change management.
- Group facilitation and effective communication techniques to thoughtfully engage in empathetic, authentic, and difficult conversations about race, patriarchy, LGBTQ+ and disability issues, and other structures of power and privilege to advance organizational change.
- Administrative principles and practices, including goal setting, program development, implementation, and evaluation.
- Policy analysis and methods of developing and advocating for public policies specific to equity issues. Familiarity with Targeted Universalism framework
- Public sector solicitation processes and methods
- Applicable Federal, State, and local laws, regulatory codes, ordinances, and procedures relevant to social and racial equity.
- Record keeping principles and procedures.
- English usage, grammar, spelling, vocabulary, and punctuation.
- Strong communication skills, including public speaking, presenting, and writing for diverse audiences.
- Interpersonal and group communication techniques for effectively representing the County in contact with governmental agencies, community groups, and various business, professional, educational, regulatory, and legislative organizations.
- Techniques for providing a high level of customer service by effectively dealing with the public, vendors, contractors, and County staff.
Ability to:
- Plan, organize, implement, and manage multiple equity-focused programming simultaneously.
- 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.
- Conduct needs assessments, evaluations, and track learnings over time.
- Facilitate a wide range of meetings with participants with different levels of understanding and buy-in about equity and levels of authority to implement initiatives.
- Develop and deliver trainings and team building activities.
- Develop sound conclusions and recommendations; and present recommendations in a way that is compelling to a variety of institutional and community audiences.
- Conduct community impact analysis; utilize evidence and data to identify trends and relationships; present this data visually and recommend improvements to life outcomes for marginalized populations.
- Effectively and positively partner with internal and external stakeholders to accomplish shared projects and goals.
- Represent the County effectively on equity issues in a variety of forums.
- Prepare clear, concise, and comprehensive correspondence, reports, studies, and other written materials for diverse audiences.
- Speak clearly, explicitly, authentically, and convincingly to diverse audiences and communicate effective in writing and orally.
- Listen thoughtfully, constructively, and authentically to diverse audiences.
- Exercise sound, expert independent judgment, and political acumen within general policy guidelines.
- Exercise tact and diplomacy in dealing with highly sensitive, complex, and confidential issues and situations.
- Build effective, strong working relationships, partnerships, and networks with communities of color, LGBTQ+ communities, disability communities, and other communities that have been marginalized, and the organizations that serve them.
- Properly interpret and make decisions in accordance with appropriate laws, regulations, and policies.
- Interpret, apply, explain, and ensure compliance with Federal, State, and local policies, procedures, laws, and regulations.
- Conduct complex research projects, analyze, and evaluate policies, programs, procedures, and techniques with an equity lens, make sound recommendations, and prepare effective technical staff reports and presentations
- Conduct solicitations processes and manage multiple contracts and vendors Establish and maintain a variety of filing, record keeping, and tracking systems.
- Supervise, coach, support, and manage staff as needed to maximize staff potential and advance overall equity goals.
- Operate modern office equipment including computer equipment and specialized software applications programs.
APPLICATION/EXAMINATION
Open and Promotional. Anyone may apply.
The examination process for this recruitment will consist of an Application Screening (weight: pass/fail), and an Interview (weight: 100%), which may include the evaluation of a brief writing exercise given immediately preceding the interview. Applicants must successfully pass the Application Screening to move forward to the interview. Candidates must successfully pass the interview to be placed on the eligible (hiring) list.
Depending on the number of applications, a screening committee may select those applicants whose education and/or experience appear to best meet the needs of the position. For that reason, not all applicants with the minimum qualifications are guaranteed to advance through the recruitment.
All examinations will be given in San Mateo County, California and applicants must participate at their own expense.
IMPORTANT: Applications for this position will only be accepted online. If you are currently on the County's website, you may click "Apply". If you are not on the County's website, please go to https://jobs.smcgov.org/ to apply.
In addition to completing the standard Employment Application form, responses to the Supplemental Questionnaire (attached to the application form) must also be provided.
~ TENTATIVE RECRUITMENT SCHEDULE ~
Deadline for Applications: April 23, 2026, by 11:59 PM
Application Screening: April 28-May 5, 2026
Panel Interviews: May 11 and/or 12, 2026
Finalist Interviews: Week of May 18, 2026, likely May 22, 2026
About the County
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 that all employees are welcomed in a safe and inclusive environment. The County 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. We seek to hire, support, and retain employees who reflect our diverse community.
Analyst: Chet Overstreet (03262026) (Equity Manager - D232)
