Psychiatric Technician (2305) - Citywide

8/3/2026 - Minor revision. No need to reapply.

The Department of Public Health prioritizes equitable and inclusive access to quality healthcare for its community and values the importance of diversity in its workforce. All employees at the Department of Public Health work to advance equity, inclusion, and diversity with a specific lens and focus on race, ethnicity, gender, sex, sexuality, disability, and immigration status. 

This is a Citywide Exam posting. Your application to this posting is an application to take a citywide exam. 

• Application Opening - January 10, 2022

• Application Deadline: Continuous

• Salary: $93,938 - $114,166 Annually (

• Appointment Type: Permanent Civil Service (

• Recruitment ID: CCT-2305-H00038

• Work Arrangement: Onsite

The Mission of the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) is to protect and promote the health of all San Franciscans. Fulfilling this mission requires employees working across our hospitals, clinics, programs, and offices to deliver services and support the communities we serve. Individuals interested in joining SFDPH should expect to work in person across these settings.

The San Francisco Health Network, Population Health, Behavioral Health Services, and Administration are the core divisions of SFDPH. The San Francisco Health Network is the City’s only complete system of care and has locations throughout the City, including Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center, and over 15 primary care health centers. The Population Health Division (PHD) provides core public health services for the City and County of San Francisco: health protection, health promotion, disease and injury prevention, and disaster preparedness and response. Behavioral Health Services operates in conjunction with SFHN and provides a range of mental health and substance use treatment services.

NOTE: Part-time, evenings, nights, weekends, rotating, and/or holiday shifts may be required. **

Under the direction of a licensed physician, registered nurse, or clinical supervisor, the Psychiatric Technician performs professional therapeutic procedures in the care and treatment of individuals struggling with severe mental illness.

EXAMPLES OF DUTIES:

• Gives a basic level of general and psychiatric nursing care to mentally ill patients; works with an interdisciplinary treatment team to provide an overall treatment program for the patient;

• Under supervision, may perform nursing procedures such as administering medications and treatments, including oral medications, injections, and enemas, taking and charting vital signs;

• Observes patients’ condition and behavior; reports significant changes to supervisor or physician and documents care and/or treatments in nursing progress notes on patients; prepares patients and cares for them during treatment; gives first aid as needed;

• Helps to create a safe and therapeutic environment for patients and recognizes early symptoms/signs of escalation and at risk behavior; uses appropriate interventions including crisis intervention, verbal de-escalation, and alerting other team members;

• Implements therapeutic activities and documents patient participation; assists rehabilitation therapists in occupational and recreational therapies for patients;

• Motivates patients to develop independence in performing activities of daily living; assists patients with feeding, clothing, toileting, activities of daily living; ensure patients follow safe practices that protect patients and others from personal injury;

• Receives visitors and encourages their interest in the patients' wellbeing and treatment plan; escorts patients on the facility premises and to and from the community; orders supplies as needed; keeps records; participates in orientation and in-service training programs;

• Participates in the discharge process

The 2305 Psychiatric Technician performs other related duties as required.

Nature of Positions: Positions may require considerable physical effort in controlling or restraining violent clients, with continuous exposure to conditions which may result in accidents or injuries or other uncomfortable situations.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS 

LICENSE: Possession of a valid Psychiatric Technicians license issued by the California Board of Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians. 

• ⚠️IMPORTANT: License status must be "Current" according to search.dca.ca.gov. Be sure to include your license number in your application as failure to do so may result in application rejection.

REQUIRED: Requirement/Provision Possession of a valid Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) Certificate issued by the American Heart Association is required as a provision to employment for all positions. 

Special Condition(s): In addition to the listed minimum qualifications, some position(s) may require special conditions, including but not limited to, bilingual fluency in a variety of languages depending upon the department's bilingual needs. Only those eligible candidates who pass the bilingual proficiency test will be considered for bilingual positions. Applicants must indicate on the application form the language(s) in which they claim proficiency.

Verification of Education and Experience: 

Every application is reviewed to ensure that you meet the minimum qualifications as listed in the job ad. Review SF Careers Employment Applications ( for considerations taken when reviewing applications.   

Applicants may be required to submit verification of qualifying education and experience at any point during the recruitment and selection process. If education or experience verification is required, information on how to verify education and experience requirements, including verifying foreign education credits or degree equivalency, can be found at  

Note: Falsifying one’s education, training, or work experience or attempted deception on the application may result in disqualification for this and future job opportunities with the City and County of San Francisco. 

Selection Procedures: 

After application submission, candidates deemed qualified must complete all subsequent steps to advance in this selection process, which includes the following:

Training and Experience Evaluation (Weight: 100%): Candidates will be prompted to complete a supplemental questionnaire as part of the online employment application. The supplemental questionnaire is designed to measure knowledge, skills and/or abilities in job-related areas that have been identified as critical for satisfactory performance in this position:

• Knowledge of: nursing care, general and psychiatric procedures; patient behavior, basic physio-psychopathology and treatment modalities involved in the care and treatment of individual or groups of mentally ill patients; legal requirements; administrative and clerical procedures; current first-aid methods; medical terminology; pharmacology.

• Ability and Skill to: Learn and apply general psychiatric knowledge., skills and attitudes; perform basic nursing procedures; establish effective therapeutic relationships with patients; carry out occupational and recreational therapy programs for patients; follow directions; keep appropriate records; analyze situations accurately and take effective action; control or restrain violent patients, with continuous exposure to conditions which may result in accidents, injuries or other disagreeable situations.

All relevant experience, education and/or training must be included in the application to be reviewed during the scoring process. Candidate responses on the Training & Experience Evaluation cannot be changed once submitted. Candidates will be placed on the eligible list in rank order according to their final score on the Supplemental Questionnaire.

Additional selection processes may be conducted by the hiring department prior to making final hiring decisions.

Certification

The certification rule for the eligible list resulting from this examination will be the Rule of List.

Eligible List/Score Report: 

A confidential eligible list of applicant names that have passed the civil service examination process will be created and used for certification purposes only. An examination score report will be established, so applicants can view the ranks, final scores and number of eligible candidates. Applicant information, including names of applicants on the eligible list, shall not be made public unless required by law. However, an eligible list shall be made available for public inspection, upon request, once the eligible list is exhausted or expired and referrals resolved. The eligible list/score report resulting from this civil service examination process is subject to change after adoption (e.g., as a result of appeals), as directed by the Human Resources Director or the Civil Service Commission. 

Candidate names will remain on the list for a maximum period of 12 months. Candidates that are not selected and expire off the list may re-apply. 

To find Departments which use this classification, please see the city’s ( Position Counts by Job Codes and Departments.

Terms of Announcement and Appeal Rights: 

Applicants must be guided solely by the provisions of this announcement, including requirements, time periods and other particulars, except when superseded by federal, state or local laws, rules or regulations. [Note: The correction of clerical errors in an announcement may be posted on the Department of Human Resources website at 

The terms of this announcement may be appealed under Civil Service Rule 110.4. Such appeals must be submitted in writing to the Department of Human Resources, 1 S Van Ness Avenue, 4th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94103-5413 by close of business on the 5th business day following the issuance date of this examination announcement. Information concerning other Civil Service Commission Rules involving announcements, applications and examination policies, including applicant appeal rights, can be found on the Civil Service Commission website at  

Additional information regarding Employment with the City and County of San Francisco:

• Information About the Hiring Process (

• Conviction History

• Employee Benefits Overview (

• Equal Employment Opportunity (

• Disaster Service Worker

• ADA Accommodation (

• Veterans Preference

• Right to Work (

• Copies of Application Documents

• Diversity Statement (

Where to Apply  

All job applications for the City and County of San Francisco must be submitted through our online portal. Please visit  to begin your application process.

Applicants may be contacted by email about this recruitment. Please consider using a personal email address that you check regularly rather than a work or school account. 

Computers are available for the public (9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday) to file online applications in the lobby of the Dept. of Human Resources at 1 South Van Ness Avenue, 4th Floor and at the City Career Center at City Hall ( , 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 110. 

Ensure your application information is accurate, as changes may not be possible after submission. Your first and last name must match your legal ID for verification, and preferred names can be included in parentheses. Use your personal email address, not a shared or work email, to avoid unfixable issues. 

Applicants will receive a confirmation email from View email address on click.appcast.io that their online application has been received in response to every announcement for which they file. Applicants should retain this confirmation email for their records. Failure to receive this email means that the online application was not submitted or received.

Your application will be active for the duration of the eligible period listed above. You do not need to reapply during this period. 

If you have any questions regarding this recruitment or application process, please contact the analyst, Elaine Adams at View email address on click.appcast.io or View phone number on click.appcast.io.

We may use text messaging to communicate with you on the phone number provided in your application. The first message will ask you to opt in to text messaging. 

The City and County of San Francisco encourages women, minorities and persons with disabilities to apply. Applicants will be considered regardless of their sex, race, age, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition (associated with cancer, a history of cancer, or genetic characteristics), HIV/AIDS status, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, military and veteran status, or other protected category under the law.