Survey Party Chief

Survey Party Chief

This posting will be open until filled. Application cut-off dates are the first and third Thursday of each month.

The Department of Public Works, Engineering Services division is seeking a highly motivated, experienced individual to provide leadership and support in our Survey Section. Responsibilities include supervising a crew of technical staff, managing design and construction surveying projects, preparing deliverables for City clients, and preparing legal descriptions and plats for right of way acquisitions. The ideal candidate for this position would possess extensive experience in general land surveying practices including design topographic surveys, construction staking, boundary surveying, and preparation of legal descriptions and plats. The ideal candidate would be skilled at supervising and coaching survey technicians performing survey field work.

To perform supervisory and advanced technical surveying work and to be responsible for planning, organizing, and directing the operation of a field party making land and engineering surveys. Work of this class involves performing complex technical engineering survey work and direct supervision of a field survey party. Incumbents apply precise surveying knowledge and techniques.

Direction is provided by a higher level supervisory or management position. Responsibilities include the direct and indirect supervision of technical subordinates. Depending upon assignment, duties may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Direct a survey party in making a variety of surveys including land surveys to determine locations of property lines, boundaries, easements, and right-of-ways; topographic surveys to determine locations and elevations of existing improvements, structures, and topographic features; construction surveys for improvement projects; surveys to establish and adjust benchmarks; and surveys to establish and monument street centerlines.
• Keep accurate, orderly, and legible field notes of work performed showing lines, angles, distances, benchmarks, mathematical calculations, and other data pertinent to the field survey.
• Compute and adjust angles, distances, bearings, traverses, and elevations.
• Operate survey instruments and instruct other party members in their operations.
• Perform a variety of office surveying duties including researching existing records and compiling data required for current survey projects and computing data to be shown on maps.
• Supervise, train, and evaluate the performance of technical subordinates.
• Perform related duties as assigned.

Knowledge of:

• Surveying methods, practices, and techniques.
• Legal aspects of surveying.
• Algebra, geometry, and trigonometry.
• Elementary principles and practices of engineering as related to surveying.
• Sources of information concerning previous land surveys.
• Principles of supervision, training, and performance evaluation.
• Personal computers, including surveying software.
• Current generation of field survey computers.

Ability to:

• Understand and interpret legal descriptions and record survey maps.
• Understand and interpret engineering plans, diagrams, and notes.
• Use and care for surveying instruments and equipment.
• Make accurate and legible field survey notes.
• Perform complex mathematical calculations with speed and accuracy.
• Plan and organize the work of a field survey party to achieve optimum efficiency.
• Supervise, train, and evaluate subordinate field survey personnel.

Experience:

• Two years of experience comparable to an Engineering Aide II with the City of Sacramento.
• OR
• Three years of experience as a member of a survey party performing lead chain, rod and instrument operator duties.

License of Certificate:

Possession of a valid Land-Surveyor-In-Training Certificate in the State of California at the time of appointment. Land-Surveyor-In-Training Certificate must be verifiable.

Proof of the required certificate and/or license should be submitted with your application and will be required at the time of appointment. Unofficial documents and/or copies are acceptable.

A valid California Class C Driver License at the time of appointment. Loss of the Class C License is cause for discipline. Individuals who do not meet this requirement due to physical disability will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

Please note, the City of Sacramento's preferred method of communication with applicants is via e-mail. As such, please ensure you verify the e-mail address on your application, and check your e-mail frequently, including your spam and junk folders. All e-mail notifications can also be accessed through the governmentjobs.com applicant inbox.

1. Application: (Pass/Fail) – All applicants must complete and submit online a City of Sacramento employment application by the next posted cut-off date:

• Employment applications must be submitted online; paper applications will not be accepted.
• Employment applications will be considered incomplete and will be disqualified if applicants do not list current and/or past job-related experience in the duties area of the "Work Experience" section. Note: Qualifying experience is based on full-time experience (40 hours per week). Qualifying experience is calculated to the full-time equivalent (pro-rated if less than 40 hours/week).
• If "see resume" is noted in the "Work Experience" section; a resume will not substitute for the information required in the "Work Experience" section.
• Proof of education such as, but not limited to, university/college transcripts and degrees should be submitted online with your application. Proof of education will be required at time of appointment.
• Proof of certification and/or license should be submitted online with your application. Proof of certification and/or license will be required at time of appointment.
• Position/job titles will not be considered in determining eligibility for meeting the minimum qualifications for this position.
• If you're requesting Veteran's credit, a copy of your DD214 must be submitted online with your application or emailed to the Employment Office by the final filing deadline. Information regarding the use of Veteran's credit can be found in the Civil Service Board rules under rule 4.9C.
• Applicants are responsible for attaching a copy of their DD214 to each position for which they apply.

2. Training and Experience Exam: (Weighted 100%) – The questions located at the end of the application are the Training and Experience (T&E) Exam. Responses to the T&E questions will be rated and scored. This exam will evaluate the relevance, level, and progression of a candidate's education, training and experience. The exam score will determine your ranking on the eligible list for this job. When completing the T&E questions, please note:

• Responses to the T&E questions must be submitted online; paper questionnaires will not be accepted.
• A resume will not substitute for the information required in the T&E questions.

3. Eligibility: Candidates who pass the Training and Experience Test will be placed on the eligible list. The hiring department may contact candidates for interview at any time during the life of the one-year list. Candidate's eligibility expires one year from the date of notification of a passing score for the Survey Party Chief examination.

4. Screening Committee: (Pass/Fail)– All candidates that pass the examination and are in one of the top three ranks will have their application forwarded to the hiring department for review. The hiring department will select the most competitive applications for further consideration. Human Resources will only evaluate employment applications for the minimum qualifications, as stated on the job announcement, for applications selected by the hiring department.

5. Conditional Hire: Upon receipt of a conditional offer, the selected candidate must complete and pass Live Scan/fingerprinting. If applicable, candidates may also need to pass a pre-employment medical exam, controlled substance and/or alcohol test, and possess any required licensure or certification prior to receiving a start date from the Department. Failure to meet these prerequisites will be grounds for withdrawal of your conditional offer of employment.

For questions concerning this job announcement and the application process:

• Please visit for a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to the application process.
• For technical support between 6 AM - 5 PM PT, contact Live Applicant Support at View phone number on click.appcast.io.
• Visit the City of Sacramento Human Resources Department website at
• Send an email to View email address on click.appcast.io; or
• Call the Human Resources Department