Customer Experience (CX) Transformation Manager

City Manager Position

The City of San Jose is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants for all job openings will be considered without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, disability, veteran status or any other consideration made unlawful under any federal, state or local laws. The City of San Jose is committed to offering reasonable accommodations to job applicants with disabilities.

The City Manager's Office provides strategic leadership that supports the Mayor and City Council in making public policy decisions and ensures the organization is delivering cost-effective services that meet the needs of our community with the highest standards of customer service. The City Manager has designated five foundational strategic support areas aimed at ensuring organizational health and improving service delivery to the community. These five foundational strategic support areas include: delivering excellent customer service; closing racial and social inequities; structurally balancing the General Fund; driving organizational performance, and making San José a great place to work.

Position Duties

Reporting to the Assistant City Manager, the CX Transformation Manager will be a strategic and collaborative leader with demonstrated experience advancing complex, cross-departmental initiatives that improve how City services are delivered to residents, businesses, and other stakeholders. Key position responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Drive the product vision and guiding principles for the City's Customer Experience (CX) Transformation initiative;
• Develop and maintain a clear roadmap for the City's Customer Experience (CX) Transformation initiative, including implementation of a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform;
• Manage and prioritize opportunities backlog;
• Prioritize system features, enhancements, and system builds;
• Act as a liaison between departments, vendors, and development teams to coordinate system design, development, testing, and implementation;
• Convene and facilitate regular standups, stakeholder meetings, and steering committee to ensure alignment, transparency, and progress across participating departments;
• Support organizational change management efforts, including stakeholder engagement, training, and adoption strategies to ensure successful implementation of CX initiatives;
• Monitor implementation progress and performance metrics to assess effectiveness, identify opportunities for improvement, and support continuous enhancement of service delivery;
• Leverage service delivery data and customer feedback to identify trends, inform decision-making, and drive continuous improvement in City services;
• Provide oversight of program budgets, compliance requirements, and quality assurance to ensure initiatives are delivered effectively and responsibly; and,
• Other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

Education/Experience: A Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university in public administration, business administration, or a discipline related to the business performed by the department, AND six (6) years of management and/or administrative experience in government or private business/industry. A Master's degree is preferred and may be substituted for one (1) year of the required experience.

Licenses/Certificates: Possession of a valid license authorizing operation of a motor vehicle in California may be required. Certain positions may require possession of a specialized certificate, license, and/or registration related to a specific area of responsibility.

Form 700 Requirement: This position requires a disclosure of outside investments, real property interest, income, and business positions. You must complete and file an "Assuming Office Form 700" with the City Clerk's Office within the first 30 days of employment with the office.

Other Qualifications

Candidates should have experience leading large-scale organizational or technology-enabled transformation initiatives, such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, service request platforms, or other enterprise service delivery tools. The Customer Experience (CX) Transformation Manager will serve as the business product owner for the City's CRM implementation and must be able to translate organizational goals into actionable roadmaps, governance structures, and measurable performance outcomes that support successful system adoption and long-term service improvements.

The ideal candidate will also bring strong analytical, communication, and facilitation skills, with the ability to convene stakeholders, interpret service delivery data, and identify opportunities to improve efficiency, accessibility, and customer satisfaction. An understanding of the unique context of public sector service delivery, including the importance of transparency, equity, accessibility, and accountability, is essential to advancing a culture of service excellence across the City of San José.

Core Competencies: The ideal candidate will possess the following competencies and related skills, as demonstrated from past and current employment history:

• Vision/Strategic Thinking: Supports, promotes, and ensures alignment with the organization's vision and values; understands how an organization must change in light of internal and external trends and influences; builds a shared vision with others and influences others to translate vision to action. Experience in the development and implementation of strategies to solve complex organization business and municipal problems.
• Leadership: Leads by example; demonstrates high ethical standards; remains visible and approachable and interacts with others on a regular basis; promotes a cooperative work environment, allowing others to learn from mistakes; provides motivational supports and direction. Demonstrate a positive attitude and flexibility to change, and a high tolerance for ambiguity. Maintain steady leadership in challenging and fluid situations.
• Management: Strong project management experience. Proficiency in guiding data-informed and customer-driven decision making. Strong administrative, budgeting, organizational, and planning skills. Evaluates priorities to ensure the 'true' top priorities are handled satisfactorily; sets clear goals for the employees and the work unit. Detail-oriented and can balance strategic-level thinking with managing day-to-day tasks on multiple projects simultaneously.
• Change Management: Demonstrates support for innovation and for organizational changes needed to improve the organization's effectiveness; facilitates the implementation and acceptance of change within the workplace.
• Communication Skills: Effectively conveys information and expresses thoughts and facts clearly, verbally and in writing; demonstrates effective use of listening skills; displays openness to other people's ideas and thoughts. Strong meeting preparation and facilitation skills.
• Digital Fluency: Effectively leverages digital tools, technologies, and platforms, utilizing a forward-thinking mindset to drive organizational goals, enhance processes, lead innovation, make data-informed decisions, and foster a culture of adaptability and continuous improvement in a dynamic digital landscape.
• Teamwork & Interpersonal Skills: Develops effective relationships with co-workers and supervisors by helping others accomplish tasks and using collaboration and conflict resolution skills.

Selection Process

The selection process will consist of an evaluation of the applicant's training and experience based on the application and responses to the job-specific questions. You must fill out the online application available on the City of San José website. As part of this process, you will be required to answer four (4) supplemental questions. References to resumes will be considered incomplete and your application withheld from further consideration. Please limit your response to no more than three (3) pages.

Those candidates with experience and training that best match the position will move forward to the next phase of the selection process, which will include interview(s) and reference checks. Candidates deemed to have the most relevant qualifications will be invited to interviews that are tentatively scheduled on Friday, April 3, 2026.

Supplemental Questions

1. We recognize that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming part of daily life and can be a valuable tool for learning, research, and professional growth. We encourage candidates to use AI responsibly as a support in preparing application materials, live assessments, and interviews. However, we value authenticity, accuracy and truthfulness. Application responses and interview answers must reflect the candidate's own knowledge, skills, and experiences. While AI can supplement preparation, it cannot replace the originality and judgment we look for in our employees. This ensures fairness, transparency, and equity for all applicants in the hiring process.
2. What does 'excellent customer experience' look like in local government, and what role should a City Manager's Office play in achieving it?
3. Large organizations often resist change. Describe a situation where you had to implement a new service delivery or customer experience initiative despite resistance from internal stakeholders. How did you gain buy-in?
4. What makes you excited to work for the City of San José and the City Manager's Executive Leadership team?

If you have questions, comments, or concerns about the recruitment, selection, or hiring process, please contact Edwin Huertas, Senior Executive Analyst, at Edwin.Huertas@sanjoseca.gov.