Staff Services Analyst

About the Opportunity

ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY

The Stanislaus County Public Defender's Office fights mass incarceration by providing zealous representation to low-income people facing criminal charges. The Public Defender seeks to serve the whole client, addressing needs that contribute to criminal legal involvement or that arise from contact with the legal system. The office is client-centered in its representation, recognizing that all clients deserve autonomy, dignity, and respect throughout their experience with the justice system. The Client Support Specialist will join a team of over 80 attorneys, investigators, paralegals, and other staff dedicated to keeping people free and preserving their future despite the criminal charges they may be facing.

We’re looking for someone who brings a genuine passion for social justice, civil rights, or public service—and who has pursued that commitment through their education, work, or volunteer experiences. The Staff Services Analyst (SSA) will oversee day-to-day Holistic Defense Outreach and Engagement (HDOE) grant operations and project administration. They will oversee financial management and compliance, data analysis and reporting. While the position includes outreach and communication activities, these functions are focused on supporting program implementation and data-driven reporting. If you’ve been personally impacted by the criminal legal system or share similar experiences with our clients, we strongly encourage you to apply.

TENTATIVE RECRUITMENT SCHEDULE
Application Deadline: 5/22/2026 or until 50 applications are received
Oral Examination: Tentatively scheduled for the week of 5/18/2026

To learn more about the Office of the Public Defender, https://www.stancounty.com/publicdefender/.

THE POSITION

The Staff Services Analyst (SSA) will complement the Client Support Specialist (CSS) by focusing on public-facing engagement and systems coordination. While the CSS provides direct client support, the SSA will enhance community collaboration through outreach events, strategic communications and relationship-building with local partners, schools and community-based organizations. This position will maintain consistent messaging about available services, develop educations materials and coordinate with county department and community providers to expand awareness of holistic defense resources. The SSA will also support program evaluation through outreach data collection, ensuring that engagement activities are data-informed and responsive to community needs. Together, the two positions will form an integrated approach combining individualized client assistance with broader community engagement, to reduce barriers, improve outcomes and create a more connected and equitable justice system in Stanislaus County. The SSA will assume all duties related to the HDOE grant outcomes, evaluations, planning and monitoring.

Typical Tasks

• Capturing, validating and analyzing data related to all grant-funded activities
• Maintaining performance measures and grant compliance requirements
• Preparing reports for the funding agency, the Board of Supervisors, and internal leadership
• Coordinating with the internal staff and external partners to ensure consistent documentation, referrals and workflows
• Identifying service gaps, trends and opportunities for program improvement
• Supporting community engagement and communications related to the program, in service of transparency, referrals and reporting outcomes
• Identifies what data are available and relevant, including internal databases and external data sources, utilizing cutting-edge data collection processes such as smart meters and GPS data feeds or bulk downloads, APIs and web scraping
• Works with stakeholders and software developers and analysts to identify the business requirements and expected outcomes
• Collaborates with subject matter experts to select the relevant sources of information
• Analyzes large, complex, relational, multidimensional and related datasets with a variety of tools
• Prepares special management reports by compiling, evaluating, interpreting and reporting on current and projected results of operational/financial/administrative activities
• Develop dashboards and other visual data discovery tools to portray information in a meaningful and understandable format
• Develop approaches to validate findings or data
• Works to solve analytics problems and discover patterns
• Formulates and implements new statistical or other mathematical methodologies as needed for specific models or analysis
• Evaluates available models and selects most relevant for application, builds data analytical tools to leverage advanced algorithms and perform comprehensive analyses
• Defines the validity of the information, how long the information is meaningful and if it is related to other information
• Analyzes patterns in the volume of data supporting the initiative, the type of data (e.g. images, text, clickstream or metering data) and the speed or sudden variations in data collection
• Educates the organization on new approaches such as testing hypotheses and statistical validation of results
• Provides on-going tracking and monitoring of performance of decision systems and statistical models
• Assists in compiling relevant information to develop claims for reimbursement from Federal, State, local agencies and private grantors
• Receives Public Record Act requests identifying available and relevant information and compiles information responsive to the request

Minimum Qualifications (Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, Education/Experience)

• Critical Thinking — Using logic and reasoning to identify alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
• Reading Comprehension — Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
• Complex Problem Solving — Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
• Monitoring — Monitoring/Assessing performance of organizations to make improvements
• Systems Evaluation— Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
• Time Management — Managing one's own time and the time of others.
• Deductive Reasoning — The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Written Comprehension — The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Information Ordering — The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words).
• Troubleshooting — Determining causes of operating errors and deciding what to do about it.

• English Language— Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Administrative — Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, and creating forms.
• Customer and Personal Service — Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Computers and Electronics — Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

• Completion of sixty (60) college semester units in Public Administration, Business Administration, Finance or a closely related field AND
• Two (2) years performing highly complex clerical duties with accounts payable, grant processing and management responsibilities

Application and Selection Procedures

• 
  Application Review and Screening. Applications are carefully screened based on information provided. Those who submit incomplete applications that lack relevant qualifications or do not submit all required documents will not be invited to move on.
• Written Examination. Applicants will be invited to participate in a written exam that tests knowledge for the position.
• Oral Examination. Applicants are invited to a panel interview in which they will be evaluated by County subject matter experts.
• Eligible Lists. Candidates who pass the examination will be placed on an eligible list for that classification. Eligible lists are effective for six months, but may be extended up to eighteen months.

GENERAL INFORMATION

CLASSIFICATION INFORMATION

Unless otherwise provided, this position is part of the Classified Service of the County and is assigned to the Mid-Management/Supervisory Bargaining Unit for labor relations purposes.

The Job Task Analysis provides information detailing the physical and functional demands of the classification. For the complete job task analysis, visit the Risk Management website at http://www.stancounty.com/riskmgmt/ under the "Disability" tab.

Note: The eligible list generated from this recruitment may be used to fill future extra-help, part-time and full-time vacancies throughout Stanislaus County.

Incumbents may also be subject to overtime, standby, callback, weekend, holiday and shift assignments as identified in their MOU (Memorandum of Understanding).

RECRUITMENT ACCOMMODATIONS

Arrangements may be made to accommodate disabilities and religious convictions. Applicants requiring testing accommodations are required to complete and submit the Testing Accommodations Request Form prior to the test administration date. Special arrangements for religious convictions should be included in the "Additional Information" section of the application form.

GENERAL QUALIFICATIONS

• Pass County-paid pre-employment job-related background investigation.
• Perform job duties in a manner assuring a safe working environment for oneself and others.
• Maintain confidential information according to the legal standards and/or County regulations as required.
• Some positions may be required to possess and maintain a valid California Driver’s License and meet County insurability requirements.

APPLICATION AND/OR EXAMINATION APPEAL RIGHTS

Application and/or examination results may be appealed by applicants presenting facts alleging irregularity, fraud and/or error in application screening or in exam scoring. Appeals must be in writing and submitted to the Chief Executive Officer within seven (7) days after the examination results are emailed.

DISCLAIMER