Charge Nurse, Family
Career series with 3 positions across 2 levels
In New Jersey civil service, Charge Nurse names a 2-level progression covering 3 distinct titles.
Entry is typically through Charge Nurse, 10 Months, advancing through the ladder toward Charge Nurse, 12 Months. Pay across the family spans $60,876 to $101,951, around the 31st percentile of all civil service job families by top pay. State payroll records show 460 people across the family's titles, most concentrated at Health and Senior Services.
Specializations
Positions in This Family
- CHARGE NURSE, 12 MONTHS (03853) $69,668 - $101,951/year
- CHARGE NURSE, 10 MONTHS (03862) $60,876 - $88,743/year
- CHARGE NURSE, 12 MONTHS (59966) $63,663 - $92,953/year
What the Charge Nurse family covers
Charge Nurse is a graded series in the New Jersey civil service classification plan, running 3 title codes across 2 levels. Every title in it is a state title, so the employer is a state department, commission or authority rather than a county or municipality.
The state is a direct care employer at scale, running psychiatric hospitals, developmental centers and veterans homes around the clock. That shapes the classifications: shift work, unusual work weeks and institution-specific variants are normal here rather than exceptional, and the same clinical title can exist several times over for different facilities. Professional licensure carries the qualification weight, so movement between the public and private sector is easier in this group than almost anywhere else in civil service. Counties run their own health departments and hire parallel titles under local jurisdiction.
The ladder, ordered by pay
Ordered by what they actually pay rather than by the number in the title, the Charge Nurse rungs look like this. Here the numbering happens to agree with the pay order, which is not guaranteed elsewhere in New Jersey's plan.
- Charge Nurse, 12 Months — $69,668 to $101,951 (1 year of experience)
- Charge Nurse, 12 Months — $63,663 to $92,953 (1 year of experience)
- Charge Nurse, 10 Months — $60,876 to $88,743 (1 year of experience)
The distance from the bottom of Charge Nurse, 10 Months to the top of Charge Nurse, 12 Months is $41,075, an increase of about 67% over the entry minimum.
What each title does
Each title in the family carries its own published definition. These are the opening lines of each one, which is usually where the difference between two neighboring rungs is actually stated.
- Charge Nurse, 12 Months: Under direction of a Supervisor of Nurses or other supervisory official in a state hospital, medical center, or other institution that provides medical assistance…
- Charge Nurse, 10 Months: Under direction of a Supervisor of Nurses or other supervisory official in a state hospital, medical center, or other institution that provides medical assistance…
What it takes to qualify
None of the specifications in this family names a degree requirement, which places these titles among the New Jersey positions open to applicants without formal higher education. Experience requirements sit at 1 year wherever they are stated.
Every title here carries a license or certification requirement, so the credential matters more than the exam score. On how the jobs are filled: 3 are non-competitive, appointed on proof of the stated qualifications rather than by examination. 3 titles in this family are covered by the compendium's special incentive program, which lets an appointing authority hire a qualified candidate above the bottom step instead of starting them at step one. See the full list of incentive titles.
Who actually employs these titles
460 people appear on the state payroll under 1 of these title, at 5 agencies. Health and Senior Services alone accounts for about 66% of them.
- Health and Senior Services — 302 employees
- Military and Veterans Affairs — 73 employees
- Human Services — 66 employees
- Children and Families — 15 employees
- Law and Public Safety — 4 employees
Median actual pay for Charge Nurse, 12 Months is $98,503, which is what people in the title are really paid rather than the published band.
State payroll only, deduplicated by payroll title; local employers file separately, so a family with local codes looks smaller here than it is. How this is counted.
How the pay is set
Titles in this family are paid on the A-P-R-S salary schedule. See every step in that schedule. Bargaining is handled by CWA. Union contracts and rights are collected here.
Where these jobs exist
Hiring for this family runs through state service. Departments, commissions and boards fill these titles from eligible lists built by the Civil Service Commission, so the route in is an announcement and a filing deadline rather than a posting you apply to directly. What state jurisdiction means, and a breakdown of who employs what.
Related titles elsewhere in the plan
These titles sit elsewhere in the classification plan but share vocabulary with Charge Nurse, which usually means overlapping duties or a related eligible list.
- Psychiatric Charge Technician (local jurisdiction)
- Engineer-in-Charge of Maintenance 4 ($72,896 to $106,798, state jurisdiction) — in the Engineer-in-Charge of Maintenance family
- Assistant Engineer-in-Charge of Maintenance 2 ($72,896 to $106,798, state jurisdiction) — in the Assistant Engineer-in-Charge of Maintenance family
- Educational Controversies Examiner 2 Report Directly To: Assistant Commissioner of Education in Charge of the Division or Deputy Assistant Commissioner ($68,456 to $95,846, state jurisdiction) — in the Educational Controversies Examiner family
- Head Nurse (local jurisdiction)
- Clinic Nurse (local jurisdiction)
Common questions about Charge Nurse jobs
How many separate Charge Nurse classifications does New Jersey have?
The Charge Nurse family holds 3 title codes arranged across 2 levels. Each code is a separate classification with its own published specification, requirements and salary treatment.
How much is a Charge Nurse paid?
Published salary data for this family runs from $60,876 at the bottom of Charge Nurse, 10 Months to $101,951 at the top of Charge Nurse, 12 Months. Those are schedule figures. Where the title appears on the state payroll, actual median pay is listed on the page above.
Is there a civil service test for Charge Nurse?
Not for the non-competitive titles in this family, of which there are 3. A non-competitive appointment is made on proof that you meet the stated requirements, without a competitive examination, though the position is still in the classified service with its own protections.
What are the requirements to become a Charge Nurse?
No degree requirement is parsed from the specifications in this family, which puts these titles among the New Jersey civil service jobs reachable without formal higher education. Experience of 1 year is named where a requirement is stated. 3 of the titles require a license or certification.
Which agencies employ Charge Nurse staff?
State payroll records show 460 people in this family across 5 agencies, with Health and Senior Services the largest at 302. Local government employers are not covered by that extract.