NJ Civil Service Navigator

Program Development Specialist Family

Career series with 3 positions across 2 levels

New Jersey classifies Program Development Specialist as a 2-level family, 3 titles in all, built for step-by-step advancement.

Entry is typically through Program Development Specialist 2 Management and Finance, advancing through the ladder toward Program Development Specialist 1 Corrections. Pay across the family spans $66,592 to $122,832, around the 48th percentile of all civil service job families by top pay. State payroll records show 244 people across the family's titles, most concentrated at Human Services.

Program Development Specialist commonly advances into Program Specialist and Health Systems Specialist.

3
Positions
2
Career Levels
2
Specializations
Salary Range: $66,592 - $122,832/year

Specializations

Corrections Management And Finance

Positions in This Family

What the Program Development Specialist family covers

Program Development Specialist covers 3 title codes arranged into 2 levels of responsibility. The family straddles jurisdictions: 2 state and 1 local, so parts of it are hired by state departments and parts by local civil service employers.

Analyst and planner titles are where New Jersey puts the work of deciding rather than delivering: land use, capital programming, rate setting, program evaluation and policy research. Many exist at the local level because municipal and county planning boards were early adopters of civil service, so the family may hold only local codes even when the same work happens at the state under a different name. The qualification pattern is consistent, a bachelor's degree at entry with experience substituting upward, and the ladders are usually clean numbered progressions.

The ladder, ordered by pay

The Program Development Specialist rungs, listed from the best paid down. Note that the numbers in these titles do not run in pay order. In this family a lower number sits higher on the ladder, which is a New Jersey convention that catches people out when they read a title list top to bottom.

The distance from the bottom of Program Development Specialist 2 Management and Finance to the top of Program Development Specialist 1 Corrections is $56,240, an increase of about 84% over the entry minimum.

What each title does

Reading the definitions side by side is the quickest way to see what changes as you move through the family.

Requirements across the family

Across the 3 titles we have parsed, the education requirements read as a master's degree on 3 of them. Stated experience runs from 1 year at the lowest rung to 2 at the highest, which is the main thing separating one level from the next.

On how the jobs are filled: 3 are competitive, filled from an eligible list after an open competitive or promotional examination.

Who actually employs these titles

244 people appear on the state payroll under 1 of these title, at 18 agencies. Human Services alone accounts for about 26% of them.

  • Human Services — 64 employees
  • Environmental Protection — 42 employees
  • Health and Senior Services — 41 employees
  • Children and Families — 29 employees
  • Law and Public Safety — 17 employees
  • Community Affairs — 12 employees

Those are the 6 largest of 18 agencies employing this family.

Median actual pay for Program Development Specialist 1 Corrections is $107,301, 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

Because the family mixes jurisdictions, the answer to "who hires this" depends on the specific code. State codes run through the Civil Service Commission's announcement and eligible list process; local codes are hired by the counties, municipalities and authorities that adopted civil service under Title 11A. Check an employer's status before assuming a title is available where you live.

Related titles elsewhere in the plan

Other classifications built on the same terms as Program Development Specialist. Worth checking if this family has no current opening.

Families next to this one

New Jersey's classification plan links families by shared terminology and by the routes people actually take between them. These sit closest to Program Development Specialist.

Common questions about Program Development Specialist jobs

How many separate Program Development Specialist classifications does New Jersey have?

The Program Development Specialist 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 Program Development Specialist paid?

Published salary data for this family runs from $66,592 at the bottom of Program Development Specialist 2 Management and Finance to $122,832 at the top of Program Development Specialist 1 Corrections. 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 Program Development Specialist?

Yes for most of the family. 3 of the 3 titles are in the competitive division, which means appointment comes from an eligible list built by an open competitive or promotional examination.

What are the requirements to become a Program Development Specialist?

The most common education requirement in this family is a master's degree, named on 3 of the 3 titles. Stated experience ranges from 1 to 2 years depending on the rung. Read the individual specification for the exact wording, including any experience substitution.

Which agencies employ Program Development Specialist staff?

State payroll records show 244 people in this family across 18 agencies, with Human Services the largest at 64. Local government employers are not covered by that extract.

Is Program Development Specialist 1 higher or lower than Program Development Specialist 3?

In this family the lower number is the more senior title. New Jersey's level numbering does not run in pay order, and reading the titles by number alone will give you the ladder upside down. The list above is sorted by what each title actually pays.