NJ Civil Service Navigator

Supervisor Family

Career series with 180 positions across 2 levels

New Jersey classifies Supervisor as a 2-level family, 180 titles in all, built for step-by-step advancement.

Entry is typically through Supervisor 1 Mvc, advancing through the ladder toward Supervisor 2 Mvc. Pay across the family spans $42,866 to $170,731, around the 92nd percentile of all civil service job families by top pay. State payroll records show 674 people across the family's titles, most concentrated at Health and Senior Services.

180
Positions
2
Career Levels
160
Specializations
Salary Range: $42,866 - $170,731/year

Specializations

, Office Of Management And Budget Aids To Navigation Allied Services Commission For The Blind And Visually Impaired Amusement Rides & Mechanical Inspection Baths And Pools Body And Fender Shop Boiler Room Building Service +152 more

Positions in This Family

... and 165 more positions

What the Supervisor family covers

Supervisor covers 180 title codes arranged into 2 levels of responsibility. The family straddles jurisdictions: 113 state, 61 local, and 3 both state and local, so parts of it are hired by state departments and parts by local civil service employers.

The generic rank families are the hardest part of the classification plan to read, because the title deliberately says nothing about the subject matter. A single code can cover the head of one bureau and the head of a completely unrelated one, which is exactly why cross-agency salary comparison breaks down in this group and why the site flags several of these titles as generic. Most sit in the managerial or unclassified service, meaning individually set salaries, appointment at the employer's discretion, and no eligible list to wait on.

The ladder, ordered by pay

The Supervisor 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.

Showing the 12 best paid of 115 titles with published salary data.

The distance from the bottom of Supervisor Food Service Area Operations to the top of Supervisor of Cash Management Treasury is $127,865, an increase of about 298% over the entry minimum. 5 of the 180 titles in the family sit on a schedule whose rates are frozen, so the published figure there is the schedule of record rather than a guide to actual pay.

What each title does

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

  • Supervisor of Inspections Health Facilities Eval & Licng: Under the direction of a Supervisory Official, Department of Health and Senior Services, Division of Health Facilities…
  • Supervisor Boiler Room: Under direction, supervises and works with a group of employees engaged in the firing, operating and the making of minor repairs to stationary steam boilers and…
  • Supervisor Forest Fire Equipment Maintenance: Under the direction of a Division Forest Fire Warden, or other supervisory official in the Bureau of Forest Fire Management, Department of…
  • Supervisor Forest Fire Equipment: Under the direction of the Chief, Bureau of Forest Fire Management, Department of Environmental Protection, or other supervisory official, takes the lead…
  • Supervisor of Recreation: Under direction of a Clinical Director or other supervisory official in a state institution or center organizes and supervises a program of physical education…
  • Supervisor of Music Therapy: Under direction in a state institution or agency, designs, implements and supervises a program of music therapy; supervises staff and work activities; prepares…
  • Supervisor of Rehabilitative Services: Under the general direction of the Chief Executive Officer Clinical/Medical Director, or other administrative officer in a Psychiatric Facility…
  • Supervisor of Physical Therapy: Under the direction of a physician or other supervisory officer in a state institution or agency plans, coordinates, and supervises physical therapy…

Showing 8 of 170 published definitions in this family. The full list of titles is below.

Requirements across the family

Across the 180 titles we have parsed, the education requirements read as a bachelor's degree on 41 of them, a master's degree on 33 of them, an associate's degree on 6 of them, a high school diploma on 2 of them, and a doctoral degree on 1 of them. Stated experience runs from 1 year at the lowest rung to 10 at the highest, which is the main thing separating one level from the next.

22 of the 180 titles carry a license or certification requirement. On how the jobs are filled: 168 are competitive, filled from an eligible list after an open competitive or promotional examination, 7 are non-competitive, appointed on proof of the stated qualifications rather than by examination, and 2 are unclassified, which means appointment at the employer's discretion and salary set individually. 1 title in this family is 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

674 people appear on the state payroll under 69 of these titles, at 23 agencies. Health and Senior Services alone accounts for about 21% of them.

  • Health and Senior Services — 140 employees
  • Human Services — 92 employees
  • Labor — 72 employees
  • Veterans Affairs — 62 employees
  • Law and Public Safety — 47 employees
  • Children and Families — 46 employees

Those are the 6 largest of 23 agencies employing this family.

Median actual pay varies across the family, from $57,798 for Supervisor Food Service Area Operations up to $159,624 for Supervisor of Cash Management, Treasury. Those are medians of what people are really paid, not schedule minimums and maximums.

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

The family is split across 5 salary schedules (A-P-R-S, J, M, M-Represented, and V-W-Y), so two titles that look adjacent can be paid from different tables with different step structures. More than one union has members in this family: CWA, IBEW, and NJSOLEA.

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.

Common questions about Supervisor jobs

How many separate Supervisor classifications does New Jersey have?

The Supervisor family holds 180 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 Supervisor paid?

Published salary data for this family runs from $42,866 at the bottom of Supervisor Food Service Area Operations to $170,731 at the top of Supervisor of Cash Management Treasury. 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 Supervisor?

Yes for most of the family. 168 of the 180 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 Supervisor?

The most common education requirement in this family is a bachelor's degree, named on 41 of the 180 titles. Stated experience ranges from 1 to 10 years depending on the rung. 22 of the titles also require a license or certification. Read the individual specification for the exact wording, including any experience substitution.

Which agencies employ Supervisor staff?

State payroll records show 674 people in this family across 23 agencies, with Health and Senior Services the largest at 140. Local government employers are not covered by that extract.

Is Supervisor 1 higher or lower than Supervisor 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.