Principal Federal Programs Planning Coordinator

Capital Programs

Job Description:

Move forward with us! At NJ TRANSIT, you'll join us in transforming the third-largest transportation agency in North America. We are committed to delivering safe, reliable service that gets customers to their destinations on time–and we're looking to hire talented folks with a commitment to excellence to make it all possible.

Summary:

NJ TRANSIT’s Capital Planning Team is responsible for creating and managing the rolling five-year Capital Plan. A Principal Federal Program Planning Coordinator is a transportation planner and/or engineer who plays a critical role in the Capital Planning Team and in developing the agency’s five-year capital plan.

The Principal Federal Programs Planning Coordinators review funding opportunities and intake capital investment needs and concepts from operating departments and others. They shepherd these concepts through an eligibility and prioritization review and develop technical documentation necessary to pursue funding opportunities. They are responsible for providing any resulting updates to the NJ TRANSIT’s rolling five-year Capital Plan for projects with federal funds.

Planning Coordinators in Capital Planning are often involved in a variety of projects at different phases of implementation and are key in helping the agency deliver projects identified in the Capital Plan. They investigate various infrastructure, fleet, and facility needs and manage resources to perform transportation planning studies as necessary to prepare capital projects. They often serve as transportation planning technical advisors or task leads to project managers for capital projects. They also run the business case process to ensure project goals and KPIs aid in implementing capital projects. For competitive grants, the Federal Program Planning Coordinator will play a critical leadership role in leading the effort to generate materials necessary to win funding for selected projects and programs.

Roles and Responsibilities:

Capital Planning & Project Development:

• Responsible for the intake of capital investment needs for federal programs from the service lines, evaluating their merit, and shepherding selected projects through the Capital Plan process. Includes developing a right sized scope of work, budget, and project delivery schedule.

• Works closely with Operations Planning to develop analysis and model project impacts.

• Performs transportation planning tasks, data analysis, data visualization, policy analysis and other activities as necessary to support Capital Planning’s development of new projects, fleet plan reports, project master plans, and other reports related to capital projects, capital initiatives, and the capital plan.

• Responsible for supporting the continuous generation of and updating of the NJ TRANSIT rolling five-year capital plan.

• Performs evaluations of progress of the Capital Plan year-over-year and revisits Key Performance Indicator (KPI) metric benchmarks to evaluate success and performance improvement opportunities of the overall Capital Plan.

• Develops GIS and other analytical tools for project planning, development, and performance analysis.

• Can be tasked with: analyzing the impacts capital investments have on transit infrastructure, fleet, and facilities, organizing data on existing infrastructure, facility, fleet, and services, developing business case reports, assessing capital investments along major corridors or in major service areas, master planning existing and future facilities, developing materials for major policy or guidance documents related to capital investment needs, and/or refining an existing scope to fit within a funding opportunity.

Project Administration & Management:

• Manages the administration, management, and delivery for Capital Planning initiatives and projects.

• Responsible for employing external consultants as extension of staff to perform transportation planning and project development activities.

Coordination, Support and Other Activities:

• Provides transportation planning analysis, expertise, and support for project implementation in other departments.

• Research best practices of activities for improving NJ TRANSIT’s institutional knowledge of transit related subjects.

• Responds to data inquiries and requests from internal and external entities, as directed.

• Develops technical analysis, writing and other materials for competitive grant applications,

Education, Experience, and Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Planning, Engineering, Economics, Public Administration, Public Policy, Philosophy, or related field, five (5) years of experience in any of the following: transportation and/or urban planning, engineering, capital project development, technical writing, journalism.

• A Master’s degree in Planning, Engineering, or Public Policy can substitute for two (2) years of experience.

• A PHD in Engineering, Sustainability, Planning, Science, or Public Policy or related field can substitute for career experience.

Knowledge and Skills:

• Experience in grant pursuits, grant application writing and other grant related activities is highly preferred.

• Knowledge of transportation planning principles and techniques, bus, rail and light rail facilities and operations is highly preferred.

• Experience working with GIS and other spatial analysis is highly preferred.

• Experience working with federal and statutory regulations and technical writing preferred.

• Should demonstrate an understanding of contracting principles for public entities, project management.

• Interest in transit service modelling and analysis preferred.

This Position Supervises:

• Transportation Planner

• Facility Capital Planner

Working Environment:

• 90% Office/10% Field

Physical Demands:

• Typical indicative of an office environment and capable of light hiking/ climbing for field visits. Visual inspection of facilities and facility components

At NJ Transit, you will enjoy a competitive salary and excellent benefits package:

• Comprehensive Family Health Insurance – Medical, Prescription, Dental, Vision

• Flexible Spending Account

• Life Insurance

• Paid Leave

• Tuition Assistance

• Pre-Tax Commuter Benefits Plan

• Retirement Plans

• 401(a) - Retirement plan with a 6% employer contribution

• 401(k) - Retirement saving plan with up to an 3% company match

• 457(b) - Deferred Savings Plan

At NJ TRANSIT, diversity and inclusivity are vital to our success as are committed to hiring individuals from diverse backgrounds, experiences, abilities, and veteran status. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we encourage all qualified applicants to apply and join our team.

Learn more about NJ TRANSIT! Sign up to receive an invitation to our next live information session at WWW.NJTRANSIT.COM/BEST