Metropolitan Transportation Authority Careers

JOB TITLE:                          Senior IT Portfolio/Project Management

SALARY RANGE:                $115,222 - $136,000

HAY POINTS:                      551

DEPT/DIV:                           Information Technology

SUPERVISOR:                     Manager, Product Development – Workforce IT Products

LOCATION:                         2 Broadway, New York, NY 10004

HOURS OF WORK:            9:00 am - 5:30 pm (7.5 hours/day) or as required)

This position is eligible for telework, which is currently two days per week. New hires are eligible to apply 30 days after their effective date of hire.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is North America's largest transportation network, serving a population of 15.3 million people across a 5,000-square-mile travel area surrounding New York City, Long Island, southeastern New York State, and Connecticut. The MTA network comprises the nation’s largest bus fleet and more subway and commuter rail cars than all other U.S. transit systems combined. MTA strives to provide a safe and reliable commute, excellent customer service, and rewarding opportunities.

Summary:

This role works closely with developers, designers, and testers to shape the product’s features and roadmap. This role conducts market and customer research, gathers business and technical requirements, and monitors product performance, directly contributing to delivering a customer-centric product that drives business growth.

For medium-impact/complexity IT products and/or services, this role orchestrates the overall planning process, leading the definition of business justification, requirements, minimum viable product, and proposed delivery sequence for new functionality. This role also defines and manages IT product and service implementation roadmaps with full traceability, value realization reporting, and views for all stakeholders, governing the flow of transition activities to deliver value early and often, within available resources and dependencies. This role may need to lead agile ceremonies and other Scrum-related activities.

Critical Skills:

• In-depth knowledge of PeopleSoft HR and Payroll modules, with strong functional and technical expertise
• Functional expertise in key areas such as Position Management, Job Data, Payroll Processing, and Core HR
• Proficient with PeopleSoft tools, including Application Engine, SQR, People Code, Component Interface, and PS Query
• Proficiency in Jira for creating, tracking, and managing work items, and experience with ServiceNow
• Ability to translate business needs into user stories and technical tasks
• Prioritizing work with business stakeholders and refining requirements for delivery
• Excellent communication and facilitation skills to serve as a bridge between business stakeholders and the technical team
• Ability to drive ceremonies (Daily standups, Sprint Planning, retrospectives) and keep teams on track.

Responsibilities:

• For medium-impact/complexity IT products and/or services, orchestrates the overall planning process for initial development and phased lifecycle transitions
• Leads the development of business cases for medium projects, including tangible costs, benefits, and performance measures.
• Facilitates the prioritization and scoping of requirements.
• For IT projects of medium impact/complexity, leads project development from conception through implementation using an agreed project framework, methodology, and tools.
• May serve as project leader for medium-sized IT products/projects.
• May analyze business operations to identify process improvement opportunities, and model current and desired scenarios for stakeholder review, consideration, and approval.
• Develops service/product descriptions and helps maintain service/product catalogs.
• Actively participates in agile ceremonies, including daily standups, sprint planning, sprint reviews, and sprint retrospectives.
• Facilitates the execution of resourcing activities in collaboration with delivery team managers.
• Analyzes market trends and customer behavior to drive feature development and product improvements.
• Supports the development of customer journey maps and product innovation roadmaps.
• Collaborates closely with Product Managers, developers, and designers to implement product

enhancements based on business requirements.

• Actively participates or leads agile ceremonies, including daily standups, sprint planning, sprint reviews, and sprint retrospectives.
• May need to facilitate and coordinate the scrum and agile development process for medium-sized software development teams and ensure that the team is working productively and meeting goals.
• Develops effective reports and documents to communicate findings and analysis to the product team and business stakeholders.
• Works closely and directly with Design and Engineering teams to deliver solutions that have

demonstrable and measurable impact, and determine the best technical implementation methods to achieve our customer and business objectives.

• Serves as an advocate for Product Management best practices that maximize the value of existing

technology and methodologies, to enable the Product team and the organization to operate more

effectively as the organization scales.

• Engages closely with the Engineering team to help determine the best technical implementation methods to achieve our customer and business objectives.
• Partners with Engineering, Design, Data, Lifecycle, and Member Support teams to build software collaboratively and inclusively.
• Travel may be required to other MTA locations or other external sites.
• May need to work outside of normal work hours supporting 24/7 operations (i.e., evenings and weekends).
• Performs other duties and tasks as assigned.
• Observes the work performed by the contractor.
• Reviews invoices and approves them if the work meets contractual standards.
• Addresses performance issues with the contractor when possible.
• Escalates issues to other parties as needed.
• Abides by MTA attendance expectations and requirements by attending regularly and reliably.
• Provides technical advice to project teams and mentors less experienced staff to foster talent development.

Qualifications: 

• Education: bachelor’s degree and a minimum of 5 years of relevant experience. An equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered in lieu of a degree. 
• Experience: 5 years
• Certification(s): Requires at least one certification in the current platform/domain/technical skill. Possible certifications could be, but are not limited to:

Knowledge & Skills: 

Technical Skills

•    Advanced experience with common developer productivity tools like Jira, Confluence, etc.

•    Adept understanding of technical concepts.

•    Adept in process-focused execution, having successfully driven technical programs for enterprise products in a fast-paced environment.

•    Adept in working with enterprise customers.

•    Adept in working with project management tools and workflows.

•    Adept in customer journey management, product management, and Agile methodologies and Frameworks.

•    Adept with product delivery.

•    Advanced experience working on an Agile team. 

•    Familiarity with tools for data analysis and programming languages (e.g., Python or R) for data handling and analysis. 

•    Familiarity with business analysis or project management.

•    Familiarity with product lifecycle management concepts.

•    Working knowledge of IT service development concepts.

•    Familiarity with Scrum framework.

•    Familiarity with agile standards for software development.

•    Familiarity with agile methodology to run backlog grooming, sprint planning/ demonstration/ retrospective, and stand-ups.

•    Familiarity with product and sprint backlog management.

Behavioral Skills

•    Advanced in establishing and maintaining effective working relationships with employees at all levels within the organization, and with both internal and external customers.

•    Advanced in interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills, with the ability to effectively collaborate with both technical and non-technical peers.

•    Advanced in communicating effectively, both orally and in writing, to interact with team members, customers, management, and support personnel (technical and non-technical)

•    Adept in identifying and analyzing risks and developing effective mitigation strategies.

•    Adept in critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making skills

•    Adept in active listening, attention to detail, customer service, prioritization, and problem-solving skills.

•    Adept in hands-on experience with related tools.

•    Adept in working independently and strategically.

•    Adept technical knowledge and diverse skillset to understand various technologies, systems, and potential risks.

•    Adept in managing multiple projects simultaneously and prioritizing tasks based on urgency and impact.

•    Adept at working under pressure and meeting deadlines individually and collaboratively. Thinks logically, assesses problems, and is results-oriented.

•    Adept in identifying complex business and technology risks and associated vulnerabilities.

Competencies:   

OTHER INFORMATION:

Pursuant to the New York State Public Officers Law & the MTA Code of Ethics, all employees who hold a policymaking position must file an Annual Statement of Financial Disclosure (FDS) with the NYS Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government (the “Commission”).

Equal Employment Opportunity

MTA and its subsidiary and affiliated agencies are Equal Opportunity Employers, including with respect to veteran status and individuals with disabilities.

The MTA encourages qualified applicants from diverse backgrounds, experiences, and abilities, including military service members, to apply.