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Transit Rail Operations Manager #2306-280900-01

Date Opened
Friday, June 30, 2023 5:00 PM
Close Date
Friday, July 07, 2023 11:59 PM
Section
Charlotte Area Transit
Salary
  • $130,575 - $146,896/year
Employment Type
  • Full Time

Overview

The City of Charlotte is the largest municipality in North Carolina and the 17th largest city in the United States, with a total population of more than 872,498 citizens. A major commerce center, Charlotte hosts several of the nation’s largest banks and technology companies.

Also known as the Queen City, Charlotte is home to the Carolina Panthers, the Charlotte Hornets and the NASCAR Hall of Fame. We work hard to ensure that the community will be a winning city for everyone – a truly remarkable place to live, work, learn and play. Join us in helping to keep our City thriving, ensuring upward mobility and advancement in the workplace.

Summary

The Rail Operations General Manager will ensure effective, efficient, and reliable service and rail infrastructure support and management. They are responsible for the leadership and direction for the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) operational and maintenance functions including light rail and streetcar operations, control center, rail inventory, maintenance of way and light rail maintenance. This leader shall provide leadership in formulating overall strategy, managing people, and establishing policies for Light Rail and Streetcars of the Charlotte Area Transit System. To be successful in this role, you should be a thoughtful leader and a confident decision-maker, helping our people develop and be productive while ensuring our organizational adherence to FTA, NCDOT, OSHA, and APTA policies, recommendations, and regulations. This position provides oversight of all CATS Rail Operations and Maintenance contracts, schedules, cost controls, documentation control, and quality assurance/quality control. The General Manager provides leadership, oversees operational policies and procedures, and ensures optimum efficiency and effectiveness. This position works independently with minimal supervision, requiring initiative and judgment to determine solutions to issues.

This position is a safety sensitive role with responsibilities twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.  It includes working varying shifts to accommodate operational schedules, including but not limited to evenings, weekends, holidays, special events, and during inclement weather. They will be integrally involved in the design, construction, and implementation of a multi-million rail expansion system.

Major Duties and Responsibilities

  • Direct and oversee the responsibility for Light Rail and Streetcar services, maintenance of guideway, railcar maintenance and replacement. Guide rail operations, fleet maintenance, rail dispatch, rail training, manpower, vehicle reliability, communications, technology, on-time performance, track right authorizations, bridge maintenance, customer complaints, service disruptions, employee engagement, personnel recognitions, overtime, absenteeism reduction strategy, schedules and processes to direct, day-to-day support of division activities.
  • Comply with & enforce all safety regulations set forth by CATS, OSHA, FTA, FRA (if applicable) and NCDOT
  • Provide a vision for the future advancement of the department to meet changing mobility, technical and maintenance needs of transit.
  • Assume a leadership role in strategic planning for departments growth, development, employee training and succession. This leadership includes but is not limited to developing the divisions strategic plan for optimized productivity, goal setting for growth and reviewing and improving the divisions effectiveness by developing processes, procedures, and guidelines.
  • Promote established training, safety, and quality assurance programs; refine programs as necessary to include new technologies incorporated into existing infrastructure or as part of system expansion, including an accident and safety violation reduction strategy.
  • Models and holds staff accountable through open communication, employee participation, performance management, and professional development. Provides direct supervision and effective leadership of staff including oversight of hiring and training. Provides individual coaching, mentoring, and counseling. Manages employee relations issues, including training and development, corrective actions, performance improvement plans, disciplinary actions, and terminations. Ensures appropriate delegation of related issues.
  • Ensure effective communication within the division and among CATS departments, other City departments, state and federal agencies, CATS customers and the community in general.
  • Respond to any rail system & transit facilities incident(s) involving major service delays and/or serious vehicular or pedestrian accidents.  Provides on-scene direction on remedial actions taken to restore service in prompt & safe manner or provide alternative transportation / participates in post-accident reviews.
  • Controls, monitors, and approves budgets and operational forecasts for division, including capital expenditures, labor resources, and materials and supplies; accountable for monitoring own department. Identifies opportunities for containing costs. Accountability for budget includes direct reports’ monitoring.
  • Act as a resource to and liaison between division and various departments within CATS as well as with external contacts; represents CATS to the public regarding the delivery of rail service.
  • As part of your responsibility to support the CATS Safety Culture, report safety concerns and issues through the various methods established by CATS as outlined in the ASP.
  • Perform other related job duties as assigned.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

  • Knowledge of Railroad/Rail Transit Engineering, Operations, and Maintenance practices, procedures, and regulations.
  • Ability to listen, provide feedback, and communicate goals and objectives within a team-building environment.
  • Ability to use rigorous logic and methods to solve difficult problems with effective solutions; can see hidden problems.
  • Ability to accurately scope out length and difficulty of tasks and projects. Sets objectives and goals. Breaks down work into the process steps. Develops schedules and task/people assignments. Anticipates and adjusts for problems and roadblocks. Measures performance against goals. Evaluates results.
  • Ability to read a situation quickly. Good at focused listening. Can effectively negotiate difficult agreements and settle disputes equitably. Can find common ground and get cooperation with minimum noise.
  • Ability to create strong morale and spirit in his/her team. Foster open dialogue. Define success in terms of the whole team. Create a feeling of belonging in the team.
  • Ability to write clearly and succinctly in a variety of communication settings and styles; can get messages across that have the desired effect.
  • Ability to train and develop team members for success through work plan development, career plan development, and performance evaluations.
  • Ability to hold others accountable, make difficult decisions.
  • Ability to communicate effectively with staff and contractors.
  • Ability to handle daily challenges and adjust to adversity.
  • Must have excellent problem-solving abilities, organization, coaching, and facilitating presentation skills.
  • Must possess excellent interpersonal skills and be customer oriented.
  • Excellent computer skills including Microsoft Office programs, Maintenance & Materials Management Systems
  • Strong decision-making ability focusing on results, analyzing data, and plan development.

Preferred Qualification

  • Direct rail experience
  • Demonstrated proficiency using Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Project.
  • Experience in communicating orally and written to the Executive Management Team and Elected Officials
  • Demonstrate good communication skills as related to presentations and the delivery of general information, technical data and concepts.

Minimum Qualifications

Any combination of training and experience which would provide the required knowledge, skills, and abilities is qualifying.

  • Bachelor’s degree with ten (10) years of relevant work experience; or a Master’s degree with five (5) years of relevant work experience; or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience that provides the necessary knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the essential job duties.

OR


  • An equivalent combination of education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities.
  • Eight (8) years of progressively responsible management experience in transit, rail service delivery, maintenance, infrastructure (ways and structures), operations management to include seven directing and managing a professional staff involved in rail management Knowledge of general light rail practices and procedures.
  • Proven experience as a manager or similar executive role.
  • Knowledge of project management methods, principles, and practices, scope control, and quality assurance.
  • Knowledge of Railroad/Rail Transit Engineering, Operations, and Maintenance practices, procedures, and regulations.

Licenses, Certifications, or Registrations: 

  • Requires a valid driver's license.

Conditions of Employment

The City’s Background Check Policy requires background checks to be conducted on final internal or external candidate(s) applying for any position with the City of Charlotte. The type of information that will be collected as part of a background check includes, but is not limited to: reference checks, social security verification, education verification, criminal conviction record check, and, if applicable, a credit history check, sex offender registry and motor vehicle records check.

Background checks must be in compliance with all federal and state statutes, such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The checks must be consistent with the guidelines set forth by these laws requiring organizations to obtain a candidate’s written authorization before obtaining a criminal background report, motor vehicle records check or credit report; and to properly store and dispose of information derived from such reports.

Final candidates must pass a pre-employment drug-screening test and physical examination. During the selection process, candidates may be asked to take a skills test, and/or participate in other assessments.

The City of Charlotte is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

How To Apply

Apply online.

Federal law requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities. Please tell us if you require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job.

You are welcome to visit the City of Charlotte Human Resources Department lobby where we have workstations available. Our office is located at 700 East 4th Street, Suite 200, Charlotte, NC 28202. Our hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (EST), excluding official City holidays.

Anyone seeking an accommodation to apply for a job may call (704) 336-2285 for assistance or you may email questions to CityHrJobPostingsNotify@ci.charlotte.nc.us.

Benefits

The City of Charlotte provides a comprehensive benefits package to all employees.

Click here to learn more about the City of Charlotte’s benefits.

The City of Charlotte is a drug and alcohol-free workplace.

In Conclusion

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