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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