Transportation Planning Program Manager

Department: Transportation Department

Salary: $98,731.00 - $141,926.09 Commensurate with Experience

Welcome to the City of Charlotte

Charlotte is America’s Queen City, opening her arms to a diverse and inclusive community of residents, businesses and visitors alike. Here you will find a safe, family-oriented city where people work together to help everyone thrive. The mission of the City of Charlotte is to deliver quality public services and promote the safety, health, and quality of life for all residents.

Our guiding principles include:

• Attracting and retaining a skilled and diverse workforce

• Valuing teamwork, openness, accountability, productivity, and employee development

• Providing all customers with courteous, responsive, accessible, and seamless quality services

• Taking initiative to identify, analyze, and solve problems

• Collaborating with stakeholders to make informed decisions

SUMMARY

The Transportation Planning Program Manager leads the work that translates Charlotte's transportation policy and mobility needs into prioritized, fundable projects ready to enter preliminary design. This section is responsible for project prioritization, capital investment plan (CIP) project programming, program eligibility, and performance measurement, and it owns the data and methods that support CIP programs. The Section Manager builds and leads a team of planners, sets the Division's analytical standards, and supports CDOT leadership in preparing prioritization and budget recommendations for City Council. This position reports directly to the Mobility Planning Division Manager.

Major Duties and Responsibilities:

• Project Prioritization & Programming:
  • Leads programming and prioritization of transportation projects in the CIP to support the city’s policy goals as adopted in the 2040 Comprehensive Plan and Strategic Mobility Plan.
  • Coordinates with the Mobility Planning & Policy Section, the Modeling, Analysis, and Design Division, and CIP program implementers to advance projects through the Define-Design-Deliver-Deploy lifecycle and ensure programming decisions are aligned with project readiness.
  • Develops and maintains program eligibility criteria and scoring methods that produce consistent, defensible prioritization decisions across bond cycles.
  • Oversees preparation of CIP budget process materials, program summaries, and prioritization recommendations for the Division Manager, CDOT Director, and City Council as needed.
  • Oversees and defines the process of advancing projects from planning to preliminary design, ensuring that the project purpose and need statement, preferred scope, tier assignment, engagement brief, and other information as necessary are clearly defined.
  • Coordinates the Project Validation gate with the Division Manager and relevant partners, ensuring go/no-go decisions are grounded in complete and accurate project information.
• Transportation System Performance & Data Analysis
  • In coordination with the Modeling, Analysis, & Design Division, builds and maintains the analytical foundation that supports project screening, including network and modal hierarchy data, gap inventories, safety performance data, and multimodal needs assessments.
  • Develops and oversees Charlotte's transportation system performance framework, including indicator selection, data sources, and reporting cadence aligned with SMP objectives.
  • Designs and manages before-and-after studies for completed CIP projects, establishing consistent evaluation methodology, data collection standards, and outcome reporting.
  • Applies GIS and transportation data tools to support planning analysis, prioritization scoring, corridor-level needs assessments, and mobility planning study coordination.
• Stakeholder Engagement and Communication
  • Prepares and presents program summaries, prioritization recommendations, and performance findings to internal leadership, partner agencies, and City Council as needed.
  • Supports the Division Manager in responding to City Council, the City Manager's Office, and other city departments on matters related to project programming and transportation performance.
  • Collaborates with CRTPO, CATS, NCDOT, and other regional partners on data sharing, performance alignment, and funding program coordination.
  • Communicates complex technical and analytical findings clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences in written, graphic, and verbal formats.
• Section Management & Leadership:
  • Builds, supervises, mentors, and evaluates a section of transportation planners, providing regular direction, feedback, and professional development support.
  • Assigns and manages workload to ensure timely delivery of prioritization, programming, chartering, and analytical products.
  • Partners with the Division Manager on work planning, budget tracking, performance evaluations, and section capacity management.
  • Represents the section in cross-divisional coordination and contributes to division-wide initiatives as directed by the Division Manager.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree and seven years of relevant work experience

• OR Master's Degree with five years of relevant work experience

Preferred Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree in transportation planning, urban planning, public administration, civil engineering, or a related field and seven (7) years of progressive experience in transportation planning, capital program management, or transportation data analysis in an urban context.
• Certified Planner (AICP) or registered Professional Engineer (PE)
• At least three (3) years of experience supervising, mentoring, or leading professional planning staff.
• Experience designing or conducting transportation performance monitoring, before-and-after studies, or multimodal needs assessment.
• Proficiency with GIS, transportation data tools, and data visualization platforms.
• Or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience that provides the necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the essential job duties
   

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Thorough knowledge of transportation planning principles and multimodal transportation networks
• Considerable knowledge of transportation performance monitoring, data analysis, and evaluation methods
• Considerable knowledge of public capital improvement programs and local government budget processes
• Knowledge of GIS and transportation data tools and their application to planning and programming
• Knowledge of local government administration and policy development
• Ability to build, lead, and supervise a team of professional planners at multiple levels
• Ability to manage multiple concurrent analytical and programmatic workstreams under a deadline
• Ability to design and implement data collection, evaluation, and performance reporting frameworks
• Ability to prepare clear analytical reports, project charters, program summaries, and policy-facing documents
• Ability to communicate technical and programmatic findings to both technical and non-technical audiences
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships across divisions, departments, and partner agencies

ADA and Other Requirements:

Positions in this class typically require grasping, talking, hearing, seeing, and repetitive motions.

Physical Requirements:

• Essential and marginal functions may require maintaining physical condition necessary for sitting, standing, climbing, or walking for extended periods of time
• Light to moderate lifting and carrying; some crouching, stooping, squatting, crawling, reaching, pushing, and pulling when performing tasks
• Adequate vision, hearing, and speech required.

Sensory Requirements:

• Concentrated and attentive use of one or more senses (visual, audio, and other sensory modalities) for proofreading, data entry, and tabulating data.
• Ability to operate in an environment with frequent interruptions from people and/or noises, which in return could result in some level of stress, fatigue, or strain.
• Comprehensive written information in work-related documents.
• Ability to hear, understand, and distinguish speech.

Working Conditions:

Work is performed in an indoor office environment with moderate exposure to atmospheric conditions; moderate exposure to environmental conditions (such as officers, community members, victims, etc.); and frequent exposure to computer screens, files, and phone. 

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 and does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, national origin, marital status, age, disability, sexual orientation, political affiliation or on the basis of actual or perceived gender as expressed through dress, appearance, or behavior.

Our culture is to serve the community honorably.

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 self-service application kiosks are available. They are located in our office at 700 East 4th Street, Suite 200, Charlotte, NC 28202. We are open Monday through Friday, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (EST), excluding official City holidays.

For questions about your application or the hiring process, please email [email protected]

The City of Charlotte is committed to making our services and programs accessible to all. Upon request, auxiliary aids, written materials in alternate formats, language access, and other reasonable accommodations or modifications will be provided. To make a request, please fill out the Innovation & Technology ADA request form or call 704.336.4120.

BENEFITS

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

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

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