Rail Car Maintenance Supervisor

Date Opened: Wednesday, October 01, 2025 12:00 AMClose Date: Wednesday, October 15, 2025 12:00 AMDepartment: Charlotte Area Transit System DepartmentTransit & Rail MaintenanceSalary: $75,471.00 - $94,339.00 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 incumbent is responsible for providing direction to Rail staff, Leads, Senior Technicians, Maintenance Assistants, and Technicians of the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) Rail Car Maintenance department. The Lead supervisor is an active frontline supervisory position.

This position will assist the Rail Car Maintenance manager in the guidance and direction of the department and will assume responsibilities in the absence of the manager. In addition to providing advice on repairs for Siemens S70 Light Rail Vehicles (LRV) and Street Cars’ systems and subsystems encompassing electronic, mechanical, and electro-mechanical maintenance work.

The incumbent will assist with management, supervision, project management, LRV acceptance, provide vehicle-related direction and guidance, and direct complex and specialized troubleshooting. Responsible for ensuring and providing oversight of shifts, adherence to LRV revenue requirements, and reviewing associated administrative documentation to verify preventive and corrective maintenance completion. This position has considerable latitude for independent judgment and action within established guidelines.

Personnel in this class are responsible for supervising, providing guidance, and working with personnel in the inspection, repair, calibration, overhaul, project management and modification of various electronic and electro-mechanical equipment in a shop environment on the assigned shift. Responsible for assigning equipment and personnel to meet all operating requirements following all established rules, regulations, practices, policies, and procedures.

This position reports to the Rail Car Maintenance Manager.

Major Duties and Responsibilities:

• Work with members of the workforce and all related vocations and departments to provide safe, reliable, and clean rail vehicles ready for daily revenue service.

• Provides supervision to departmental personnel and shops ensuring all departmental goals are accomplished; promotes and supports team culture.

• Directs, maintains, troubleshoots, and repairs all systems related to rail vehicle systems such as; propulsion, braking, HVAC, automatic train protection, doors, auxiliary power, power collection, hydraulics, trucks, car body, and all maintenance and emergency support equipment using all the necessary tools and equipment to accomplish tasks.

• Responsible for responding to rail emergencies involving significant service delays and vehicle accidents. Provides guidance and support to Rail Operation to access and retrieve LRV from the incident and restore rail service.

• Performs acceptance and pre-service testing of rail vehicles as well as multi-system tests as required.

• Conducts sessions with teams to improve the results of work, processes, and work plans.

• Develops plans for increasing department efficiency and reliability efforts by identifying and implementing process improvements.

• Discretionary ability to decide vendor/internal material and development strategy by partnering with Managers and others to evaluate, recommend and implement alternative delivery systems to maximize internal resources and leverage available finances. 

• Serves as departmental internal QA and subject matter expert resource by reviewing parts, work performance, and preventive and corrective actions. 

• Evaluates personnel performance, document performance after successful completion of required training programs, and verify the ability to operate specific equipment and perform specified duties of Rail Car Technicians.

• Researches and prepares technical and administrative reports in support of the operation. 

• Assists in resolving rail maintenance emergencies.

• Identifies and resolves workplace problems, including tardiness or absenteeism

• Schedules and directs planned maintenance as outlined by the OEM and CATS management.

• Follows and adheres to all Rail Car Maintenance standards, policies, and procedures applicable to the day-to-day operations of the rail cars and revenue service.

• Will comply with all safety regulations by CATS, APTA, OSHA, FTA, FRA, and NCDOT.

• Responsible for assigning equipment and personnel to meet all operating requirements per all established rules, regulations, practices, policies, and procedures. 

• The incumbent directly supervises technical and professional employees and subordinate supervisors.

• Performs other related duties as required.

• Directly support continuous implementation and compliance of the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) State Safety Oversight Program Standards (SSOPS) and Federal Transit Administration (FTA) regulations 49 CFR Part 673 and 672 related to the Safety Management System (SMS) and the CATS Agency Safety Plan (ASP). Support Safety performance goals of CATS 

• Encourage employees to proactively support and report safety concerns following the CATS Safety Reporting options as described in your training and in the ASP. 

• 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. 

• Advocate and promote a strong safety culture within CATS with regard to transportation services, capital programs, facility operations and maintenance, worksite procedures, employees, and customers following SMS and ASP. 

• Participate in internal and external ASP audits. 

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

Principles of organization, motivation, supervision, and personnel management; Theory, operation, maintenance, repair, and troubleshooting of light rail vehicles, including the replacement of electrical/electronic components, truck overhaul, wheel truing, air conditioning, heating, hydraulic brake systems, and other related repairs; Principles of electricity, electronics, and digital circuits; Industrial safety and general shop safety rules and regulations and hazardous materials handling, and storage regulations as applied to rail maintenance shops; Theory, the operation and use of computers and computerized diagnostic and test equipment.

Ability To

• Planned, scheduled, prioritized, and organized the work for optimal effectiveness and efficiency of production while meeting established standards and deadlines.

• Prepare correspondence and reports and analyze data with recommendations.

• Work independently with limited supervision.

• To implement and establish a productive and motivating work environment in and out of the maintenance shop. 

• Developing cooperative and effective working relationships with those with whom one comes in contact.

Essential Duties:

Note: Essential Duties are skills and abilities that candidates must be able to perform within their required scope of responsibilities. Not meeting the requirements or not having the ability to perform essential duties may be grounds for disqualification.

• The candidate must be available to work irregular hours and shifts depending upon the business needs of CATS. 

• Candidates may be required to respond to emergencies on a 24-hour, seven-day basis.

• Communicate effectively and clearly in English, both orally and in writing.

• Must be able to accurately document work on logs, spreadsheets, documents, and forms and utilize computerized maintenance terminals, laptops, and handheld computers. 

• Must complete a 6-month probationary period.

• Must be computer literate and can adapt to the use and understanding of existing software and future upgrades.

• Must be able to use all trade tools as well as typical shops and heavy equipment.

• Must have the ability to be able to operate all rail-related heavy equipment and vehicles. Must complete all training assignments with passing scores and maintain qualifications.

• Must be able to safely couple, uncouple, and operate railcars in the yard and shops.

• Must be able to work in the safety-critical environments associated with the operation of a rail system.

• Must meet Physical and Sensory Requirements and the Special Provisions listed below.

• Must have and must maintain a valid driver's license.

Physical Requirements:

• Must have the ability to lift and carry at least 60 lbs.

• Must be able to manipulate 100 lbs.

• Must be able to stand and walk on uneven surfaces while working.

• Must be able to work while in the following positions or conditions: sitting, bending, twisting, kneeling, reaching, crouching, lying down prone or supine, at shoulder level or above, or any combination listed above.

Preferred Qualifications:

The required knowledge, skills, and abilities obtained through training, education, and experience are equivalent to five (5) years and supervision of rail maintenance, electronics, industrial maintenance, and operational knowledge or (5) Years of project management. 

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.

Clickhereto learn more about the City of Charlotte’s benefits.

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