Product Development Manager

This position is eligible for teleworking, which is currently 2 days per week. New hires are eligible to apply 30 days after their effective date of hire.

Opening

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

The MTA transportation network has a very large system and infrastructure for financial, business, automated train, transportation, power, and physical security. The MTA IT Department is centrally responsible for providing a full range of Information and Operational Technology services to the MTA agencies and administrative units through its operating and support units. These services are provided on a 24/7/365 basis to support the MTA organization and its ridership. MTA IT's Product Development group is empowered, multi-functional teams focused on the end-to-end management of development products from strategy to delivery. Using innovative processes and tools, the teams are responsible for developing and maintaining highly effective, secure, and innovative transportation, operational, and back-end information systems to support MTA goals and priorities. 

This role is responsible for developing and maintaining product lifecycles from inception/innovation through design, build, and ultimately the ongoing run stage before an eventual product retirement. This role must possess knowledge in a core IT discipline and a broad understanding of related domains. The role is also responsible for managing cross-functional teams assigned to design, build, and maintain one or more product lines. Various products, including, but not limited to:

• Corp Finance/ Capital Planning & Budget
• Legal, Risk & Safety
• Enterprise Asset Management
• Workforce Products (Payroll, Pension, Timekeeping, Recruitment)
• Employee Experience Platforms/Back-End Operations/DBA
• Bus & Paratransit
• Scheduling Crew Pick Transportation Intelligent Systems, Train Control
• B&T Products
• Customer Experience
• Revenue Fare Collections

Responsibilities

• Oversees rigorous quality assurance processes to deliver reliability, performance, and safety objectives. Oversees staff workload and quality of work, addressing performance issues when needed.
• Implements the product vision and strategy into the product development team’s work. Identifies potential risks to the product and develops mitigation strategies. Escalates risks to leadership as needed.
• Manages product initiatives to be completed on time and within budget.
• Manages through change, including the ability to adapt to shifting priorities and market conditions.
• Translates strategies and policies into operational plans, ensuring alignment with company objectives.
• Delivers monthly or quarterly results, with performance subject to regular review against targets.
• Collaborates with IT and business leaders to create and manage product roadmaps aligned with digital strategies.
• Ensures team compliance with governance processes and adherence to technology architectures and methodologies.
• Develops, manages, and monitors system support processes to maintain product quality and sustainability.
• Understands customer needs, market trends, and the competitive landscape to inform product strategy and feature prioritization.
• Manages day-to-day operations and motivates team(s) to achieve results; may be responsible for a budget. Manages team priorities and resource demand/supply; recommends timelines and resources needed to achieve goals and objectives.
• Supervises a professional team of IT staff in its selection, adoption, development, and support of one or more product lines through all stages of the product lifecycle, from ideation, definition, prototyping, design, validation & testing, launch, run stage, and eventual product retirement.
• Monitors and manages team activities and deliverables for adherence to relevant enterprise and departmental resource, technology, and operational governance/approval processes, and departmentally spanning technology architectures, models, methods, and tools.
• Analyzes and monitors the effectiveness and efficiency of product(s), and develops, proposes, and implements improvement strategies.
• Develops and maintains personal knowledge of relevant industry models, methods, and tools, emerging technologies, and high-impact regulatory changes.

Required for All Jobs

• Performs other duties as assigned
• Complies with all policies and standards
• May be required to work hours outside regular work hours, as applicable
• Observes the work performed by contractors, as applicable
• Reviews invoices and approves them if the work meets contractual standards, as applicable
• Addresses performance issues with the contractor when possible, as applicable
• Escalates issues to other parties when needed, as applicable

Required Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor’s degree. A combination of education and experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.
• Experience: Minimum of 5 years of relevant technology experience. 
• Demonstrated leadership ability.
• Demonstrated ability to inspire, motivate, and empower people to achieve organizational goals.
• Demonstrated ability to inspire, motivate, and empower people to achieve organizational goals.

Technical Skills

• Expert in deep understanding of technology.
• Strong ability to develop and implement enterprise product solutions. Ability to prioritize, handle multitask and work in an agile environment. Ability to quickly learn and understand new technologies.
• Strong experience in managing projects and initiatives.
• Strong experience with constant shifting needs and demands of the business Departments.
• Experience in at least one software engineering methodology, including but not limited to:  Waterfall, Agile, Scrum, DevOps, Extreme Programming (XP), Kanban, Lean, Rapid Application Development (RAD).
• Experience with the following language(s): Job Specific (e.g., Ruby, Python, Java, C++, COBOL, etc).
• Familiarity with the following vendor-specific platforms: Job Specific (e.g., Azure, Windows Server platforms, or Linux).

Leadership Skills

• Expert leadership in leading change by developing inter/intra team communication and cohesiveness; sustainment of culture and supporting staff during organizational growth/changes.
• Expert leadership in leading people by working with staff to develop systems to ensure consistent, high-quality project management discipline for all technology-related initiatives and endeavors.
• Expert leadership in driving results by meeting organizational goals and customer expectations and making decisions that produce high-quality results by applying technical knowledge, analyzing problems, and calculating risks.
• Expert leadership in business acumen by providing direction on evaluation, selection, implementation, and maintenance of information systems, ensuring appropriate investment in strategic and operational systems.
• Expert leadership in building coalitions by internally and externally building partnerships with key stakeholders to help achieve the MTA’s mission or common goals through influence or negotiations

Behavioral Skills

• Demonstrated ability to lead teams, provide coaching, and direct feedback.
• Expert in active listening, attention to detail, customer service, prioritization, and problem-solving skills.
• Expert in working independently and strategically.
• Expert in identifying and analyzing risks and developing effective mitigation strategies.
• Expert technical knowledge and a diverse skillset to understand various technologies, systems, and potential risks.
• Expert in critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
• Expert in interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills, with the ability to effectively collaborate with both technical and non-technical peers.
• Expert in managing multiple projects simultaneously and prioritizing tasks based on urgency and impact.
• Extensive hands-on experience with related tools.
• Expert experience with working under pressure and meeting deadlines individually and collaboratively. Thinks logically, assesses problems, and is results-oriented.
• Expert in identifying complex business and technology risks and associated vulnerabilities.
• Expert in communicating effectively, both orally and in writing, to interact with team members, customers, management, and support personnel (technical and non-technical).
• Expert in establishing and maintaining effective working relationships with employees at all levels within the organization, and with both internal and external customers.

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.