Engineering Program Manager

Engineering Manager

The Engineering Manager provides technical leadership, project and program oversight, and multidisciplinary coordination for engineering initiatives supporting CATS capital delivery, system modernization, rehabilitation, facility improvements, infrastructure upgrades, and other engineering-related priorities. Depending on assignment, this position may oversee work associated with rail, bus, facilities, systems, utilities, civil works, vertical construction, accessibility, special projects, or other engineering programs requiring strong technical judgment and disciplined project execution.

Major Duties and Responsibilities:

Program and Project Leadership

• Leads assigned engineering programs, projects, or technical workstreams, including planning, design review, implementation support, and transition into operations or maintenance as applicable.
• Establishes work priorities, technical expectations, project approaches, and coordination structures for assigned engineering initiatives.
• Helps define scope, objectives, assumptions, constraints, and execution strategies for projects that may vary in size, complexity, delivery method, and technical discipline.
• Tracks progress, risks, dependencies, and engineering support needs across multiple concurrent assignments.

Technical Review and Engineering Stewardship

• Oversees or performs engineering review of plans, specifications, reports, studies, calculations, models, submittals, technical criteria, and related work products.
• Helps ensure engineering solutions are aligned with agency standards, codes, operational requirements, safety expectations, constructability needs, maintainability, and lifecycle asset performance.
• Identifies technical issues, design conflicts, scope gaps, implementation concerns, or system compatibility risks and supports timely resolution.
• Supports technically sound, practical, and well-documented engineering decisions across assigned work.

Cross-Functional Coordination

• Coordinates with operations, maintenance, planning, safety, procurement, asset management, finance, capital program management, and other internal stakeholders to support successful project and program delivery.
• Works with consultants, contractors, utility providers, regulators, local jurisdictions, and partner agencies as needed to support design, permitting, implementation, and turnover.
• Helps align engineering work with operational constraints, implementation timing, regulatory requirements, and broader agency priorities.
• Supports collaborative resolution of technical and programmatic issues across disciplines and departments.

Procurement, Consultant, and Contractor Support

• Supports development of scopes of work, procurement documentation, technical requirements, bid support materials, and consultant or contractor selection inputs.
• Coordinates consultant and contractor activities related to design, technical services, implementation support, field issue resolution, and technical closeout.
• Reviews work products and monitors performance to help ensure consultant and contractor work is timely, complete, and aligned with agency expectations.
• Supports contract administration activities, technical negotiations, task order development, and amendment review as assigned.

Implementation, Field Coordination, and Turnover

• Provides engineering guidance during implementation, field coordination, testing, commissioning, activation, and turnover activities as needed.
• Participates in site visits, inspections, coordination meetings, technical reviews, and issue resolution efforts involving active work environments.
• Helps ensure engineering changes, field conditions, and implementation issues are addressed in a manner consistent with agency standards and project objectives.
• Supports technically sound transition of completed work into operations, maintenance, and system-of-record documentation.

Engineering Governance and Documentation

• Ensures engineering documentation adheres to agency governance standards, technical review expectations, document control requirements, and turnover procedures.
• Maintains organized records of reviews, approvals, technical comments, decisions, assumptions, risks, and follow-up actions.
• Supports traceability, technical consistency, and defensibility of engineering work products and program decisions.
• Helps strengthen engineering governance and disciplined review practices across assigned projects and programs.

Leadership and Staff Support

• Provides direction, guidance, and support to assigned engineers, coordinators, analysts, or other technical staff.
• Supports workload management, quality expectations, professional development, and technical consistency within the team.
• Helps mentor staff, support lessons learned, and encourage continuous improvement in engineering practice and delivery methods.
• Promotes professionalism, accountability, collaboration, and sound engineering judgment.

Other Responsibilities

• Monitors emerging engineering practices, technologies, standards, and implementation methods relevant to assigned programs and projects.
• Performs related duties as assigned.

Core Competencies:

The position requires demonstrated competency in the following areas:

• Engineering Program Leadership Ability to lead engineering work across a varied portfolio of projects or programs in a disciplined, organized, and results-oriented manner.
• Technical Review and Judgment Ability to evaluate engineering issues and support sound technical decisions that reflect safety, constructability, maintainability, and agency standards.
• Cross-Functional Coordination Ability to work effectively across departments, disciplines, and stakeholder groups to support engineering delivery.
• Implementation and Delivery Awareness Ability to connect engineering decisions to field execution, operating conditions, turnover needs, and long-term asset stewardship.
• Engineering Governance and Documentation Ability to maintain disciplined technical review, documentation, and decision traceability across assigned work.
• Leadership and Professional Influence Ability to guide staff, communicate technical issues clearly, and build confidence across technical, operational, and leadership audiences.

Supervision Given to:

• Engineer I, Engineer II, Lead Engineer, Engineering Project Coordinator, or other assigned technical staff, depending on assignment

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, architecture, construction management, systems engineering, or a closely related technical field and five (5) years of progressively responsible experience in engineering, public infrastructure, transit, facilities, utilities, systems, capital delivery, or related project/program delivery environments; or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Registered North Carolina Professional Engineer (PE) or Registered Architect (RA) or PE or RA registration in another state with the ability to receive reciprocity within six (6) months.
• Experience leading or coordinating engineering work involving design review, technical evaluation, procurement support, implementation, field coordination, or operational transition.
• Experience working with consultants, contractors, internal stakeholders, and regulatory or permitting agencies in a structured project environment.
• Experience supervising staff or coordinating technical resources is preferred within the minimum experience profile.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master's degree in engineering, architecture, construction management, public administration, or a related field.
• PMP, CCM, LEED AP or other relevant professional credential.
• Experience in public transit, public infrastructure, utilities, facilities, systems engineering, or comparable public-sector or service-sensitive environments.
• Experience supporting projects in active operating environments where technical work must be coordinated with ongoing service or facility operations.
• Experience with project delivery, lifecycle asset stewardship, system modernization, commissioning, turnover, or configuration control activities.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

Knowledge of:

• Engineering fundamentals across infrastructure, systems, facilities, and operating environments.
• Project delivery practices, permitting, capital documentation requirements, and cross-disciplinary coordination in public-sector or service-sensitive environments.
• Asset lifecycle management, implementation risk management, and change impacts on operational environments.
• Engineering governance, technical review, testing, commissioning, turnover, and documentation control practices relevant to assigned work.

Skill in:

• Leading multidisciplinary teams, prioritizing competing workstreams, and managing projects with evolving scope or varied technical requirements.
• Reviewing technical documents, interpreting engineering issues, and supporting practical resolution of interdisciplinary conflicts.
• Communicating complex technical concepts clearly to nontechnical audiences and decision-makers.
• Facilitating consensus-based decision-making among diverse stakeholders.
• Organizing technical reviews, project records, and follow-up actions in a disciplined manner.

Ability to:

• Adapt engineering oversight to different project types while maintaining compliance, safety, and documentation rigor.
• Anticipate operational and implementation impacts and support improvements that integrate effectively with existing systems and practices.
• Guide initiatives from concept to implementation while aligning technical solutions with long-term strategic objectives.
• Make defensible engineering decisions