Capital Program Manager (Albany, NY)

The Capital Program Manager leads the planning, design, procurement, and construction management of new transit facilities and major facility/street infrastructure expansions/rehabilitations. This role manages projects from early concept development and feasibility through detailed design, permitting, and construction closeout, ensuring delivery on time, within budget, and in compliance with all applicable FTA requirements, federal/state regulations, and CDTA standards.


Duties and Responsibilities
Capital Project Leadership

• Lead facility and street capital projects including new construction, major renovations, expansions, and site improvements (operations/maintenance facilities, garages, administrative buildings).
• Drive early project definition including needs assessments, feasibility and alternatives analysis, conceptual layouts, lifecycle cost evaluation, and business case development.
• Develop project charters, delivery strategies (DBB/CM/DB), governance plans, and executive/Board-level reporting.
• Establish and manage integrated project schedules, critical path tracking, budgets, and controls from concept through commissioning.

Design Management

• Procure and manage architectural/engineering consultants and oversee conceptual and detailed design development (30/60/90/IFC milestones).
• Ensure designs meet transit operational, safety, resiliency, ADA, energy efficiency, and future expansion requirements.
• Coordinate multidisciplinary design reviews with operations, maintenance, safety, IT, security, and procurement to ensure constructability and cost alignment.
• Manage permitting and approvals with municipalities, regulatory agencies, and utilities.

Construction Management & Field Delivery

• Administer construction procurement, contractor onboarding, and contract execution.
• Lead construction-phase management including RFIs, submittals, change orders, pay applications, QA/QC, site safety, and schedule updates.
• Facilitate and document project meetings; manage claims and dispute resolution with legal and procurement.
• Oversee commissioning, punch lists, turnover documentation, training, warranties, and final acceptance.

FTA Compliance & Grant-Funded Delivery

• Ensure compliance with FTA and federal capital requirements including procurement standards, Buy America, civil rights, grant administration, recordkeeping, and audits.
• Coordinate with grants and finance on eligibility tracking, matching funds, drawdowns, reimbursements, reporting, and project closeout.
• Maintain organized documentation to support FTA reviews and audits.

Cost, Schedule, Risk & Stakeholder Management

• Develop and manage project budgets including contingencies, escalation, and cash-flow forecasting.
• Identify and mitigate project risks related to scope, utilities, permitting, geotechnical conditions, pricing, supply chain, labor, and stakeholder impacts.
• Serve as a primary liaison for internal and external stakeholders and support Board, committee, and public communications.

Standards, Safety, Sustainability & Continuous Improvement

• Ensure compliance with applicable codes, environmental regulations, and CDTA safety and security standards.
• Advance sustainability and resiliency objectives including electrification readiness, energy efficiency, stormwater management, climate adaptation, and maintainability.
• Strengthen capital delivery processes through standardization, templates, lessons learned, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Communicate operational updates, project progress, and capital planning information to employees, senior leadership, the Board of Directors, community partners, and regulatory agencies.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering, Construction Management, Architecture, Facilities Engineering, Project Management, or a closely related field. Equivalent combination of education and relevant experience may be considered.
• 7+ years progressive experience managing capital projects with direct responsibility for scope, schedule, and budget.
• Experience administering professional services and construction contracts, including negotiation, change management, and contractor performance oversight.
• Strong knowledge of design development phases, construction means/methods, estimating, scheduling, budgeting, and project controls.
• Experience working in a regulated public-sector or quasi-public environment (transit, DOT, utilities, public authority, higher education, etc.) with formal procurement processes is preferred.
• Familiarity with FTA-funded project requirements and audit-ready documentation practices for federally assisted projects is preferred.
• Proficiency with project management tools (e.g., MS Project or Primavera, Excel-based cost tracking) and document control platforms.

Working Conditions

• Need for occasional travel and extended hours.
• Primarily an office position but field investigation, review, and oversight is also required.

Compensation
Grade 621 ($126,111 -$155,115)


Benefits
CDTA offers medical, dental and vision coverage along with a pension plan, life insurance coverage and paid time off.


At CDTA, we are committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, national origin, age, physical and mental disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information (including characteristics and testing), military and veteran status, and any other characteristic protected by applicable law. CDTA believes that diversity and inclusion among our employees is critical to our success as a company, and we seek to recruit, develop and retain the most talented people from a diverse candidate pool.