Principal Data Services Manager

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Principal Data Services Manager

Salary

$136,763.12 - $173,448.50 Annually

Location

San Francisco, CA

Job Type

Regular/Full-Time

Remote Employment

Flexible/Hybrid

Job Number

805

Section

Planning Section

Opening Date

05/04/2022

Closing Date

5/30/2022 11:59 PM Pacific

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission is an equal-opportunity, non-discriminatory employer. MTC provides all employees and applicants with an equal opportunity in every aspect of the employment experience regardless of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, physical handicap, medical condition or marital status.

DESCRIPTION

DEADLINE TO APPLY IS MAY 30, 2022 AT 11:59 PM
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED, PLEASE APPLY IMMEDIATELY
First round interviews tentatively scheduled for Thursday, June 9, 2022
A resume and cover letter are not required with your application, but highly encouraged 

Be ready to rethink your assumptions about the public sector. Flexible hours? Flexible work location? A beautiful, well-located, high amenity building for on-site work? Yes, yes, and yes!

 

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) is the transportation planning, financing and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area.  For more information about MTC, visit www.mtc.ca.gov.        

In a dynamic and complex region of nearly 8 million people, 4 million jobs, 109 jurisdictions with together more than 2.5 million parcels, data and analytics are increasingly foundational to understanding emerging regional planning challenges, identifying shortcomings, and formulating opportunities and the plans to collaboratively achieve them as part of the long-range regional planning work.

The Regional Planning Program at Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) and MTC is working on a data strategy to streamline its analytical workflows, harness efficiencies, and increase locational intelligence in the service of regional core goals. From understanding where there is capacity for housing to the whereabouts and persistence of transportation bottlenecks to the state of equity in the region’s housing markets, the Regional Planning Program's Data and Visualization unit offers a portfolio of data and analytical services to the agency and the region’s jurisdictions to enable better decisions.

MTC is looking for candidates to fill two key roles within the Data and Visualization unit in the Regional Planning Program at ABAG/MTC. Each position provides key support in two core areas of the unit's work.  The Principal Data Services Manager position requires an individual with a thorough analytical and technical understanding of data environments, application of relevant datasets, as well as analytical practices in the context of current regional planning.  The ideal candidate will have: 

  • A strong background in data management with solid experience in ESRI's ArcGIS software platform, experience with building spatial models and repeatable workflows using python, with the ability to handle large datasets, whether obtained on disk or through API requests, to provide meaningful technical recommendations;  
  • Experience with GIS, geospatial data, coordinate systems, and associated tools (ArcGIS, QGIS, PostgreSQL/ PostGIS, Shapely) including geospatial scripting.
  • Solid communication skills (oral and written), with the ability to communicate technical concepts and information effectively to different audiences;
  • The ability and willingness to learn new technical skills and procedures quickly and efficiently as needed;
  • A creative mindset applied to solving technical and analytical challenges in the interface between regional planning and the data required to support it;
  • Effective time management and organization skills with equal attention to detail and accuracy; and
  • The ability and willingness to work both efficiently and collaboratively in an often fast-paced environment on several projects, whether in the context of an in-person, remote, or hybrid work setting
  • Some working experience supporting local jurisdiction data and geographic information needs in a public agency setting
See Essential Duties and Responsibilities section below for the specific role that the Principal Data Services Manager will have within the Data and Visualization Unit. 

All employees at MTC are classified as Disaster Services Workers.      

SKILLS AND ABILITIES

In addition to the skills and abilities listed above, the ideal candidate will also have the following:

Knowledge of:

  • Theories, principles, and practices of regional planning; 
  • Computer programming (Python, R); 
  • Database development and maintenance (SQL); 
  • GIS programming/application and spatial analysis (ArcGIS, PostGIS); 
  • Data storage and modeling platforms (Socrata, Amazon S3, Amazon Redshift); 
  • Principles of Extract, Transform and Load (ETL), including data standardization, cleaning, verification, deduplication; 
  • Collaborative version control systems (GitHub); 
  • Land use and the built environment.
Ability to:
  • Collaborate in technical and policy focused teams to meet a variety of project goals and objectives; 
  • Identify appropriate technical and analytical methods responsive to project and team needs;
  • Advise on database structure, data schemas and ETL workflows; 
  • Learn new technologies and practices related to regional planning and information systems;
  • Relate policy goals to data resources; 
  • Plan and mange assignments; 
  • Communicate effectively, both orally and in writing; 
  • Prepare clear, effective, and accurate reports and presentations; 
  • Respond to public inquiries and data requests; 
  • Establish and maintain healthy working relationships with co-workers to achieve project goals; and work effectively in a variety of team contexts.


MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

An appropriate combination of education and experience that has provided the required knowledge, skills and abilities is qualifying. A typical way of obtaining the required qualifications is:

Education: A Master's degree in an appropriate field related to the area of assignment such as Computer Science, Data Science, Urban Planning and Policy, Transportation Planning, City and Regional Planning; Transportation Engineering or Modeling, Financial Management, Economics, Business or Public Administration.  (Applicants with a degree issued from an institution outside the United States must have their transcripts evaluated by an academic accrediting service and provide proof of equivalency along with their application.)      

Experience: Three years of increasingly responsible experience in an appropriate field related to the area of assignment.  Four or more years of relevant work experience applying the skills and abilities listed above is preferred. Candidate must also have demonstrated experience with one or more of the following software tools: Tableau/ PowerBI/ Mode Analytics, Python, R, Jupyter Notebooks, GitHub, Visual Studio Code, Suite of ArcGIS mapping tools, MSSQL, Visual Studio Code, D3; Business process diagramming tools such as Visio, LucidChart or other process communication tools.

A Bachelor's degree in an appropriate discipline and four years of relevant experience is an alternative qualification. 

License/Certificate: Possession of a valid California Class C driver's license and a safe driving record, or the ability to provide alternate transportation which is approved by the appointing authority. 

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Specific duties and responsibilities for the Principal Data Services Manager position include, but are not limited to, the following: 

  • Lead the Data Services Program within the Data & Visualization unit in the Regional Planning Program supporting data collection, data development, data management and curation, and dissemination to both internal and external audiences
    • This work will touch all phases of the collection, development and integration of key datasets managed and hosted on the Bay Area Spatial Information System (BASIS) database 
  • Bring together key regional datasets that support the agency's work in transportation, land use, resilience, and housing  
  • Support MTC's development, maintenance, and application of data used by agency staff to rapidly answer regional planning questions with substantial data requirements 
  • Support land use modeling data development, including the identification, collection, cleaning, documentation, testing, and dissemination of key land use attributes 
  • Coordinate the section's local jurisdiction data collection efforts (Local Policy Survey/ Local Jurisdiction Technical Assistance), manage the curation and dissemination of these data across the section, and support BASIS/ Land Use/ Travel Model 2 integration  
  • Develop documentation, scripts, tools, and models based around open standards using agile methods
  • Solve complex policy related problems using data, support the data driven decision making process, and perform a key role, integral to the unit, section, and agency at large
  • Manage the Data Services work of the unit and section, and supervise Assistant/Associate data analysis staff within the Data & Visualization Unit
  • Build and maintain a comprehensive, integrated Data Model that supports key programs such as land use modeling/ travel modeling and the long-range transportation plan and environmental impact report
  • Build, maintain, and support data models, process documentation and application interfaces used to manage and manipulate data for shared internal and external use
  • Explain and gather requirements for analysis and application building approaches among planners, lay audiences, and the public 
  • Acquire, clean, and analyze all manner of data sets ranging in size and complexity
  • Manage the unit's Master Data Management effort, including maintaining and promoting data documentation, data lifecycles, collecting and managing user requirements, developing business processes that document data integration and data models 
  • Assist with the management and implementation of the Data Strategy
  • Manage and support BASIS, Land Use Modeling, Data Integration, Travel Model Data Integration efforts across the section
  • Manage and support local jurisdiction data collection efforts, jurisdiction data review, and data quality assurance testing and completion
  • Improving, maintaining, and applying data analysis and collection scripts, tools, and web applications
  • Perform other job-related duties or tasks as may be assigned by the section

THE FOLLOWING ARE AMONG THE BENEFITS OFFERED TO EMPLOYEES OF MTC:

  • Public Employees Retirement System (PERS); employee contributes a portion of gross salary on a pre-tax basis.
    • MTC is subject to California Pension Reform and as of January 1, 2013 will offer two pension plans. The plan employee will receive will be based on the individual's historical pension plan membership. HR will discuss this directly with all final candidates.
    •        
  • Health Benefits Insurance through the Public Employees' Retirement System (premiums are shared between agency and employee).
    •    
  • Agency-paid Dental Insurance (dependent coverage shared by the employee and MTC).
    •    
  • Agency-paid Vision Care Insurance, employees only (dependent coverage is paid in full by employee).
    •    
  • Agency-paid Life, AD&D, Short Term and Long Term Disability Insurance.
    •    
  • Eleven paid holidays per year.
    •    
  • One day per month paid vacation leave; for each year of service, an additional day per year is granted to a maximum of 25 days per year.
    •    
  • One day per month paid sick leave, with no limit to the amount of sick leave that can be accumulated. (May cash out up to 240 hours of accumulated sick leave upon separation from the Agency.)
    •    
  • Personal Business leave; up to three (3) days per year depending upon date of hire.
    •    
  • Monthly Transit/Parking Subsidy.
    •    
  • Alternative employee-paid payroll savings plans (tax-deferred compensation plans).
    •    
  • Two voluntary employee-paid pre-tax dependent care and flexible spending accounts available for employees to participate in.
    •    
  • Voluntary Supplemental life insurance.

01
The Principal Data Services Manager position provides key support in Data Services + Local Jurisdiction Data Collection (BASIS) within the Data and Visualization unit in the Regional Planning Program at ABAG/MTC. This position will also support Land Use and Transportation Modeling data integration efforts, including collecting and documenting data requirements and supporting data quality improvements as needed. Tell us why you think you are the best candidate for this position. Please be specific and provide examples in your response.
02
Documentation and Repeatable Workflows are two important aspects of work carried out by the Data & Visualization unit. Tell us about the programming or scripting languages (Python and/or R) that you are most comfortable using when working with spatial data. If you have examples, please attach them to your application. Additionally, describe your approach to documenting this work. What tools, platforms or procedures do you typically use for carrying out this work, including documentation?
03
Data analysis and visualization skills will be essential to succeed in this role. Describe a project where you worked with large datasets, including geospatial data. What tools did you use to analyze and visualize the data, what insights did you drive with your data, and what lessons did you learn that you would apply to future projects?
04
Do you have a working knowledge or understanding of how cloud computing works? If so, please elaborate on your knowledge and experience. Be sure to provide examples of work that you have performed in this area. If you do not have any experience working on cloud platforms, please describe how this environment would benefit an agency like ABAG/MTC.
05
Please provide recent examples of your work that demonstrate experience in one or more of the skills and abilities that are defined for the Ideal Candidate. These work samples can be attached to your on-line application. Please list and describe the work samples you plan to attach to your application.

Required Question

Agency
Metropolitan Transportation Commission
Address
375 Beale Street, Suite 800

San Francisco, California, 94105
Phone
415-778-6700
Website
http://www.mtc.ca.gov
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