Manager of Model Development

The Central Transportation Planning Staff of the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) seeks a passionate and experienced manager to lead our Model Development Team. This team is at the forefront of advancing the state of the practice in transportation modeling, designing, building, and maintaining critical tools that support transportation planning across the Boston Region and Massachusetts. In this role, you will have the opportunity to apply innovative modeling techniques, including exploratory modeling, to address complex transportation challenges and inform key decisions. If you are driven to produce quality work, passionate about the power of models, and committed to ensuring stakeholders understand and utilize these tools effectively, we encourage you to apply.

Responsibilities will include the following: 

• Team Leadership and Development: Provide day-to-day management and supervision to the Model Development team, including prioritizing, assigning, and reviewing work; ensuring quality; and fostering a supportive workplace that promotes training, skill development, and career growth.
• Project and Consultant Management: Manage project timelines and deliverables, oversee the work of consultants, and ensure effective coordination and communication across project teams.
• Model Maintenance and Enhancement: Oversee the maintenance, support, and ongoing enhancements to the agency’s transportation modeling tools, specifically TDM23, ensuring alignment with stakeholder needs and advancing the agency’s modeling practice.
• Model Development and Application: Take an active role in model development work, including the design, development, and application of regional travel demand models and associated tools.
• Stakeholder Collaboration and Communication: Communicate and coordinate model development activities with model stakeholders and technical colleagues, and work with the Director of Modeling and Analytics to identify and evaluate new modeling solutions.

Qualifications

While the following sections describe required and desirable qualifications, candidates who believe that their particular experience and skills fulfill the requirements are encouraged to apply.

Required

• Technical and Analytical Skills: Demonstrated ability to think logically and algorithmically in clear, cogent software design and well-documented code in one or more programming languages.
• Project and Team Leadership: Demonstrated ability to plan, organize, and advance multiple work efforts, effectively leading a team with a diverse range of skills while balancing priorities and constraints.
• Education and Experience: A master’s degree in engineering, computer science, mathematics, or a related field, and at least three years of project management experience and two years of staff management experience; or a bachelor’s degree in the fields listed above plus five years of project and staff management experience.

Preferred

• Transportation Domain Knowledge: Experience developing and/or using travel demand models or other transportation planning tools to produce insights into transportation planning and policy needs.
• Agency Vision Alignment: A desire to help build an equitable, sustainable, and resilient transportation system for the Boston Region.    
• Technical Skills: Experience developing in Python and Caliper’s GISDK; experience designing, developing, deploying, documenting, and maintaining production-level code, and managing substantial amounts of data (10 GB or more).

Compensation and Benefits

This is a full-time position and the starting salary range is $115,000–$125,000 annually, contingent upon qualifications and experience. The agency offers excellent Massachusetts state employee benefits; a flexible, supportive work environment; and a commitment to ongoing professional development.

Additional Information

The Central Transportation Planning Staff of the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization is a public agency made up of a passionate group of transportation planners, analysts, modelers, programmers, and engineers working to address the Boston region’s transportation challenges. The agency’s deep transportation knowledge is an essential asset to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), regional transit authorities, cities and towns within the region, as well as other agencies and stakeholders.

The agency has a hybrid schedule, combining time in the office with remote work. Employees must reside within a commutable distance from the Central Transportation Planning Staff’s office, which is located in downtown Boston, in a transit-oriented and bicycle-friendly area.

Candidates must have legal authorization to work in the United States. A Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) check must be completed if the position is offered. However, a criminal record is not an automatic bar to employment.

The Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) is the fiduciary agent to the Central Transportation Planning Staff and legally employs the staff. Both organizations are Equal Employment Opportunity employers that take pride in the diversity of their workforces and encourage all qualified persons to apply. MAPC participates in the E-Verify system to confirm employment eligibility.

How to Apply

This position is open until filled, and applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. First consideration will be given to those applicants who apply within the first 21 days. When applying for this position, please upload both a resume and cover letter via www.bostonmpo.org. Candidates selected to interview will be asked to submit three references plus a sample of relevant writing or a work product.