Director of Safety – Safety Division – SF Municipal Transportation Agency (9183)

About the role

The Director of Safety serves as San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s (SFMTA) safety executive, providing strategic leadership for all safety programs for one of the nation’s largest and most complex urban transit systems.

Responsibilities

• Ensures the agency complies with laws, standards, and regulations required by government agencies including Cal/OSHA, EPA, FTA, DOT, DOL, and CPUC; industry best practices, standards and requirements established by APTA, NTSB, ANSI, NFPA and TCRP.
• Develops, implements and continuously improves comprehensive safety policies and procedures to reduce risk, eliminates accidents and protect all agency stakeholders.
• Maintains awareness of regulatory landscape and proactively adapts agency programs to address evolving compliance requirements.
• Provides leadership over all aspects of the Safety Division including the System Safety team, establishing vision, priorities, and performance standards aligned with Agency goals.
• Led development of the agency’s goals, strategic plans, policies, procedures, and work standards translating policy direction into measurable programs and outcomes.
• Influences leadership, operations and front-line staff through visible commitment and clear communication.
• Oversees occupational safety and health (Cal/OSHA) and system safety programs for bus and rail operations and ensuring robust safeguards across all operating environments.
• Develops and ensures safety procedures to reduce and eliminate accidents, injuries and system failures.
• Develops and presents comprehensive safety reports for executive management and the SFMTA Board of Directors translating complex data into clear, actionable insights.
• Collaborates cross-functionally with operations, City officials, City Attorney’s Office, and HR leadership to integrate safety into all agency functions.
• Serves as the agency’s primary point of contact for safety-related regulatory agencies and external stakeholders.
• Directs the development and implementation of effective safety training, education and prevention programs throughout the agency.

Requirements

Minimum Qualifications: Possession of a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university; AND Ten (10) years of professional-level experience in transit system safety, safety management, industrial safety, transportation planning and/or system safety engineering of which four (4) years of this experience was in a supervisory or management capacity supervising professional-level staff; AND Possession of a valid driver’s license.

Qualifications

• Additional professional-level experience in transit system safety, safety management, industrial safety, transportation planning, and/or system safety engineering may be substituted for the required education on a year-for-year basis.
• One year (2000 hours) of qualifying experience will be considered equivalent to 30 semester units/45 quarter units.

Desirable Qualifications

• Credentials as a Certified Safety Professional (CSP), Transit Safety and Security (TSSP) or comparable certification.
• Experience in developing and implementing safety programs in multimodal transit setting.
• Extensive knowledge of operational safety, system safety engineering, quality assurance, workers’ compensation, loss control, and management principles.
• Thorough understanding of rail and bus systems, transit procedures, and equipment, including vehicles, facilities, power, signal, communications, and control systems.
• Demonstrated experience in budgeting, strategic planning.
• Ability to work effectively with diverse staff and diverse demographics.