Director, Safety Culture & Human Factors (7421)

About the role

The Director of Safety Culture & Human Factors provides strategic leadership to advance a strong, positive safety culture across operations in alignment with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Safety Management System (SMS) and Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan (PTASP) requirements. This role focuses on strengthening workplace culture at all levels by addressing what people do (behaviors), how people feel (values and attitudes), and how SEPTA supports safety through its policies, systems, and structures. The role fosters labor and SAM collaboration and reinforces shared accountability to prevent serious incidents and support safe, reliable service.

Working closely with executive leadership, labor representatives, operations, maintenance, and frontline employees, the Director promotes active employee engagement, increased reporting, moving beyond passive compliance toward shared ownership of safety outcomes. The role supports non-punitive reporting environments where hazards, near-misses, and errors can be reported without fear, enabling meaningful systemic learning rather than individual blame. The Director integrates human factors and human performance principles into daily decision-making, incident learning, and work design—ensuring processes and environments account for human limitations such as fatigue, stress, and cognitive load. Using data-driven approaches and leading safety indicators, the role helps shift SEPTA from compliance-based safety to a proactive, integrated culture that prevents serious incidents and supports safe, reliable service. Serving as a trusted advisor, the Director influences safety outcomes through collaboration, clear two-way communication, and alignment with SEPTA’s long-term strategic plan, while respecting collective bargaining agreements and workforce expertise.

Responsibilities

• Advance a proactive, human-centered safety culture across operations that goes beyond compliance to prevent serious incidents, strengthen workforce engagement, and improve employee morale.
• Apply human performance and human factors principles to risk understanding, incident learning, and system and process design, creating environments that account for human limitations and support learning and recovery.
• Facilitate cross-functional incident and near-miss review processes that emphasize systemic improvement, shared learning, and prevention rather than individual blame.
• Strengthen trust across the workforce by supporting non-punitive reporting environments that empower employees to identify hazards and actively contribute to safety outcomes.
• Partner with executive leadership, labor representatives, frontline employees, and departments across the Authority (including Operations, Maintenance, System Safety, and Human Resources) to embed safety considerations into policies, capital projects, system design, and daily operations.
• Collaborate across departments to ensure safety culture and human performance principles are reflected in agency safety policies, procedures, and regulatory compliance activities.
• Guide the use of leading safety indicators—such as audits, workforce feedback, and cultural assessments—to proactively manage risk and improve understanding of cross-department safety impacts.
• Advance collaborative safety processes aligned with SEPTA’s strategic plan and strengthen how safety risk and performance insights are communicated to senior leadership, governing bodies, and regulators.
• Comply with all Authority and departmental safety and security policies and procedures as well as all applicable job safety responsibilities. Report any safety concerns, compromises, or hazards affecting operations, the public, self, and/or other employees. Promote personal safety and the safety of others.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in safety, engineering, human factors, industrial/organizational psychology, public administration, transportation, or a related field.
• Minimum of 8–10 years of progressive experience in safety, risk management, human performance, or operational leadership within public transit, transportation, the public sector, or similarly complex, safety-critical environments.
• Demonstrated success advancing safety culture, human performance, or organizational change initiatives beyond compliance-based programs in a medium to large organization.
• Proven ability to collaborate effectively with executive leadership, labor organizations, frontline employees, and cross-functional stakeholders.
• Strong knowledge of safety and risk principles applicable to complex operating environments, including incident learning, hazard identification, and systemic risk management.
• Experience influencing policy, process, safety outcomes, or system design through collaboration rather than direct authority.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate safety and risk concepts for diverse audiences, including senior leadership and governing bodies.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in safety science, human factors, engineering, organizational development, public policy, or related discipline.
• Experience working in public transit, rail, aviation, or other regulated transportation environments.
• Familiarity with Human and Organizational Performance (HOP), Human Performance Improvement (HPI), or similar frameworks.
• Experience supporting programs aligned with FTA SMS and PTASP, or comparable safety frameworks.
• Background working in a unionized workforce environment with demonstrated labor-management collaboration.
• Professional certifications such as CSP, ASP, CHSP, Six Sigma, Lean, or human factors-related credentials.

Benefits

• Comprehensive healthcare coverage: medical, prescription, dental, and vision plans with little to no employee premiums.
• Retirement security: Defined Benefit Pension Plan and a 457B Deferred Compensation Plan.
• Work-life balance: paid parental leave, generous vacation time, and paid holidays.
• Employee wellness programs and resources to support physical, mental, and emotional well-being.
• Tuition reimbursement to support education and career advancement.
• Student loan assistance: positions qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program.
• Free SEPTA Transportation Pass, providing unlimited access to all SEPTA services.

Pay

Salary range: $125,762.00 - $157,196.00