Program Manager - Transit Technology & Fare Systems

WSP is seeking an experienced Program Manager (P7) to support a major transit agency in New York City on large-scale fare payment, transit technology, and customer-facing mobility programs.

About the role

This position will serve as the primary day-to-day project management lead, coordinating activities among clients, technology vendors, contractors, systems integrators, and stakeholders to ensure successful project delivery. The successful candidate will provide leadership in project planning, schedule management, stakeholder coordination, risk management, executive reporting, governance, implementation oversight, and transition planning for complex transit technology programs. The role is comparable to WSP's support of major fare payment and transit modernization initiatives across New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco, and Miami.

This position is required to be onsite in New York, NY five (5) days per week. Candidates must reside in or be willing to relocate to the New York City metropolitan area. Remote or hybrid arrangements are not anticipated for this role. Position is contingent upon contract award.

Responsibilities

• Serve as Program Manager for major fare collection, transit technology, customer payment, and mobility projects.
• Act as the primary WSP point of contact with client executives, technology vendors, contractors, and project stakeholders.
• Lead project planning, execution, monitoring, control, and reporting activities throughout the project lifecycle.
• Develop and maintain integrated master schedules, budgets, action item logs, risk registers, issue logs, and executive dashboards.
• Coordinate activities among agency staff, technology providers, systems integrators, contractors, and subcontractors.
• Facilitate executive steering committee meetings, stakeholder workshops, technical reviews, and governance meetings.
• Monitor project performance and proactively identify schedule, budget, operational, and technical risks requiring management attention.
• Prepare executive-level presentations, briefing materials, program updates, and Board-level reports.
• Support project testing, system acceptance, operational readiness, implementation, transition planning, and go-live activities.
• Lead stakeholder engagement, communications, and change management efforts.
• Oversee vendor performance and coordinate cross-functional teams across technology, operations, finance, customer experience, and engineering disciplines.
• Support procurement activities, contract administration, business case development, and strategic planning initiatives.
• Mentor project managers and technical staff supporting major transit technology programs.
• Support business development, capture planning, proposal development, and client relationship management activities.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Information Technology, Business Administration, Transportation, Construction Management, Planning, or a related field.
• Minimum 12 years of progressively responsible project and program management experience.
• Minimum 10 years managing large-scale transit, transportation technology, fare collection, intelligent transportation systems (ITS), payment systems, or technology implementation programs.
• Demonstrated experience managing complex, multi-stakeholder programs with budgets exceeding $50 million.
• Experience overseeing system integration, software development, hardware deployment, testing, and implementation activities.
• Strong program controls, risk management, governance, and reporting experience.
• Proven ability to lead large, cross-functional teams and coordinate multiple concurrent workstreams.
• Exceptional written, verbal, presentation, and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience preparing executive briefings and presenting to senior leadership and agency executives.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite and project management tools.

Qualifications

• PMP Certification required or strongly preferred.
• MBA or advanced degree in a related discipline.
• Experience with fare payment systems, Automated Fare Collection (AFC), Account-Based Ticketing (ABT), contactless payments, open-loop payments, mobile ticketing, and transit retailing technologies.
• Experience supporting major metropolitan transit agencies, including NYCT/MTA, SEPTA, CTA, MBTA, WMATA, Metra, NJ TRANSIT, SFMTA, BART, or similar agencies.
• Experience supporting programs involving payment modernization, fare transformation, customer technology, and digital mobility services.
• Familiarity with PMBOK project management practices and governance frameworks.
• Experience using Primavera P6, Microsoft Project, Jira, Smartsheet, or similar project controls tools.
• Understanding of systems engineering, software lifecycle management, cybersecurity, testing and commissioning, and operational readiness processes.
• Experience with procurement support, DBOM/DBFOM contracts, or public-sector technology procurements.
• Demonstrated success managing programs involving multiple vendors, contractors, and technology partners.
• Existing relationships and experience working with large transit agencies and executive stakeholders.

Preferred Experience

The ideal candidate will have successfully delivered major transit technology and payment transformation programs involving:

• Contactless fare payment systems.
• Open payment and account-based ticketing solutions.
• Mobile applications and customer-facing technology platforms.
• Transit operations technology deployments.
• Systems integration and modernization initiatives.
• Multi-year capital programs valued at $100M+.
• Executive stakeholder management and governance.
• Large-scale implementation and transition planning.

Individuals who have led delivery of major transit fare modernization programs for large public transportation agencies and possess a proven record of program execution, client relationship management, business development, and operational leadership are strongly encouraged to apply.

Benefits

WSP provides a comprehensive suite of benefits focused on providing health and financial stability throughout the employee’s career. These benefits include:

• Coverage related to medical, dental, vision, disability, and life.
• Retirement savings.
• Paid sick leave.
• Paid vacation (or other personal time).
• Paid parental leave.
• Paid time off for purposes of bereavement, voting, and/or attendance at naturalization proceedings.

Pay

Expected Salary (all locations): $174,500.00 - $255,000.00

About WSP

WSP USA is the U.S. operating company of WSP, one of the world's leading engineering and professional services firms. Dedicated to serving local communities, we are engineers, planners, technical experts, strategic advisors and construction management professionals. WSP USA designs lasting solutions in the buildings, transportation, energy, water and environment markets. With more than 15,000 employees in over 300 offices across the U.S., we partner with our clients to help communities prosper.