Senior Director, Employee Engagement & Recognition

Job Summary

The Senior Director, Employee Engagement & Recognition is part of the LEaD team within the People department. They lead MTA-wide efforts to elevate the employee experience throughout the full lifecycle, driving initiatives that foster engagement, belonging, purpose, and organizational pride.

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing Employee Engagement & Recognition team, set departmental goals, drive programmatic operational excellence, and manage cross-agency relationships to ensure consistent service delivery while creating a professional environment.
• Oversee the design, delivery, analysis, and refinement of employee engagement initiatives, programs, and external partnerships, including day-one, 30, 60, 90, and year-one onboarding programs, leadership and management toolkits, engagement and pulse check surveys, exit interview data, and recognition programs, working with People Analytics to interpret trends and drive strategic recommendations.
• Partner with leaders to design recognition programs, including spot and peer-to-peer recognition, years of service recognition, performance recognition, and major annual events such as all agency appreciation programs, ensuring they are meaningful, inclusive, and aligned with ongoing development of recognition initiatives.
• Collaborate with senior leadership, HR Business Partners, and Communications to ensure employee engagement narrative and messaging resonate with both operations and non-operations staff by facilitating engagement task forces, cross-functional committees, and working groups to standardize best practices across agencies.

Required Knowledge/Skills/Abilities

• Employee engagement strategy, program/project design and management
• Oversight or development of engagement toolkits and supports
• Survey design, feedback analysis, and data-driven insight generation
• Strategic planning and organizational change
• Team leadership and influence across a multifaceted organization
• Cultural competency and commitment to equity and inclusion
• Effective communication across diverse employee groups

Required Education and Experience

• ABachelor’s Degree in Arts/Sciences (BA/BS) in Human Resources, Business Administration, Organizational Development, or related field
• Minimum 10 years of progressive work experience in employee engagement, organizational development, or related HR leadership roles in large, complex, multi-agency or unionized environments (government or transportation sector experience strongly preferred)
• Demonstrated experience designing and executing large-scale engagement, onboarding, recognition programs, and digital tools, and innovative approaches to increase leader capacity to drive engagement across their teams
• Minimum 5 years of supervisory/management experience

Preferred

• Master’s degree in Arts/Sciences (MA/MS) in Organizational Development, Industrial/Organizational Psychology, Public Administration or related field
• Professional HR Certification (SHRM SCP, SHRM CP, SPHR, PHR)
• Certification in Coaching or Organizational Development

Equal Employment Opportunity

MTA and its subsidiary and affiliated agencies are Equal Opportunity Employers, including those concerning veteran status and individuals with disabilities. The MTA encourages qualified applicants from diverse backgrounds, experiences, and abilities, including military service members, to apply.