Senior Director, Strategic Initiatives

About the role

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is North America's largest transportation network, serving a population of 15.3 million people across a 5,000-square-mile travel area surrounding New York City, Long Island, southeastern New York State, and Connecticut. The MTA network comprises the nation’s largest bus fleet and more subway and commuter rail cars than all other U.S. transit systems combined. MTA strives to provide a safe and reliable commute, excellent customer service, and rewarding opportunities.

Acting as a senior internal consulting leader, this role combines strategic judgment, rigorous problem-solving, disciplined implementation, and team leadership to drive lasting operational change and financial impact for one of the world's most complex transportation systems. This position supervises teams tackling complex, high-priority initiatives with significant organizational impact, partnering with senior leaders to develop strategic solutions and advance implementation across organizational boundaries. Collaborating with and across operating agencies and headquarters functions to align stakeholders and deliver measurable, sustained improvements in operational performance, financial health, or service quality.

New hires are eligible to apply 30 days after their effective date of hire.

Responsibilities

• Lead the structured diagnosis of complex operational and financial challenges, guiding managers and analysts in framing issues, testing hypotheses, validating insights, and developing recommendations grounded in rigorous data analysis and commercial judgment.
• Drive implementation of solutions across complex, cross-functional environments, mobilizing teams, setting a disciplined execution cadence, removing barriers, escalating issues early, and ensuring changes are implemented and sustained.
• Serve as a trusted partner to key agency stakeholders in solving nominated problems and helping translate priorities into executable plans.
• Help translate priorities into a focused work plan, allocating resources, removing blockers, and holding the team accountable to milestones and targets.
• Guide and support managers and analysts through their initiatives, helping structure work plans, clearing obstacles,