Assistant/Associate Planner/Analyst

Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC)

San Francisco, CA

Assistant/Associate Planner/Analyst

Salary:  $96,884.74 - $141,662.98 Annually

Closing:  3/26/2023 11:59 PM Pacific

DEADLINE TO APPLY IS SUNDAY, MARCH 26, 2023 AT 11:59 PM

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED, PLEASE APPLY IMMEDIATELY

First round interviews tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, April 12, 2023

A resume and cover letter are not required with your application, but highly encouraged

Be ready to rethink your assumptions about the public sector.  Flexible hours?  Flexible work location?  A beautiful, well-located, high amenity building for on-site work?  Yes, yes, and yes!

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) is the transportation planning, financing and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area.  For more information about MTC, visit www.mtc.ca.gov.    

Working as part of the Major Plans team in the Regional Planning Program section, the Assistant/Associate Planner/Analyst will lead planning analyses and projects related to performance and equity in the fields of transportation, housing, economic development, and environmental resilience. Most notably, the Assistant/Associate Planner/Analyst will conduct performance and equity analyses for Plan Bay Area 2050+, a minor update to the regional long-range plan, starting in mid-2023. The Assistant/Associate Planner/Analyst is also envisioned to support the re-envisioning of Equity Priority Communities, a geographical framework to understand the equity impacts of MTC’s investments and policies.

Performance-based planning is integral to MTC’s regional planning work, providing a framework for decision-making that is supported by the best-available data and analytics. For Plan Bay Area 2050+, this work will include analysis of new iterations of the Plan Bay Area 2050 Blueprint - the suite of strategies that advance the long-range plan’s vision - with a focus on evaluating strategy performance and interpreting the plan’s anticipated outcomes. Furthermore, the Assistant/Associate Planner/Analyst will also analyze Environmental Impact Report (EIR) alternatives for impacts on performance and equity. Lastly, this position will provide support to the broader Plan Bay Area team on public engagement, project management, and other associated tasks.

For the Equity Priority Communities work, the Assistant/Associate Planner/Analyst will update existing Equity Priority Communities based upon the most recent Census data, review best practices in equity analysis, identify a phased approach for addressing limitations with the current analytical framework, and propose reforms as part of future regional planning efforts including Plan Bay Area. Updating this framework with the goal of moving beyond a geographically-oriented approach will enable a better understanding of critical communities for planning, funding, and implementation across units at MTC/ABAG and beyond, as well as provide support for Plan Bay Area 2050’s Implementation Plan and the MTC/ABAG Equity Platform.

The Assistant/Associate Planner/Analyst may oversee junior staff and/or consultants as needed, in addition to serving as part of a cross-functional team with members across the Regional Planning Program and beyond. In particular, this position will require deep collaboration with the Forecasting, Modeling, and Surveys team, the Data & Visualization team, the Funding Policy & Programs section, the Legislation and Public Affairs section, and the new Accessibility, Culture, and Racial Equity (ACRE) Office. Last but not least, the Assistant/Associate Planner/Analyst will need to work collaboratively with external partners in the public, private, and non-profit sectors.

The ideal candidate would be a data-driven, versatile team player with robust technical and communications skills. The ideal candidate would have a clear record of creative problem-solving abilities under tight deadlines, have excellent interpersonal skills necessary to advance projects successfully, and demonstrate a passion for advancing social equity at the regional scale in coordination with diverse stakeholders.

All employees at MTC are classified as Disaster Service Workers.

SKILLS AND ABILITIES

The ideal candidate will have the following knowledge, skills, and abilities:

• Strong project management and communications skills, including the ability to communicate complex policy and technical analyses to a broad range of audiences
• Robust data analysis and visualization skills (e.g., Tableau and/or ArcGIS)
• Understanding of the core principles of performance management and equity analysis
• Strategic risk-taking, innovation, and creative problem-solving abilities
• Broad array of planning knowledge, including how transportation, housing, economic, and environmental issues critically intersect with racial and social equity considerations
• Willingness to continually learn and evolve, tackling new topic areas when needed

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

An appropriate combination of education and experience that has provided the required knowledge, skills and abilities is qualifying. A typical way of obtaining the required qualifications is:

Education: A Bachelor's degree in an appropriate field related to the area of assignment, such as transportation planning, city and regional planning; transportation engineering or modeling, financial management, economics, business or public administration.  A Master's degree is desirable. (Applicants with a degree issued from an institution outside the United States must have their transcripts evaluated by an academic accrediting service and provide proof of equivalency along with their application.)  

ASSISTANT PLANNER/ANALYST

Experience: One year of increasingly responsible experience in an appropriate field related to the area of assignment, such as transportation planning, city and regional planning; transportation engineering or modeling, financial management, economics, business or public administration.

ASSOCIATE PLANNER/ANALYST

Experience: Two years of increasingly responsible experience in an appropriate field related to the area of assignment, such as transportation planning, city and regional planning; transportation engineering or modeling, financial management, economics, business or public administration.

License/Certificate:

Possession of a valid California Class C driver's license and a safe driving record, or the ability to provide alternate transportation which is approved by the appointing authority.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Specific duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:    

Policy and Technical Analyses

• Leverage robust policy and technical skills to scope out quantitative and qualitative explorations of key issues in regional planning.
• Create complex maps, charts, and other visualizations to explore policy issues and generate actionable analytical findings.
• Identify data-driven policy recommendations for internal and external consideration.

Project Management

• Manage projects and tasks that engage cross-functional teams, including project tracking, internal coordination meetings, etc.
• Supervise junior staff and/or consultants working on policy and technical analyses as needed.
• Coordinate effectively between technical teams, including modeling and data, and policy teams, including transportation and housing.

Communications

• Communicate clearly and concisely, both orally and in writing, through compelling, relevant, and understandable memos and presentations.
• Lead forums and stakeholder meetings that successfully engage diverse groups and help advance key initiatives.
• Represent MTC/ABAG in a variety of meetings and/or events, including presentations to elected officials.

The Assistant/Associate Planner/Analyst will perform other job-related tasks and duties as needed or assigned by the team or section.

HYBRID WORK - Employees may need to be in the office for some assignments/tasks that can only be done onsite or at a designated MTC work assignment location. Most tasks for this position can be done remotely; however, meetings with the public, internal stakeholders, or external stakeholders may require in-person work on-site or off-site approximately one day per week.