DIRECTOR OF VEHICLE MAINTENANCE

Milwaukee County Transit System•Milwaukee, WI

17d

About The Position

The Director of Vehicle Maintenance provides senior leadership and strategic direction for MCTS fleet and maintenance operations, ensuring safe, reliable, and cost-effective bus service across all operating facilities. The Director sets strategy, performance expectations, resource priorities, and accountability, and holds overall departmental authority within delegated corporate policies. Areas of accountability include fleet availability, preventive maintenance compliance, workforce performance, budget stewardship, staffing, labor relations coordination, regulatory compliance, capital planning, and continuous improvement. The Director leads maintenance managers, develops organizational capability, and works with Transportation, Finance, Safety, Procurement, Human Resources, and executive leadership. The Deputy Director leads delegated day-to-day activities and serves in the Director’s absence. The Director reports to the Chief Operations Officer and has the Deputy Director of Vehicle Maintenance, Fleet Manager, and an Administrative Assistant (Clerk II) as direct reports.

Requirements

Minimum seven years of experience overseeing heavy-duty fleet maintenance, with demonstrated progression in responsibility.
Minimum five years managing supervisors, managers, or major maintenance operations.
Ability to obtain a Class B Commercial Driver's License (CDL) with passenger endorsement and air brake qualification.
Knowledge of heavy-duty fleet maintenance systems, preventive maintenance, diagnostics, reliability engineering, and quality assurance.
Demonstrated success leading managers, developing supervisors, improving workforce performance, and holding teams accountable for operational results.
Knowledge of transit fleet modernization, battery-electric and alternative-fuel vehicle technologies, and maintenance industry best practices.
Knowledge of Federal Transit Administration and Federal Motor Carrier rules and regulations.
Knowledge of MCTS operations or ability to rapidly learn a complex public transit operating environment.
Ability to build, manage, and forecast operating and capital budgets, including labor, overtime, parts, and contract costs.
Knowledge of applicable union contracts, hiring policy, and procedures.
Proficiency with maintenance management systems, performance dashboards, data analysis, spreadsheets, and executive reporting tools.
Ability to manage conflict and balance competing interests from multiple stakeholders.
Ability to establish and execute multi-year maintenance strategies with measurable goals and clear accountability.
Ability to lead through managers, set clear expectations, coach and develop future leaders, address underperformance, and build a culture of accountability.
Ability to develop and maintain effective and appropriate working relationships, communicate effectively verbally and in writing, and work independently.
Must maintain strict confidentiality and participate in professional development activities.
Must be available to respond to urgent operational issues and emergencies outside normal business hours, including nights, weekends, and holidays.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree in business, Public Administration, Mechanical Engineering, Facilities Management, or a related field; relevant experience may be considered in lieu of the educational preference.
Substantial multi-shift or multi-site leadership experience.
Experience administering labor agreements and managing employee relations in a union-represented environment.
Public transit maintenance experience; comparable municipal, commercial bus, or large heavy-duty fleet experience may be considered.

Responsibilities

Direct departmental strategy, performance reporting, and financial stewardship; establish fleet reliability, safety, and cost objectives.
Lead and develop maintenance managers, set operational standards, and hold management accountable for productivity, quality, and workforce performance.
Partner with executive leadership, Transportation, Human Resources, Labor Relations, and union representatives on service priorities, workforce issues, and operational improvements.
Ensure adequate, safe, service-ready vehicles for scheduled service and establish fleet availability, preventive maintenance, road-call, repeat-repair, and downtime targets.
Direct lifecycle fleet planning, asset retirement, replacement forecasts, spare-fleet strategy, and evaluation of diesel, battery-electric, and alternative-propulsion technologies.
Direct maintenance facility condition assessments, capital renewal priorities, and major facility improvement planning in coordination with relevant departments.
Establish staffing plans, management succession and development priorities, and recruitment recommendations consistent with HR policy and delegated approval authority.
Develop, administer, and monitor annual maintenance operating and capital budgets; oversee procurement planning, technical specifications, and evaluation of major fleet investments.
Oversee vendor performance, warranty recovery, parts availability, contract compliance, and supplier-related reliability improvements.
Direct maintenance response to significant incidents and emergencies, ensuring timely escalation, investigation, corrective action, and coordination with Safety and Operations.
Use daily, weekly, and monthly performance dashboards to identify trends, direct corrective actions, and report measurable results to executive leadership.
Establish a proactive safety and regulatory compliance culture, including hazard correction, maintenance records, audits, and timely corrective action.
Perform other duties as required.
Respond to urgent operational issues and emergencies outside normal business hours through established emergency-response and on-call arrangements.
Maintain leadership visibility across early, late, overnight, weekend, and holiday shifts as operational needs dictate.
Maintain strict confidentiality, participate in professional development activities, and travel occasionally.