Engineering Program Manager

City of Charlotte•Charlotte, NC

7d•Hybrid

About The Position

Thank you for your interest in joining the team that keeps Charlotte moving, at a very exciting time for our organization. At the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS), we’re committed to delivering safe, reliable, and innovative transit services for our growing community, and we value employees who bring professionalism, passion, and a commitment to public service. This position is currently employed by CATS, a department of the City of Charlotte. With the passage of the PAVE Act and last year’s sales tax referendum, CATS is preparing to transition from a City department to the newly created Metropolitan Public Transit Authority (MPTA). The MPTA was established to strengthen regional transit governance, improve accountability, and support long‑term investment in mobility. It’s an important and exciting step forward for transit in our region. Employees hired into this role will remain City employees through December 31, 2026, and will transition to MPTA employment on January 1, 2027. Benefits and compensation will follow City provisions through 2026 and shift to MPTA provisions in 2027, with clear information shared in advance. Your core duties, reporting structure, and daily responsibilities will remain consistent, with no break in service. If anything delays the transition, your City employment, including compensation and benefits, will remain in place until the move to the MPTA occurs. The creation of the MPTA positions us for a more modern, sustainable, and efficient transit system, one that can better support the Charlotte region for decades to come. We’re excited about what’s ahead and appreciate your interest in being part of it. SUMMARY The Engineering Manager provides technical leadership, project and program oversight, and multidisciplinary coordination for engineering initiatives supporting CATS capital delivery, system modernization, rehabilitation, facility improvements, infrastructure upgrades, and other engineering-related priorities. Depending on assignment, this position may oversee work associated with rail, bus, facilities, systems, utilities, civil works, vertical construction, accessibility, special projects, or other engineering programs requiring strong technical judgment and disciplined project execution. This role serves as a manager-level engineering lead responsible for translating agency goals, operational needs, planning inputs, technical standards, and stakeholder requirements into practical engineering solutions and coordinated delivery approaches. Work includes engineering review, consultant and contractor coordination, technical decision support, procurement support, implementation and field coordination, risk identification, documentation oversight, and support for turnover into operations and maintenance. The position works across internal departments, outside consultants, contractors, utilities, regulators, and partner agencies to help ensure engineering work is safe, feasible, maintainable, compliant, and aligned with long-term agency objectives. The Engineering Manager helps strengthen CATS’ engineering function by improving technical consistency, supporting sound and well-documented engineering decisions, coordinating effective delivery across a portfolio of assigned work, and helping ensure projects and programs are implemented in a manner that supports safety, operational continuity, lifecycle stewardship, and public accountability.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in engineering, architecture, construction management, systems engineering, or a closely related technical field and five (5) years of progressively responsible experience in engineering, public infrastructure, transit, facilities, utilities, systems, capital delivery, or related project/program delivery environments; or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
Registered North Carolina Professional Engineer (PE) or Registered Architect (RA) or PE or RA registration in another state with the ability to receive reciprocity within six (6) months.
Experience leading or coordinating engineering work involving design review, technical evaluation, procurement support, implementation, field coordination, or operational transition.
Experience working with consultants, contractors, internal stakeholders, and regulatory or permitting agencies in a structured project environment.
Experience supervising staff or coordinating technical resources is preferred within the minimum experience profile.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in engineering, architecture, construction management, public administration, or a related field.
PMP, CCM, LEED AP or other relevant professional credential.
Experience in public transit, public infrastructure, utilities, facilities, systems engineering, or comparable public-sector or service-sensitive environments.
Experience supporting projects in active operating environments where technical work must be coordinated with ongoing service or facility operations.
Experience with project delivery, lifecycle asset stewardship, system modernization, commissioning, turnover, or configuration control activities.

Responsibilities

Leads assigned engineering programs, projects, or technical workstreams, including planning, design review, implementation support, and transition into operations or maintenance as applicable.
Establishes work priorities, technical expectations, project approaches, and coordination structures for assigned engineering initiatives.
Helps define scope, objectives, assumptions, constraints, and execution strategies for projects that may vary in size, complexity, delivery method, and technical discipline.
Tracks progress, risks, dependencies, and engineering support needs across multiple concurrent assignments.
Oversees or performs engineering review of plans, specifications, reports, studies, calculations, models, submittmits, technical criteria, and related work products.
Helps ensure engineering solutions are aligned with agency standards, codes, operational requirements, safety expectations, constructability needs, maintainability, and lifecycle asset performance.
Identifies technical issues, design conflicts, scope gaps, implementation concerns, or system compatibility risks and supports timely resolution.
Supports technically sound, practical, and well-documented engineering decisions across assigned work.
Coordinates with operations, maintenance, planning, safety, procurement, asset management, finance, capital program management, and other internal stakeholders to support successful project and program delivery.
Works with consultants, contractors, utility providers, regulators, local jurisdictions, and partner agencies as needed to support design, permitting, implementation, and turnover.
Helps align engineering work with operational constraints, implementation timing, regulatory requirements, and broader agency priorities.
Supports collaborative resolution of technical and programmatic issues across disciplines and departments.
Supports development of scopes of work, procurement documentation, technical requirements, bid support materials, and consultant or contractor selection inputs.
Coordinates consultant and contractor activities related to design, technical services, implementation support, field issue resolution, and technical closeout.
Reviews work products and monitors performance to help ensure consultant and contractor work is timely, complete, and aligned with agency expectations.
Supports contract administration activities, technical negotiations, task order development, and amendment review as assigned.
Provides engineering guidance during implementation, field coordination, testing, commissioning, activation, and turnover activities as needed.
Participates in site visits, inspections, coordination meetings, technical reviews, and issue resolution efforts involving active work environments.
Helps ensure engineering changes, field conditions, and implementation issues are addressed in a manner consistent with agency standards and project objectives.
Supports technically sound transition of completed work into operations, maintenance, and system-of-record documentation.
Ensures engineering documentation adheres to agency governance standards, technical review expectations, document control requirements, and turnover procedures.
Maintains organized records of reviews, approvals, technical comments, decisions, assumptions, risks, and follow-up actions.
Supports traceability, technical consistency, and defensibility of engineering work products and program decisions.
Helps strengthen engineering governance and disciplined review practices across assigned projects and programs.
Provides direction, guidance, and support to assigned engineers, coordinators, analysts, or other technical staff.
Supports workload management, quality expectations, professional development, and technical consistency within the team.
Helps mentor staff, support lessons learned, and encourage continuous improvement in engineering practice and delivery methods.
Promotes professionalism, accountability, collaboration, and sound engineering judgment.
Monitors emerging engineering practices, technologies, standards, and implementation methods relevant to assigned programs and projects.
Performs related duties as assigned.