Salary : $124,555.18 - $167,634.48 Annually
Location : 375 Beale Street, San Francisco, CA
Job Type: Regular/Full-Time
Remote Employment: Flexible/Hybrid
Job Number: 220
Section: Planning Section
Opening Date: 10/01/2026
Closing Date: 10/25/2026 11:55 PM Pacific
ABOUT THE SECTIONThe Senior Planner will be a member of the Transportation Planning team, one of four teams within the Regional Planning Program section serving MTC and ABAG. The Regional Planning Program leads regional planning activities related to housing, land use, resilience, and transportation to create an affordable, connected, diverse, healthy, and vibrant Bay Area for all. The section collaborates extensively with local and regional partner agencies, non-profits, advocacy organizations, business and labor groups and community organizations.
ABOUT THE TEAMThe Transportation Planning team leads long-range initiatives that shape the Bay Area's transportation future. The team develops the Transportation Element of Plan Bay Area-establishing strategic policy and investment priorities for MTC/ABAG and partner agencies-as well as modal plans for transit, goods movement, road pricing, and other regional priorities. With an interdisciplinary focus, the team's work portfolio extends to topics related to the transportation-land use connection, environmental resilience, economic vitality and equity. In addition, the team plays a central coordination role with federal, state, and local partners on transportation planning.
ABOUT THE ROLEThe Senior Planner will play a lead role within the Transportation Planning team. In the near term, the position is anticipated to lead a portfolio of initiatives such as performance planning and equity analyses for Plan Bay Area 2060 and white papers on specific topic areas. In the longer term, this position would be expected to lead planning studies on topics related to goods movement, road pricing, transit and other relevant transportation priorities for the region.
The individual would collaborate closely with policy and planning staff across the agency as well as technical staff in the forecasting and modeling team. Further, the individual would play a major role in engaging and coordinating with key transportation partners throughout the Bay Area, including county transportation agencies, transit operators and non-profit organizations, as well as relevant federal and state agencies. While this position is envisioned to focus on transportation-oriented projects and policies, it will require a cross-functional and interdisciplinary lens.
The ideal candidate would be a versatile team player with robust technical, communications and project management skills who can seamlessly work with internal and external transportation partners, and who would have knowledge on a wide range of transportation, land use, environmental resilience and equity issues. The candidate should be self-driven and adept at creative problem-solving under tight deadlines, with strong interpersonal skills, flexibility to take on new topic areas, and the ability to learn quickly and advance complex projects successfully.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIESUnder the direction of the Assistant Director, Transportation Planning within the Regional Planning Program, specific assignments and responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:
Project Management - Lead major transportation planning initiatives within the Regional Planning Program, including project planning and execution
- Oversee work of junior staff and/or consultants working on related initiatives
- Assist with management of cross-functional teams, including project tracking, internal coordination meetings, etc.
- Coordinate closely with staff focused on transportation, housing, and the environment, and when appropriate, lead or partner on initiatives in these areas as well
Policy and Technical Analyses- Leverage robust policy and technical skills to conduct quantitative and qualitative explorations of key issues in regional planning
- Coordinate closely with transportation and land use modeling staff
Communications- Communicate clearly and concisely, both orally and in writing, through compelling, relevant, and understandable memos and presentations.
- Lead stakeholder meetings and presentations to Commission/Board audiences.
- Represent MTC-ABAG in a variety of meetings and/or events.
QUALIFICATIONSKNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIESThe ideal candidate will have the following knowledge, skills and abilities:
- Strong understanding of core transportation planning concepts, and emerging challenges and opportunities
- Knowledge of cost-effectiveness, benefit-cost analysis, and other methods for evaluating transportation projects and investments
- Understanding of the regional and local policy environment, including key stakeholders and perspectives across multimodal sectors
- Strong policy and data analysis skills, with experience using Tableau, regional datasets, and travel demand model outputs
- Strong communications skills, including the ability to communicate complex policy and technical analyses to a broad range of audiences and build consensus among stakeholders.
- Detail-oriented and organized, with the ability to manage multiple projects and meet deadlines.
- Experience in collaborating within a large team environment.
- Willingness to continually learn and evolve, tackling new topic areas when needed.
- Strategic risk-taking, innovation, and creative problem-solving abilities.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONSAny combination of training and experience that would provide the required knowledge, skills, and abilities listed. A typical way to obtain the required qualifications would be:
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.
Experience: Three years of increasingly responsible experience in an appropriate field related to the area of assignment.
Applicants with a degree issued by an institution outside the United States who are using that degree to meet the minimum qualifications for the position must have their transcripts evaluated by an academic credential evaluation service and provide proof of equivalency with their application. An evaluation is generally
not required if: 1. The position does not require a degree, 2. You qualify through work experience alone, 3. You hold a professional license or certification that satisfies the educational requirement, or 4. You have another degree earned in the United States that independently satisfies the educational requirement. To ensure a fair and consistent review, any required academic evaluation must be submitted at the time of application so qualifications can be verified before candidates advance in the recruitment process.
IMPORTANT INFORMATIONHOW TO APPLYTo apply for this outstanding opportunity, please use this link:
EMPLOYMENT REQUIREMENTSSuccessful completion of a background check, professional references and the Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9.
DISABILITYThe Human Resources Department will make reasonable efforts in the recruitment or skills assessment process to accommodate applicants with disabilities. If selected for an interview or testing, and you require accommodation, please notify the Human Resources Department when confirming your interview or test.
THE FOLLOWING ARE AMONG THE BENEFITS OFFERED TO EMPLOYEES OF MTC:
- Public Employees Retirement System (PERS); employee contributes a portion of gross salary on a pre-tax basis.
- MTC is subject to California Pension Reform and as of January 1, 2013 will offer two pension plans. The plan employee will receive will be based on the individual's historical pension plan membership. HR will discuss this directly with all final candidates.
- Health Benefits Insurance through the Public Employees' Retirement System (premiums are shared between agency and employee).
- Agency-paid Dental Insurance (dependent coverage shared by the employee and MTC).
- Agency-paid Vision Care Insurance, employees only (dependent coverage is paid in full by employee).
- Agency-paid Life, AD&D, Short Term and Long Term Disability Insurance.
- Eleven paid holidays per year.
- One day per month paid vacation leave; for each year of service, an additional day per year is granted to a maximum of 25 days per year.
- One day per month paid sick leave, with no limit to the amount of sick leave that can be accumulated. (May cash out up to 240 hours of accumulated sick leave upon separation from the Agency.)
- Personal Business leave; up to three (3) days per year depending upon date of hire.
- Monthly Transit/Parking Subsidy.
- Alternative employee-paid payroll savings plans (tax-deferred compensation plans).
- Two voluntary employee-paid pre-tax dependent care and flexible spending accounts available for employees to participate in.
- Voluntary Supplemental life insurance.
01
Briefly describe how your previous experience and education qualifies you for this position. (Please refer to Qualifications and/or Knowledge, Skills and Abilities in the job description when answering this question.) **250-word maximum.
02
What in particular sparked your interest in this position? What unique strengths would you bring to the Regional Planning section here at MTC/ABAG in this Senior Planner/Analyst role?
03
Describe your experience in leading a project with complex technical analysis. Include in your response the responsibilities you held as a project manager, the data/analysis and tools involved, and the process/methods you chose to gather input of and communicate findings to key stakeholders and/or public. What challenges did you encounter, and what lessons did you learn that you would apply to future projects?
04
Describe a project experience working within a large team environment. What was your role within the team, what challenges did you encounter, and how did you navigate them?
05
MTC's Project Performance Assessment evaluates major transportation investments and strategies to help prioritize projects for Plan Bay Area. What recommendations would you suggest for enhancing this assessment as part of the next regional plan (Plan Bay Area 2060)?
Required Question
