Description Position at MTA Headquarters
JOB TITLE:
Advanced Software Engineer
SALARY RANGE:
$140,828 - $166,223
DEPT/DIV:
Information Technology
SUPERVISOR:
Product Director, Legal, Safety, and Risk
LOCATION:
2 Broadway, New York, NY 10004
HOURS OF WORK:
9:00 am - 5:30 pm (7.5 hours/day) or as required
This position is eligible for teleworking. New hires are eligible to apply 30 days after their effective date of hire.
Opening
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.
About Us
The MTA transportation network has very large systems and infrastructure for financial, business, automated train, transportation, power, and physical security. MTA IT Department is centrally responsible for providing a full range of Information and Operational Technology services to the MTA agencies and administrative units through its operating and support units. Services are provided on a 7/24/365 basis in support of the MTA organization and its ridership.
Responsibilities
- Leads requirements management, software engineering, system testing, and acceptance testing activities across all stages and iterations for complex software development and integration initiatives.
- Assists with the organization's selection, adaptation, and adoption of new models, methods, and tools. Collaborates with parties involved in product, systems or service design.
- May own high value services and/or products. Leads the definition, documentation, and successful completion of large projects within business objectives and resource constraints, ensuring adherence to agreed enterprise architectures, and the application of effective change-, release-, risk-, and quality-management processes.
- Drafts and maintains software support processes and documentation. Prioritizes and diagnoses incidents, investigates and resolves complex issues, leads root cause analysis, and proposes corrective actions. Conducts application licensing, security, backup, and disaster recovery verification initiatives.
- Develops system and acceptance testing criteria related to functional and non-functional requirements, user stories, features, business processes, and business rules. Designs, specifies and executes test cases and scenarios.
- Plans and leads user experience design activities for large programs and products, providing expert advice to ensure that usability, accessibility, and visual design requirements are satisfied.
- Develops, maintains, and applies tools and documentation to track, log and maintain accurate and complete system information. Audits complex software systems for adherence to configuration standards.
- Plans, organizes, conducts, and oversees assigned quality and safety assurance assessments involving complex systems and cross-functional teams. Provides expert advice to assurance activities.
- Manages operational relationships with suppliers to ensure potential disputes or conflicts are raised and resolved.
- Contributes technical elements of RFP/RFIs and negotiates contract terms and SLAs. Manages suppliers to meet key performance indicators.
- Continuously develops and maintains personal knowledge of software engineering practices, emerging trends, and technologies.
- Provides technical advice to project teams and mentors less experienced staff to foster talent development.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's Degree in Arts/Sciences (BA/BS).
- Minimum 8 years of relevant experience. An equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.
- Must possess a minimum at least one of the following professional certifications in the subject domain, including but not limited to: Certified Scrum Developer (CSD), Certified Scrum Master (CSM), Certified Software Development Professional (CSDP), Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional (CSSLP), Amazon Certified: AWS Certified Developer, Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer, Certified Software Test Professional (CSTP)
Technical Skills
- Hands-on programming experience in a business setting
- Proficiency in at least one software engineering methodology, including but not limited to: Waterfall, Agile, Scrum, DevOps, Extreme Programming (XP), Kanban, Lean, Rapid Application Development (RAD)
- Experience applying a structured validation and testing method, including but not limited to: Unit Testing, Integration Testing, System Testing, Acceptance Testing, Regression Testing
- Collaboration skills to ensure design specifications are seamlessly implemented by the development team
- Familiarity with version control
- Demonstrated ability to work independently and navigate organizational ambiguity
- Effective written and verbal communication skills
Preferred Technical Skills
- A software engineering industry certification, examples: Certified Scrum Developer (CSD), Certified Scrum Master (CSM), Certified Software Development Professional (CSDP), Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional (CSSLP), Amazon Certified: AWS Certified Developer, Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer, Certified Software Test Professional (CSTP)
- Programming experience with the following language(s): Job Specific (e.g Ruby, Python, Java, C++, COBOL, etc)
- Familiarity with the following vendor-specific platforms: Job Specific (e.g. Azure, Windows Server platforms, RESTful APIs, or Linux)
Critical Technical Skills
- Proven ability to architect complex enterprise solutions end-to-end, including application architecture, cloud platforms, APIs, integrations, data flows, security, identity and access management, scalability, resiliency, observability, and non-functional requirements.
- Strong hands-on expertise across modern enterprise technologies and modernization patterns, including Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Power Platform, API-led integration, workflow automation, data platforms, reporting, application lifecycle management, and AI-enabled solution patterns.
- Demonstrated ability to translate complex business, legal, safety, risk, and operational requirements into target architectures, solution options, technical designs, implementation roadmaps, and actionable delivery requirements, while evaluating tradeoffs, technical debt, feasibility, and delivery risk.
- Skilled in leading technical discovery, solution design, architecture reviews, integration planning, CI/CD, DevSecOps and deployment strategy, technical risk assessment, testing readiness, and implementation support, while resolving cross-system dependencies and driving sound architectural decisions across internal teams and vendors.
- Strong product orchestration capability, including partnering with Product Managers and the managing Product Director on demand evaluation, prioritization, solution feasibility, investment decisions, backlog readiness, release planning, business and program justifications, and delivery alignment.
- Ability to operate as a senior independent technical contributor while coordinating architects, engineers, Technical Business Analysts, vendors, security teams, infrastructure teams, and business stakeholders to maintain technical quality, resolve dependencies, and sustain delivery momentum.
- Strong delivery and innovation discipline, including JIRA and ServiceNow ALM quality, backlog and reporting accuracy, identification of architectural and operational risks, and championing practical AI, automation, modernization, and continuous improvement opportunities that are secure, scalable, and supportable.
Competencies
Core Competency
Proficiency Level
Competency Definition
Cultivates Innovation
Adept
Creating new and better ways for the organization to be successful
Customer Focus
Adept
Building strong customer relationships and delivering customer-centric solutions
Communicates Effectively
Expert
Developing and delivering multi-mode communications that convey a clear understanding of the unique needs of different audiences
Tech Savvy
Advanced
Anticipating and adopting innovations in business-building digital and technology applications
Technical Skills
Advanced
Specialized knowledge and expertise on tools, programs, domains, platforms, and products used for specific tasks
Values Diversity
Advanced
Recognizing the value that different perspectives and cultures bring to an organization
Collaborates
Expert
Building partnerships and working collaboratively with others to meet shared objectives
Other Information
Pursuant to the New York State Public Officers Law & the MTA Code of Ethics, all employees who hold a policymaking position must file an Annual Statement of Financial Disclosure (FDS) with the NYS Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government (the "Commission").
Equal Employment Opportunity
MTA and its subsidiary and affiliated agencies are Equal Opportunity Employers, including with respect to veteran status and individuals with disabilities.
The MTA encourages qualified applicants from diverse backgrounds, experiences, and abilities, including military service members, to apply.
