The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) is a department of the City and County of San Francisco responsible for the management of all ground transportation in the City. The SFMTA has oversight over the Municipal Railway (Muni) public transit, as well as bicycling, paratransit, parking, traffic, walking, and taxis.

The Transit Division is currently in the process of developing and procuring a new train control system, as well as streamlining operations at the new Transportation Management Center (TMC). The Program Delivery and Support Unit within the Transit Division was created in 2018 to oversee capital program and project budgets, manage vehicle and onboard equipment projects, testing and acceptance of rolling stock and technology projects. These projects will deliver high-quality, cost-effective solutions which improve safety and the Agency’s ability to deliver quality transit service. Within the Program Delivery and Support unit, the Transit Technology Group handles the delivery, acceptance, and management of technology systems which are critical to transit operations.

The Train Control Upgrade Project is an 8-year, multimillion dollar project with the goal of modernizing the existing Automatic Train Control System in Muni’s subway as well as expanding the supervision and limited control aspects of a Communication-Based Train Control System to the entire Muni light rail system.

APPOINTMENT TYPE: Temporary Exempt - Full Time not to exceed two (2) years – This position is excluded by the Charter from the competitive Civil Service examination process and shall serve at the discretion of the Appointing Officer.

Deadline to Apply: Open until filled

Salary:  $151,918 - $184,730 yearly

Schedule: Monday to Friday, 8:30AM-5:30PM

Vacancies: 1

Please Note: A cover letter and resume must be attached to the online application.

Under the general direction of the Train Control Upgrade Project Manager, the Vehicle Train Control Engineer will lead the integration of the new train control system with the Siemens LRV4 vehicles. The Vehicle Train Control Engineer will be responsible for the successful design, fitment, and testing of all onboard equipment necessary to fully install the system on the LRV4 fleet and will represent the SFMTA in all project review and discussion related to onboard equipment installation.

The Train Control Upgrade Project will be delivered through a series of contracts with the technology vendor and other firms providing installation, construction support, technical expertise, and professional services. The Vehicle Train Control Engineer will coordinate the design activities related to onboard vehicle equipment between the supplier, the vehicle manufacturer, and the onboard equipment installer. The Vehicle Train Control Engineer will work closely with these three parties to ensure that the delivery and installation of onboard train control equipment is completed according to the project schedule. The position will participate in the development of an installation plan to facilitate this process and assist with the selection, training, monitoring, evaluating, and development of project staff, as it relates to the installation of the system on the LRV4 fleet.

In addition, the Vehicle Train Control Engineer will act as the SFMTA representative to review, accept, or when necessary, audit, project submittals and deliverables provided by the supplier and other project contractors as it relates to the installation of onboard equipment. As the SFMTA representative, the Vehicle Train Control Engineer will have a strong understanding of the project contract requirements and be able to identify key project staff and agency stakeholders for review when evaluating submittals and project deliverables.

Examples of Important and Essential Duties:

• Oversees the successful integration of the train control system with the Siemens LRV4 vehicles, including design, fitment, and testing.
• Leads a team of SFMTA vehicle engineers assigned to the project.
• Coordinates the design activities of the Train Control System Supplier with the car manufacturer (Siemens) and the vehicle onboard equipment installer.
• Represents SFMTA during technical discussions between the Train Control System Supplier, the vehicle manufacturer, and the onboard equipment installer.
• Responds to technical RFIs, resolves clarifications from vendors and addresses their requests by issuing addendums.
• Reviews all technical documents and correspondence from the Train Control System Supplier, the car manufacturer, and other project contractors.
• With the train control system supplier, develops and manages the migration and installation plan for equipping the entire LRV4 fleet with train control system equipment.
• Works with Rail Maintenance and SFMTA staff at the transit yards to coordinate and schedule work activities by the onboard equipment installer for fitting of equipment on the vehicles.
• Supervises the testing of train control system equipment on the vehicles and assists the project QA team in assessing the quality of installed components.
• Tracks completion of technical requirements and evaluates the system and individual subsystems and components for acceptance.
• Analyzes and solves electrical and vehicle sub-systems problems such as power, EMI connectivity, and fitment for onboard train control system components.
• Analyzes related project workloads and budgets.
• Communicates with Train Control System Supplier for technical support as needed to address system issues under warranty.
• Works with Supplier, SFMTA operations and maintenance staff to ensure both the designed and finished onboard train control system meets operations and maintenance needs and works within their stated constraints.
• Participates in the selection, training, monitoring, evaluating, and counseling of project staff.
• Reviews and manages workload assignment to consultants, junior staff and interns as required.
• Performs other duties as required.

Minimum Qualifications:

1. Five (5) years of verifiable professional electrical engineering experience, which includes two (2) years experience equivalent to City and County of San Francisco class 5207 Associate Engineer as a licensed Professional Engineer in the specialty you are applying for; AND
2. Possession of a current Certificate of Registration as a Professional Engineer in the State of California in Electrical Engineering.

Substitution: Candidates licensed in other states, who otherwise meet the minimum requirements of this announcement, but do not possess the required California license, may file for this recruitment, and must obtain the required California license within 1 year of appointment.

Desirable Qualifications: 

The stated desirable qualifications may be used to identify candidates advancing to the interview process and/or to identify job finalist(s) at the end of the selection process when referred for hiring.

• Technical expertise and knowledge of the principles, practices, purposes, scope, and techniques of train control and/or signaling systems.
• Engineering experience working on train control, train signaling systems, transit, or communications infrastructure projects.
• Experience designing and engineering rail vehicle onboard electronic communication systems, such as train control systems.
• Leadership experience and/or experience managing a team of engineers on a project.
• Experience fitting transit vehicles with onboard electronic equipment.
• An understanding of electric propulsion and braking methods and design.
• Experience with relay-based and solid-state low-voltage control system designs.
• Experience with computer systems, computer networks, and communications/network systems.
• Experience with and/or an understanding of packet-based networks, human-machine interfaces, and number systems.
• Experience with high-level control system programming.
• Experience developing or manipulating computer software to parse and process low-level data.
• Experience with field engineering, testing, or other hands-on engineering work.
• Experience working with public transit agencies or as an employee of a public transit agency.
• Technical writing and editing experience; experience writing technical specifications and/or manuals.
• Experience with CAD software or other computer-aided design tools.
• Experience with P6 Primavera, Microsoft Project, or other project management software applications.
• Experience with Microsoft Office products such as Excel, Outlook, and Word.
• Experience interpreting and analyzing telematics data, using Python, SQL, Tableau, or other tools to perform calculations and visualize data,
• Ability to work well with a multi-disciplinary, diverse workforce, including operations staff, maintenance technicians, technical professionals, contractors, executives and elected officials, and stakeholder groups.

Verification:
Applicants may be required to submit verification of qualifying education and experience at any point during the recruitment and selection process. More information can be found at: https://sfdhr.org/information-about-hiring-process#verification. Falsifying one’s education, training, or work experience or attempted deception on the application may result in disqualification for this and future job opportunities with the City and County of San Francisco.

Selection Process:
Applications will be screened for relevant qualifying experience. Additional screening mechanisms may be used to determine candidates' qualifications.  Only those applicants who most closely meet the needs of the Agency will be invited to move forward in the selection process.

• Information About the Hiring Process
• Conviction History
• Employee Benefits Overview
• Equal Employment Opportunity
• Disaster Service Worker
• ADA Accommodation
• Right to Work
• Copies of Application Documents
• Diversity Statement

This recruitment may be utilized to fill similar positions in this classification at SFMTA.

For questions or inquiries, please contact: Silvia Yuan, Human Resources Analyst at [email protected].  

The City and County of San Francisco encourages women, minorities and persons with disabilities to apply. Applicants will be considered regardless of their sex, race, age, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition (associated with cancer, a history of cancer, or genetic characteristics), HIV/AIDS status, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, military and veteran status, or other protected category under the law.