MBTA
Sr. Product Manager (LAMP and Transit Data)
The Role
We are looking for a Senior Product Manager to work effectively across two of TID’s product teams: LAMP and Transit Data.
LAMP is the MBTA’s effort to modernize how we aggregate, manage, and make use of data pertaining to the on-time performance of our transit system. This is data at the very heart of our mission as a transit agency – it tells us how we are doing in helping MBTA riders get where they need to go, and helps us identify ways we can do better. LAMP has successfully delivered an MVP product that is actively helping planners and operations staff make adjustments to bus and train schedules, pinpointing routes and neighborhoods where we need to make focused improvements, and enabling the public to hold us accountable. Over the next phase of LAMP’s development, you will work with the LAMP engineering team to improve upon the MVP product and to define, prioritize, and implement enhancements to the platform so that it can better serve internal TID product teams and our partners in the MBTA’s Office of Performance Management & Innovation and Ops Analytics department – the current primary users of the LAMP application – and others.
The Transit Data team sits at the heart of TID’s data architecture: the team is responsible for utilizing data from all sources (TID, other MBTA departments, third-party vendors and external stakeholders, etc.) to make useful service information for riders - and other TID teams - available via standard formats such as the General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS). The team is responsible both for building and maintaining the MBTA’s static GTFS data that describes the agency’s fixed, scheduled public transportation data (routes, stops, timetables, fares, etc.) and its real-time GTFS-RT feeds that provide real-time predictions and updates across most of our modes. This data powers first-party touch points, such as the MBTA’s in-station screens, our MBTA.com website, and the MBTA Go app – and third-party touch points including the major trip planning/navigation applications.
The successful candidate is expected to split their time evenly across LAMP and Transit Data – and will be responsible for:
Product management of the LAMP team, across stakeholder management, visioning, planning, prioritization, and implementation support.
Specific, tactical work streams within the Transit Data team, including scoping, prioritizing, and supporting implementation for certain product initiatives.
Principal duties and Responsibilities:
- Build and execute on a product roadmap. Develop, document, and clarify the problems the product solves for in a roadmap. Ensure work aligns with MBTA and Technology Innovation priorities. Maintain a prioritized product backlog.
- Leverage quantitative data and user research to prioritize work. This includes prioritizing work from sprint to sprint and maintaining a backlog of tasks in collaboration with research, design, tech and program teams. Effectively communicate priorities and acceptance criteria across levels and job functions.
- Develop a deep understanding of user and stakeholder priorities. Become familiar with the needs of your users and stakeholders and how to communicate about those things with your product team and with MBTA leadership.
- Develop a deep understanding of transit data. Become familiar with the technical architecture and features of LAMP & Transit Data applications, including the GTFS specification.
- Put riders first. Prioritize the needs of users throughout the delivery process, in partnership with the program and product development teams.
This job requires:
- Systems thinking: The MBTA is a complex, 120-year old transit agency with a huge number of moving parts. Our team needs to understand the complexities of running transit services, the underlying data flows, the business operations of the MBTA, and how riders use our system to get around Boston in order to successfully deliver meaningful improvements.
- Empathy: You think about our users (whether riders or operations staff) constantly and are always looking for ways to understand their lived experience.
- Attention to detail: This position will require someone who can dive into technical details and think critically about implementation trade-offs.
- Organization: Managing requests from multiple stakeholders in real time while working on other important tasks will require comfort with context switching and an ability to prioritize.
- Communication: Troubleshooting and resolving issues requires clear communication with stakeholders, colleagues in TID, and other MBTA departments. Successfully interfacing with all of these groups will require the ability to communicate concisely and effectively.
What we're looking for:
- Although we're mostly interested in your ability to do the work, here are some guidelines on the capabilities and experience we think might be most suited for this role. Please keep in mind that the experience guidelines are advisory and not required.
- Approximately 3-5 years of professional experience in product management
- Experience managing products that involve a combination of software, design, stakeholder, and/or vendor management
- Experience with complex data systems and architectures
- Experience with Agile methodologies
- Experience achieving buy-in from internal and external stakeholders
- Ability to define a hypothesis and approach both quantitative and qualitative data to find your own answers
- Excellent oral and written communication skills, and the ability to translate both for different audiences
- Familiarity with modern task management and comms tools such as Asana and Slack
- Preferred: Experience or interest in public transit, public service, or building accessible technology
- Preferred: Experience with data analytics methodologies & tools (such as Splunk & Tableau), including the ability to analyze, interpret, and visualize data to glean insights and inform decision-making
Education:
- Formal education in product management, city planning, computer science, construction, engineering, economics, data science, public administration, or a related field (This could be a college degree, a bootcamp, a certificate program, or something else entirely).
Location:
This role can be remote or hybrid.
As a contracted role for the MBTA, we are only able to employ people living in the following states - ME, MA, NH, RI, and VT.
At this time, we are only able to hire US residents who will reside in the US for the duration of their employment.
Compensation:
Pay rate range is $80 - $102 per hour (W-2), up to 1880 hours per year.
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The Company
What We Do
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, often referred to as the MBTA or simply The T, is the public operator of most bus, subway, commuter rail and ferry systems in the greater Boston, Massachusetts, area. The MBTA is the largest transit provider in New England, and the fifth largest in the country. The MBTA directly operates or contracts out for service using eight different modes: heavy rail, light rail, bus rapid transit, local/express bus, trackless trolley, commuter rail, commuter boat, and paratransit. In Boston, 55% of all work trips and 42% of all trips into downtown are made by transit. The MBTA district is made up of 175 communities with a total population of 4.7 million. Almost three-quarters of all Massachusetts residents live within the MBTA service area.
