Description
Position at MTA Headquarters
JOB TITLE:
Advanced Software Engineer
SALARY RANGE:
$140,828 - $166,223
DEPT/DIV:
Information Technology
SUPERVISOR:
S enio r Dir ector – Prod uct Dev elopment – NonRail Agencies
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.
About Us
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.
The MTA transportation network has a very large system 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.
MTA IT’s Product Development group is empowered, multi-functional teams focused on the end-to-end management of development products from strategy to delivery. Using innovative processes and tools, the teams are responsible for developing and maintaining highly effective, secure, and innovative transportation, operational and back-end information systems to support MTA goals and priorities.
Summary
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 across parties involved in product, systems, or service design. May own high-value services and/or products.
Critical Skills:
• Strong full-stack development experience using Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, React, REST APIs, SQL, and modern web frameworks.
• Hands-on experience designing and developing Generative AI solutions using LLMs, Azure OpenAI, RAG, embeddings, vector search, and prompt engineering.
• Experience building AI agents and agentic workflows, including tool/function calling, orchestration, and multi-agent architectures.
• Experience with Azure AI services, including Azure AI Search, Document Intelligence, Azure AI Foundry, and conversational AI.
• Experience developing data-driven solutions from data exploration and preprocessing through model training, validation, deployment, monitoring, and continuous improvement
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 across 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 on assurance activities.
• Manages the 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.
• Performs other duties and tasks
• May need to work outside of normal work hours, supporting operations on a 24/7 basis
• Travel may be required to other MTA locations or other external sites
• Observing the work performed by the contractor;
• Reviewing invoices and approving them if the work meets contractual standards;
• Addressing performance issues with the contractor when possible; and
• Escalating issues to other parties as needed.
Required Qualifications
• Education: Bachelor’s Degree and a minimum of 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 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)
Behavioral Requirements Skills:
• Collaboration skills to ensure design specifications are seamlessly implemented by the development team.
• Demonstrate ability to work independently and navigate organizational ambiguity.
• Strong interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills.
• Communicates Effectively
• Advanced in technical Skills, tech-savvy, values diversity."
• Adept customer focus, cultivates Innovation
Competencies Requirements:
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
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.