Senior Director, Portfolio and Program Management - Agile

Metropolitan Transportation Authority; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 167,000 - 198,000; Full time

Job summary

Metropolitan Transportation Authority seeks a Senior Director to drive enterprise agility and oversee agile enablement across IT. You will lead a high-performing, cross-functional team aligning business priorities with technical delivery, fostering collaboration and continuous improvement.

The role partners with senior leadership to shape portfolio strategy, ensure transparent governance, and deliver scalable, high-value solutions that support MTA's mission.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Arts/Sciences or equivalent; combination ok.
• Master’s degree preferred in related field such as IT or Business Administration.
• Minimum 10 years in relevant IT roles with at least 5 in leadership/management.
• SAFe credentials (SAFe SPC, SAFe LPM) preferred on hire.

Responsibilities

• Lead agile governance and portfolio delivery across MTA-IT.
• Oversee program and portfolio planning to meet business and tech standards.
• Mentor Agile COE coaches and delivery leaders to drive excellence.
• Engage stakeholders and steer portfolio strategy and reporting.
• Ensure value delivery and risk management across initiatives.
• Collaborate with product delivery, design, and IT teams for aligned execution.

Skills

Agile leadership

Cross-functional leadership

Coaching

OKRs

Data analysis

Education

BA/BS in relevant field

MA/MS preferred

Tools

Jira

Confluence

Power BI

Tableau

ServiceNow

Cloud platforms

Job description

Senior Director, Portfolio and Program Management - Agile

Senior Director, Portfolio and Program Management - Agile

SALARY RANGE:

$167,429 – $197,621

DEPT/DIV:

Information Technology

SUPERVISOR:

DCTO, IT COE Agile Srv Del

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 telewor k ing, which is currently 2 days per week . 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.

Summary :

The Senior Director, Portfolio & Program Management is a strategic leader responsible for advancing enterprise-wide agility and overseeing the agile enablement and delivery of products and initiatives across the MTA IT organization. This role leads a high-performing, cross-functional team focused on aligning business priorities with technical execution, driving Agile transformation, and fostering a culture of collaboration, continuous improvement, innovation, and adaptability. Acting as a trusted advisor within the IT Center of Excellence (COE), the Senior Director ensures the successful delivery of high-value, secure, and scalable solutions that support MTA's mission and strategic objectives.

With oversight of Agile governance, enterprise portfolio delivery, and Agile-at-scale practices, the Senior Director develops and implements frameworks, tools, and processes that enable sustainable Agile adoption and operational excellence. The role partners closely with stakeholders and senior leadership to shape portfolio strategy, ensure transparency through effective reporting and governance, resolve complex delivery challenges, and optimize value delivery across the technology lifecycle. Additionally, the Senior Director mentors Agile coaches and delivery leaders while guiding cross-functional teams in product design, technical delivery, and program execution to achieve organizational resilience and long-term success.

Responsibilities :

• Strategic Leadership: Provide overarching leadership to drive the successful adoption and scaling of Agile principles and practices across MTA-IT, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and strategies.
• Program & Portfolio Oversight: Oversee the planning, execution, and delivery of programs and portfolios, ensuring high-quality outcomes that meet business needs and technical standards.
• Mentorship & Team Development: Guide and mentor Agile COE Coaches, fostering a high-performing team culture focused on continuous learning, innovation, and professional growth.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Act as a key partner for stakeholders and senior leadership, facilitating alignment of priorities, addressing inquiries, and contributing to the development of portfolio strategies.
• Continuous Improvement: Champion a culture of continuous improvement, driving process efficiencies, and ensuring teams adapt to evolving challenges and opportunities.
• Reporting, Transparency & Communication: Maintain effective reporting cadences and stakeholder communications, ensuring visibility into delivery progress, risks, dependencies, and business outcomes.
• Issue Resolution: Identify and address delivery challenges, removing obstacles to ensure smooth execution and timely resolution of critical issues.
• Agile Capability Delivery: Ensure the successful delivery of Agile capabilities, enabling teams to deliver value effectively and sustainably across the organization.
• Business Alignment: Ensure programs and portfolios remain aligned with MTA-IT’s mission, goals, and organizational priorities.
• Quality Assurance: Uphold the highest standards of quality, ensuring solutions are both innovative and compliant with technical and operational standards.
• Value Delivery: Drive measurable value delivery through effective program management and cross-team collaboration.
• Organizational Agility: Build and sustain an Agile operating model that enhances resilience, innovation, and adaptability at scale.
• Agile Governance & Standards: Establish and oversee Agile governance frameworks, delivery standards, tools, and best practices to ensure consistency, scalability, and operational excellence across the enterprise.
• Portfolio Strategy & Prioritization: Partner with business and technology leaders to prioritize initiatives, manage strategic roadmaps, and optimize portfolio investments based on organizational objectives and value delivery.
• Resource & Capacity Management: Oversee resource planning and capacity management to ensure teams are effectively aligned to strategic priorities and delivery commitments.
• Risk Management: Proactively identify, assess, and mitigate portfolio and delivery risks while escalating critical issues and dependencies to leadership as appropriate.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Lead and coordinate cross-functional teams across product delivery, Agile enablement, and design functions to ensure integrated execution and alignment.
• Performs other duties as assigned
• Complies with all policies and standards
• May be required to work hours outside regular work hours, as applicable
• Observes the work performed by contractors, as applicable
• Reviews invoices and approves them if the work has contractual standards, as applicable
• Addresses performance issues with the contractor when possible, as applicable
• Escalates issues to other parties when needed, as applicable

Required Qualifications :

• Bachelor’s Degree in Arts/Sciences (BA/BS). A combination of education and experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.
• Master’s degree in Arts/Sciences (MA/MS) is preferred in Computer Science, Information Technology, Business Administration, or a related field.
• Minimum of 10 years of relevant experiencewith a minimum of 5 yearssupervisory/ management experience, preferably in IT with relevant digital transformation, Agile transformation, Agile delivery, portfolio governance, or enterprise-level Agile adoption.
• SAFe Credentials: SAFe – SPC, SAFe LPM preferred upon hire.

Technical Skills :

• Expert in hands-on experience with Agile metrics, OKRs, and value-stream mapping.
• Expert knowledge of DevOps, CI/CD, and Agile tooling (Jira, Confluence)
• Expert in the ability to demonstrate superior organizational skills with an acute attention to detail.
• Expert in Agile frameworks and methodologies, including Scrum, Kanban, and other scaling practices.
• Expert understanding of enterprise-level Agile transformations and associated frameworks.
• Expert in data analysis, visualization, and reporting tools like Power BI, Tableau, or equivalent.
• Expert in workflow automation and process optimization tools to enhance efficiency.
• Expert knowledge of software development lifecycle (SDLC) principles and best practices.
• Expert in cloud platforms and architectures, including AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud.
• Strong command of risk management tools and techniques to identify, assess, and mitigate risks effectively.
• Familiarity with IT governance, compliance, and security frameworks.
• Expert in leveraging modern communication and collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Confluence for seamless team engagement.
• Advanced understanding of budget planning, financial tracking, and resource management within IT programs.
• Demonstrated ability to integrate business and technical strategies to deliver high-value solutions.

Leadership Skills :

• Expert leadership in leading change by developing inter/intra team communication and cohesiveness; sustainment of culture and supporting staff during organizational growth/changes.
• Ability to develop and execute an enterprise-wide Agile strategy to drive business agility.
• Experience in coaching senior executives and stakeholders on Agile principles and value-driven delivery.
• Expertise in Agile operating models, governance, and funding mechanisms.
• Strong stakeholder management skills to work across business units, IT, cybersecurity, infrastructure, and enterprise architecture.
• Expert leadership in building coalitions by internally and externally building partnerships with key stakeholders to help achieve the MTA’s mission or common goals through influence or negotiations

Behavioral Skills :

• Demonstrated ability to lead teams, provide coaching, and direct feedback.
• Expert in active listening, attention to detail, customer service, prioritization, and problem-solving skills.
• Expert in working independently and strategically.
• Expert in identifying and analyzing risks and developing effective mitigation strategies.
• Expert technical knowledge and a diverse skill set to understand various technologies, systems, and potential risks.
• Expert in critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
• Expert in interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills, with the ability to effectively collaborate with both technical and non-technical peers.
• Expert in managing multiple projects simultaneously and prioritizing tasks based on urgency and impact.
• Extensive hands-on experience with related tools.
• Expert experience working under pressure and meeting deadlines individually and collaboratively. Thinks logically, assesses problems, and is results-oriented.
• Expert in identifying complex business and technology risks and associated vulnerabilities.
• Expert in communicating effectively, both orally and in writing, to interact with team members, customers, management, and support personnel (technical and non-technical).
• Expert in establishing and maintaining effective working relationships with employees at all levels within the organization, and with both internal and external customers.

Critical Technical Skills :

• Enterprise Transformation: Enterprise transformation leadership experience, with demonstrated ability to design and implement operating models spanning Product, Agile Delivery, Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, Architecture, Data/AI, and business stakeholders, and to govern enterprise transformation frameworks and adoption.
• Portfolio Governance & Decision Rights: Portfolio governance and decision-rights expertise, including establishment of governance forums, accountability models, escalation structures, cross-functional dependency management, and executive-level portfolio reporting.
• Business Value & Investment Management: Business value and investment management capability, including defining measurable outcomes, benefits/value realization, investment tradeoffs, capacity alignment, and linkage of portfolio investments to organizational strategy.
• Agile/Product Transformation: Advanced Agile/product transformation expertise, including experience scaling Agile and product operating models beyond delivery teams into portfolio, governance, and executive management practices; practical knowledge of SAFe LPM concepts without requiring wholesale SAFe implementation.
• Enterprise Portfolio Technology: Enterprise Portfolio technology expertise, preferably including Jira Align, Confluence, ServiceNow, and portfolio analytics/Power BI, with experience integrating tools to provide transparent views of demand, capacity, investments, dependencies, delivery, and value.

Core Competency

Proficiency Level

Competency Definition

Expert

Creating new and better ways for the organization to be successful

Customer Focus

Expert

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

Expert

Building partnerships and working collaboratively with others to meet shared objectives

Values Diversity

Expert

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”).

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.

Disclaimer

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.