Planning Specialist III, Grade 23

Planning Specialist III

MCDOT's mission is to move people and connect places with seamless, equitable transportation options that are safe, environmentally responsible, and support economic growth and vibrancy in Montgomery County. MCDOT supports its residents, commuters, and visitors with transit options and infrastructure that provides seamless transportation services to the public.

MCDOT is seeking a Planning Specialist III position that will serve in the Department of Transportation;
Division of Transportation Engineering (DTE);
Bus Rapid Transit Section. This is an exciting opportunity to shape the future of multimodal travel in Montgomery County. DTE is responsible for advancing the County's Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) program. The County is working to advance BRT on 100 miles of streets with 100 stations.

The Planning Specialist III is generally responsible for planning capital projects for the BRT program, leading public outreach efforts, and advancing programmatic efforts to advance the BRT program. General responsibilities include project management, technical analysis expertise, website updates and development, documentation development, outreach lead, and quality assurance/quality control. The Planning Specialist III has a thorough understanding of transportation planning concepts and principles and is able to effectively identify, develop, and deliver strategic communications with internal and external stakeholders, including consultants, other County agencies, state and federal agencies, and special-purpose agencies (such as M-NCPPC and WSSC) on matters essential to expedite the planning process.

The County is seeking a Senior Planner III with knowledge, skills, and experience in the following areas to assist in the delivery of MCDOT's Flash BRT program.

Transit Planning - The transit planning position focuses on planning capital transit projects. This position focuses on leading technical analysis, developing conceptual designs, and leading outreach with various stakeholder groups. It is also responsible for leading various programmatic tasks to advance the BRT program. The ideal candidate for the transit planning position will have experience advancing transportation projects in constrained urban corridors, with a particular focus on outreach to diverse groups.

Key to fulfilling the role will be the ability to identify, develop, and deliver strategic messages for BRT projects to varied internal and external stakeholder groups. The candidate should be able to discuss complex, technical engineering issues with any audience and effectively foster understanding and collaboration. In addition, the candidate should be comfortable leading discussions publicly and able to effectively present reports on project status, goals, and objectives.

The Planning Specialist III works out of the Division of Transportation Engineering and manages planning efforts and public outreach.

General responsibilities include:

• The Planning Specialist III exercises independent judgment, resourcefulness, and creativity.
• The scope and effect of work include, but is not limited to, identification and resolution of significant planning problems related to concepts, analysis, outreach, budget, schedules, and quality for major capital projects.
• The project management function performed by Planning Specialist III is non-supervisory; although some employees in the class may, on occasion, lead lower-grade coworkers in broad scope projects.
• Provides technical direction on planning scopes of work and is proficient in a variety of planning analyses, including but not limited to traffic analysis, transit analysis, concept development, GIS analysis, and other relevant planning analyses.
• Lead the development of and review of planning documentation prepared by consultants.
• Perform cost/benefit analyses and risk assessment as necessary to ensure timely and cost-effective delivery of the project.
• Take a lead role in communicating project highlights and milestones both internally with MCDOT staff and leadership, as well as externally to the broader community and outside agencies. This includes developing maps, infographics, memorandum of understanding (MOU), project summaries, PowerPoint presentations, conceptual visualizations, press releases, and social media content.
• Direct and plan public outreach and engagement efforts, ensuring diverse and representative outreach along the BRT corridors.
• Be responsible for maintaining all project web pages as well as coordinating many of the public engagement efforts for the Planning and Design Section.

In addition to the MQs from the PD/Class Spec, if the minimum qualifications from the Classification Specification do not fully describe the needs of your position, add the relevant areas of experience below:

Education :
Graduation from an accredited college or university with a bachelor's degree in planning, urban design, environmental studies, public administration, or related fields such as Architecture, Landscape…