Rail Facilities Maintenance Chief

All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply for this opportunity, including the general public and King County Employees.

King County Metro Transit’s Rail Division seeks an outstanding people leader to fulfill the role of Rail Facilities Maintenance Chief. This leadership position is critical to ensuring the delivery of light rail transit services and the day‑to‑day coordination, direction, and supervision of personnel and facilities maintenance for the Rail Division.

Our ideal candidate will be an effective communicator who can engage with a diverse employee work group, proactively solve problems that impact service delivery, and foster a culture of safety while inspiring excellence in customer service. As a leader, the Chief promotes teamwork, motivates employees by building respect and trust, resolves conflicts, and creates a collaborative environment where employees feel supported, valued, and empowered to succeed.

SAFETY SENSITIVE POSITION: This position is considered safety sensitive. Applicants for these positions are required to undergo a physical and drug testing prior to employment and subsequent to commencement of employment, and will be subject to random, post-accident, reasonable suspicion, return to duty, and follow-up drug and alcohol testing in compliance with Federal DOT alcohol and controlled substance testing program protocols.

This recruitment will be used to fill one (1) career service Rail Facilities Maintenance Chief position and may be used to establish an eligibility list to fill additional career service, special duty assignment, or term‑limited temporary vacancies in this classification and work group. If established, this list would be valid for 12 months from the date of posting and may be utilized at the discretion of the hiring authority.

This recruitment is open to all qualified applicants, including the general public and King County Employees. Please see the required application materials and minimum qualifications listed in the sections below.

If you have any questions about this position, its requirements, or if you would like to have a confidential discussion about the opportunity, you are invited to contact our recruiter:
Emily Clark (She/Her), Senior Talent Advisor, emclark or .

Equity and social justice principles is a daily responsibility and a foundational expectation for all King County employees. In this role you will apply equity and social justice principles that exemplify shared values, behaviors, and practices to all aspects of the work.

• Supervise, develop, and direct the Rail Facilities personnel and equipment at bases and in the field, including management support for the training unit.
• Exhibit positive leadership and role modeling to encourage and support staff while managing employee performance. Assist in the hiring, work assignments, counseling, and progressive discipline of direct reports in accordance with labor contracts and agreement provisions and Light Rail rules and procedures.
• Oversee on‑job training of assigned staff and ensure staff have proper tools, equipment, and safety gear to perform their work.
• Oversee the availability of tools and supplies needed to perform both routine and special tasks.
• Coordinate the planning, processes, estimating, and construction work for modifications to existing facilities and equipment; identify potential problems, assign and verify inspections, service, and repairs.
• Oversee, prepare, and review written estimates of labor, time, costs, and materials for designated projects, manage contracts, and work closely with vendors and service providers.
• Consult with key stakeholders, staff and other external contractors in engineering, warranty, safety, environmental, and transportation to develop maintenance programs and standard operating procedures.
• Represent management at disciplinary hearings and grievances, interpret labor contract provisions, support labor negotiations and contract updates, resolve disputes and grievances, and foster strong collaborative relationships with Union leadership.
• Work closely with Human Resources and Labor Relations…