SFMTA Planning focuses on multi-disciplinary efforts and planning horizons of five-years or more and offers subject matter expertise in the following areas (in collaboration and coordination with partners from throughout the agency):

Land use and transportation
Development projects/agreements
Neighborhood/community plans
Multimodal projects
Transportation policy
Long range planning (over five years)
Capital Plan
Climate / Resilience planning and policy
Environmental review/CEQA/NEPA
Community-wide planning engagement
Transportation demand management/ behavior change/Safe Routes to School
Emerging Mobility Services & Technologies
The SFMTA Planning subdivision also supports short and mid-term planning and projects of under 5 years bringing a well-developed cross-agency and multi-agency perspective to help ensure agency alignment.

Examples of Important and Essential Duties:

Unit Management and Leadership

Hires and retains sufficient staffing level to deliver on the Agency’s goals and priorities.
Builds a team and develops staff that can deliver excellence, with attention given to creating an organizational structure that leads to positive project outcomes.
Effectively assigns, balances, and manages staff workloads and work scopes while reducing barriers to successful outcomes.
Establishes priorities for work programs and ensures effective use of personnel and resources.
Consistently empowers, coaches, mentors, and motivates staff.
Develops or facilitates training and provides professional development and growth opportunities for team members.
Effectively communicates to team about broader agency and city activities and facilitates communication across team.
Plans and evaluates staff performance, provides constructive feedback that supports individual growth.
Supervises personnel, supports managers as they manage and oversee staff members, completes performance appraisals, and participates in the disciplinary process when necessary.
Establishes, prepares, manages, reviews, and monitors organizational budgets to ensure sufficient resources to complete programs and projects.
Establishes and evaluates division goals and objectives, assigns priorities, ensures the use of effective work plans and methods to achieve goals/objectives.
Reviews and approves correspondence, technical reports, and budgetary documents for accuracy and conformance to the policies of the organization.
Ensures the quality and technical excellence of the Agency’s planning work products.
Performs other related duties as assigned.
Project and Policy Leadership

While the Planning Director’s primary role is management and support of the Planning team, the Planning Director will also be called on to represent the Agency in certain projects or policy processes. To this end, the Planning Director may lead, or support staff in leading, the following:

Leads consensus-building between community representatives, advocacy groups and major land use project sponsors, especially in the early project/policy proposal stages.
Facilitates communication and consultation with public stakeholders and elected officials.
Works proactively with public and private sector partners to ensure that development, urban design, and capital projects support SFMTA Transit First, Vision Zero, equity, and climate priorities.
Represents SFMTA in the media and at Boards and Commissions.
Represents SFMTA at conferences and other meetings to share information with and learn from other organizations.
Identifies and implements unique partnerships with other city agencies, state and regional agencies, and non-governmental partners to advance priority projects and SFMTA’s strategic goals.
Advises the Director of Transportation, Streets and Transit Directors, members of the SFMTA Senior Management Team, and SFMTA Board on policy matters related to long-term planning.