Job Description

Job Title:           Director of Engagement

Start Date:        February/March 2020

Salary:                $100,000 – $120,000

Location:            New York City, NY

The National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) is seeking a “movement builder” to join our team as a full-time Director of Engagement. This role will nurture, grow, and lead programs that support and empower member city transportation staff — specifically the Designing Cities conference, the Leadership NACTO program, our Peer Networks, and other aspects of member and partner engagement. The role will be a member of our senior leadership team, working closely with the Director of Strategy and Director of Design, and reporting directly to the Executive Director. The ideal candidate will excel at building authentic relationships, designing effective movements and engaging events, and seeking funds from both foundation partners and corporate sponsors. The position will be based in New York City with some travel to NACTO member cities and NACTO events as needed.

Who we are

NACTO is a nonprofit association of 81 major North American cities and transit agencies, formed to exchange transportation ideas, insights, and practices and cooperatively approach national transportation issues. Our members include cities such as Denver, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and San Antonio, and transit agencies such as Portland Tri-Met, Vancouver Translink, and Chicago Transit Authority. Our mission is to build cities as places for people, with safe, sustainable, accessible, and equitable transportation choices that support a strong economy and vibrant quality of life. Our staff team is passionate, results-oriented, and committed to challenging the status quo in transportation and raising the bar for city streets.

What you’ll do

Your job will be to sustain and cultivate NACTO’s network of progressive city transportation professionals and strengthen and grow the movement as a whole. You will connect a national network of cities and build strong leadership capacity and peer-to-peer exchange among city transportation officials. You will work with a motivated group of cities and a NACTO team that aims to turn big ideas into real projects on the ground, resulting in safer, more just, and sustainable communities throughout our network. More specifically, your responsibilities will include:

• Guide and provide thought partnership on NACTO’s membership engagement.
  • Engage in strategic conversations about how to evolve membership structures, membership growth, methods for broadening our reach and connections within individual agencies, and inclusive engagement approaches.
  • Build, implement, and maintain a framework for evaluating membership engagement, defining metrics of success and tracking change over time.
    • In partnership with other staff, provide input on structural framework for Peer Network engagement.
  • Collect member input on NACTO’s annual work plan.
  • Build strong relationships with staff in NACTO member cities, continuously listening for ways that NACTO can support member city goals and initiatives.
• Direct and oversee staff to produce the annual Designing Cities conference, North America’s leading progressive transportation event, and NACTO’s most prominent vehicle for movement-building, membership engagement, strategic communications, professional development, and peer-to-peer exchange.
  • Own responsibility for meeting or exceeding the annual conference fundraising goal.
    • Conduct direct outreach to new and returning corporate and foundation sponsors, building long-term relationships with partners that support NACTO’s mission and work.
    • Chair and support a local fundraising committee in the host city, providing them guidance and resources to do local fundraising in support of the conference.
    • In partnership with the staff member responsible for all sponsor benefit fulfillment, work to ensure an overall seamless and positive experience for conference sponsors.
  • In collaboration with NACTO leadership, staff, and host city staff, develop the annual conference themes and vision and ensure that they are fully woven throughout the conference programming.
    • Produce all conference plenary programming, curating a diverse, compelling set of plenary presentations and managing all aspects of plenary speaker engagement, from invitation to preparation to on-site support.
    • Oversee staff to produce an excellent, diverse, thought-provoking pool of speakers, sessions, workshops, walkshops, and panels.
    • Oversee staff who are liaising with host city staff to provide strategic guidance and ensure a predictable, productive, positive experience for NACTO and the host city.
  • Oversee staff and outside consultants to execute a logistically seamless event.
    • Own responsibility for all major contracts and negotiations for the conference, including for the hotel and/or venue, event firms, and other consultant support.
  • Develop and oversee the internal processes for annually setting a vision and executing a successful conference in line with our organizational values.
    • Oversee annual host city selection process, from RFP to interviews and onboarding.
    • Evaluate and refine NACTO’s internal processes for engaging with host city partner(s).
    • Oversee staff in refining, promoting, and supporting processes to ensure a consistent, predictable speaker preparation process and that all speakers and attendees have a positive, enriching experience.
• Oversee staff who manage NACTO’s professional development fellowships for future leaders in city transportation
  • Leadership NACTO:
    • Ensure sustainable funding mechanisms and lead fundraising efforts for the program.
    • Oversee staff who develop the program’s curriculum and city-specific programming, including opportunities to leverage consultant trainers/facilitators.
    • Oversee staff leading strategic planning for the program’s growth, including ideas for future engagement with an alumni network and program expansion to a wider range of prospective participants.
  • Better Bikeshare Partnership (BBSP) Fellows:
    • Oversee staff in the development and management of the NACTO/BBSP fellowship curriculum to ensure that the program provides professional and personal skill-building for a culturally diverse cohort of practitioners focused on fostering a more equitable, culturally responsive and representative mobility space.
    • Provide the greater BBSP team with periodic strategic guidance to plan for the program’s financial health and long-term growth.
• Staff management
  • Provide thoughtful and intentional management to direct reports to support staff success and professional development; build trust and accountability; deliver constructive feedback; and manage towards results.
  • Manage across teams to achieve programmatic results.
• Provide strategic input on organizational direction
  • As a member of the organization’s senior leadership team, provide strategic input on overall organizational direction and opportunities for impact; contribute positively to a productive and effective leadership team; and work closely with other senior staff to coordinate programmatic initiatives and staff management.

Who you are

The ideal candidate will bring extensive experience building a movement and a desire to sustain and grow NACTO’s community of progressive, effective city transportation officials. You will also bring experience fundraising for a movement and/or conferences or other large events. You do not need to have deep professional expertise in urban planning / transportation policy, but you should have an understanding of and passion for these topics, and should be able to communicate that clearly.

To be successful in this job, you will excel in the following key areas:

• Experience building a movement: Past experience exploring and developing structures to maximize the effectiveness of engagement strategies and movement building.
• Relationship-oriented: You have strong emotional intelligence, empathy, humility, and an outstanding ability to build and maintain relationships with partners, funders, sponsors, and members.
• Comfort engaging on race, gender, and equity: NACTO staff work in a wide variety of cities and contexts across North America, and a strong understanding of and ability to engage on the issues and power dynamics around race, gender, equity, and transportation policy are essential to this work.
• Fundraising: You have experience seeking new sources of funding, soliciting corporate sponsorships, and building long-term partnerships with foundations and other supporters.
• Collaborative style: You are eager to partner with colleagues to solve problems, seize opportunities and advance the mission of the office. You actively listen and communicate well because you know that increased understanding and collaboration leads to better results.
• Impeccable organizational and time management skills.

How to Apply

• An appeal for funding
• A strategy / visioning document (e.g., work plan, strategic plan, values statements, etc.)
• A campaign or strategic communications plan
• A community engagement or outreach plan

Job Categories: Equal Opportunities. Job Types: Full-Time. Salaries: 100,000 and above.

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