What are the responsibilities and job description for the Transit Design Manager(staff augmentation) position at Purely Works?
Position Summary
The role establishes technical direction and ensures integration across multiple disciplines while maintaining alignment with agency and project manager goals. Assignments span light rail, commuter rail, and bus rapid transit facilities. The design management team is built as a composite of backgrounds covering three general portfolio areas — Civil/Track, Facilities, and Systems, so candidates are sought whose depth sits in one of those areas while retaining the breadth to manage across disciplines.
Key Responsibilities
Design Management
Lead design development for assigned projects, managing multiple smaller-scale transit design efforts concurrently across architectural, civil, traffic, track, structural, geotechnical, landscaping, ventilation, and station electrical and lighting disciplines.
Establish technical direction and ensure integration across disciplines; direct work teams and coordinate between the work efforts of multiple design teams and engineering subject matter experts.
Coordinate weekly with the agency Design Director and align with assigned agency Project Managers on scope, schedule, and budget; change and risk management; project coordination; and project status reporting.
Support the Project Manager in developing project scopes, schedules, and cost estimates.
Consultant Contract Administration
Administer and manage engineering consultant contracts, including peer reviews, design reviews, contract packaging, schedules, budgets, construction support, and risk assessments.
Provide design support during construction, including design contract management, recommendation of error and omission findings, resolution of design-related non-conformance issues, and change management of design-related issues.
Coordination, Compliance, and Quality
Provide oversight and direction of consultant teams with close coordination across agency Operations, Engineering, Safety, Quality, and third parties.
Lead and facilitate technical coordination meetings (weekly or bi-weekly, plus as-needed discipline meetings and monthly status meetings) to progress design, record design decisions, confirm standards compliance, and align stakeholders to scope and budget.
Perform requirements management and tracking to ensure compliance with agency technical standards, design criteria, engineering procedures, and processes.
Promote quality and safety awareness; ensure construction contracts comply with safety certification requirements and applicable safety protocols.
Manage stakeholder coordination throughout design development.
Support task order closeout, including a recommendations matrix identifying whether follow-on actions are maintenance items, require additional design, or can be implemented directly by a contractor or vendor.
Typical Deliverables Design Team/Reviewer Matrices · Design Decision Logs · Design Deliverable Reviews · Design Management Plans · Design Requirement Management Plans · Meeting agendas and summaries (within 2 working days; final within 5) · Change log and risk log updates · Design management templates and team guidelines
Minimum Qualifications
Education
Bachelor's degree or higher in Engineering, Architecture, or a closely related field is required.
Licensure
Professional Civil Engineer (PE) license issued by the State of Washington or Licensed Architect in Washington State.Either one of them is required.
Reciprocity note: Candidates currently licensed in another state are acceptable where the Washington license can be obtained within three months of Notice to Proceed.
Minimum 10 years of demonstrated leadership experience managing multi-disciplinary teams guiding the design, permitting, and construction-procurement of capital improvement projects.
Minimum 8 years of progressively responsible experience in transit/transportation design.
Minimum 6 years of leadership, budgetary, planning, and workforce management experience.
Discipline specialty — at least one of the following:
Civil Engineer with a minimum of 10 years managing and producing engineering deliverables;
Architect with a minimum of 10 years managing and producing design deliverables; or
Systems/Communications Engineer with a minimum of 10 years managing and producing engineering deliverables.
Preferred Qualifications
Experience on projects supporting an existing, operating transit system — facilities, infrastructure, and/or repair and maintenance of in-service assets (evaluated more favorably).
Demonstrated ability to adapt to unique technical challenges, work with a wide variety of stakeholders, and provide guidance that supports agency decision making (evaluated more favorably).
Experience delivering work through Small Works and Job Order Contract vehicles.
Working familiarity with cloud-based Project Management Information Systems (PMIS) for deliverable submission, document control, and communication; training on the client's platform will be provided.
Sustainability or LEED accreditation.
Experience coordinating design within active rail right-of-way, including operations, safety certification, and third-party interfaces.
The role establishes technical direction and ensures integration across multiple disciplines while maintaining alignment with agency and project manager goals. Assignments span light rail, commuter rail, and bus rapid transit facilities. The design management team is built as a composite of backgrounds covering three general portfolio areas — Civil/Track, Facilities, and Systems, so candidates are sought whose depth sits in one of those areas while retaining the breadth to manage across disciplines.
Key Responsibilities
Design Management
Lead design development for assigned projects, managing multiple smaller-scale transit design efforts concurrently across architectural, civil, traffic, track, structural, geotechnical, landscaping, ventilation, and station electrical and lighting disciplines.
Establish technical direction and ensure integration across disciplines; direct work teams and coordinate between the work efforts of multiple design teams and engineering subject matter experts.
Coordinate weekly with the agency Design Director and align with assigned agency Project Managers on scope, schedule, and budget; change and risk management; project coordination; and project status reporting.
Support the Project Manager in developing project scopes, schedules, and cost estimates.
Consultant Contract Administration
Administer and manage engineering consultant contracts, including peer reviews, design reviews, contract packaging, schedules, budgets, construction support, and risk assessments.
Provide design support during construction, including design contract management, recommendation of error and omission findings, resolution of design-related non-conformance issues, and change management of design-related issues.
Coordination, Compliance, and Quality
Provide oversight and direction of consultant teams with close coordination across agency Operations, Engineering, Safety, Quality, and third parties.
Lead and facilitate technical coordination meetings (weekly or bi-weekly, plus as-needed discipline meetings and monthly status meetings) to progress design, record design decisions, confirm standards compliance, and align stakeholders to scope and budget.
Perform requirements management and tracking to ensure compliance with agency technical standards, design criteria, engineering procedures, and processes.
Promote quality and safety awareness; ensure construction contracts comply with safety certification requirements and applicable safety protocols.
Manage stakeholder coordination throughout design development.
Support task order closeout, including a recommendations matrix identifying whether follow-on actions are maintenance items, require additional design, or can be implemented directly by a contractor or vendor.
Typical Deliverables Design Team/Reviewer Matrices · Design Decision Logs · Design Deliverable Reviews · Design Management Plans · Design Requirement Management Plans · Meeting agendas and summaries (within 2 working days; final within 5) · Change log and risk log updates · Design management templates and team guidelines
Minimum Qualifications
Education
Bachelor's degree or higher in Engineering, Architecture, or a closely related field is required.
Licensure
Professional Civil Engineer (PE) license issued by the State of Washington or Licensed Architect in Washington State.Either one of them is required.
Reciprocity note: Candidates currently licensed in another state are acceptable where the Washington license can be obtained within three months of Notice to Proceed.
Minimum 10 years of demonstrated leadership experience managing multi-disciplinary teams guiding the design, permitting, and construction-procurement of capital improvement projects.
Minimum 8 years of progressively responsible experience in transit/transportation design.
Minimum 6 years of leadership, budgetary, planning, and workforce management experience.
Discipline specialty — at least one of the following:
Civil Engineer with a minimum of 10 years managing and producing engineering deliverables;
Architect with a minimum of 10 years managing and producing design deliverables; or
Systems/Communications Engineer with a minimum of 10 years managing and producing engineering deliverables.
Preferred Qualifications
Experience on projects supporting an existing, operating transit system — facilities, infrastructure, and/or repair and maintenance of in-service assets (evaluated more favorably).
Demonstrated ability to adapt to unique technical challenges, work with a wide variety of stakeholders, and provide guidance that supports agency decision making (evaluated more favorably).
Experience delivering work through Small Works and Job Order Contract vehicles.
Working familiarity with cloud-based Project Management Information Systems (PMIS) for deliverable submission, document control, and communication; training on the client's platform will be provided.
Sustainability or LEED accreditation.
Experience coordinating design within active rail right-of-way, including operations, safety certification, and third-party interfaces.