Human Transit

interested in working with me?

My consulting practice, Jarrett Walker + Associates, has won several consulting gigs for 2013, and is ready to grow just a tiny bit.

I'd like to hear from people who are either:

• Interested in full-time employment based in Portland, or
• Interested in assisting me on a subcontract basis.  These do not have to be based in Portland but there is some advantage to being in Portland, Seattle, the Bay Area or Los Angeles.  Scroll down for more on that.

In all cases, compensation is based on experience and salary history, or based on a subcontractor's stated billing rate.  

1.  Full-Time Employment

Full-time employment will likely look like one of these:

• Associate Planner.  This person, based in Portland, would take on a range of analysis and planning roles while also assisting with administrative and logistical support.  Over time it could grow into full-time planning but in the early stages we will not have much clerical or administrative staff, so you must be ready to pitch in with whatever needs to be done.  This role could be anywhere from entry-level (Masters preferred) to up to 3 years professional, and/or academic experience.  Enthusiastic BAs who can show some relevant experience and skills will also be considered.  Essential skills include English fluency, strong personal organization, resourcefulness, quantitative analysis skills in Excel, and an ability to convey ideas clearly in writing.  Highly desirable skills include GIS and spatial analysis generally, ability to write for both general and technical audiences, and demonstrated skills with graphics including both mapping and explanatory graphics.

• Senior Associate.  This person, based in Portland, has all the skills listed above plus a either (1) a Masters in a relevant field (planning, design, or engineering) and over 3 years professional experience in transportation planning and/or policy or (2) five years of such experience.  This person is very well-organized and an excellent manager, able to monitor scope, budget, and deadlines and manage more junior staff and subconsultants.  You already have a range of skills that make you marketable as a transit consultant, and are capable of winning some projects based on those skills combined with me in a project director or oversight role.

2.  Subcontracting

Subcontracting would take the form of part-time but committed roles assisting me with various tasks.  ("Committed" means that our agreement imposes deadlines, requires a certain minimum degree of availability, prohibits you from disappearing in the middle of a task, and may include a non-compete clause, but otherwise leaves much room for flexibility in how work is done.)  Subconractors are capable of self-direction and can accurate commit to the time and materials required for various tasks.  I am especially interested in subcontractors who can help with:

• Graphics of a high presentation quality designed to engage and enlighten a general audience, such as you would expect of an artchitecture or design firm.  These would include both informative maps and compelling visual explanations.  This person should be comfortable with GIS (as a common data source) as well as more artistic graphics programs, and should have a portfolio of clear, engaging and exciting graphical explanations of ideas and/or choices.

• Quantitative analysis of transit issues using Excel (including graphs), GIS, and other relevant software you may propose.

• General transit planning, which requires both quantative and qualitative skills plus good writing skills and an understanding of transit issues demonstrated in past work.  It is also very, very helpful if you have experience interacting with general decision-makers and the public, and also with professionals in adjacent fields such as transportation policy, urban design, and traffic engineering.

How to Express Interest

1.  Take the time to understand my work a little, and think about how your own values and experience relate to that.  At the very least, read the introduction to my book and explore my professional website.  Obviously generic or find-and-change applications will be ignored.

2.  Send me an email, using the link under my photo.  In the subject line, say "Employment" or "Subcontracting" and the position or area(s)  listed above that you feel you are qualified for.

3.  Don't write a lot in the email, because that material is a pain to organize and file.  Put your message to me in the cover letter.  

4.  Provide cover letter, resume, and work samples (including professional, academic or volunteer work) that you feel are most relevant.  If the work samples are not exclusively your work, explain what part of it is yours.

5.  In your cover letter, be sure to state the salary range or billing rate that you believe is appropriate.  If you're not sure, cite your most recent salary or hourly rate for similar work.  

6.  In your cover letter, state any limitations about your ability to travel for work.  If you are not in Portland, clarify if you are interested in moving there, now or in the future.  Again, a Portland location is not essential for subcontractors, but it is still a consideration.

I will start reviewing responses around February 1.  If you plan to respond, please do so by then!

Please forward a link to this post to anyone who might be interested!  Thanks!

fantastic job opportunity in san francisco

San Francisco MTA is hiring a manager of service planning.  It looks like a great job for a seasoned transit planner and pays enough that you can actually live comfortably in wonderful but super-expensive San Francisco.  Spread the word!

seeking a portland-based assistant!

My very little firm, Jarrett Walker & Associates, is ready to add some support.  It will be six months before I decide whether to cross the hurdle into formally becoming an employer, but meanwhile, I have a range of support tasks that can be a great learning experience for someone trying to get into the field. 

So I'm looking for someone (maybe more than one) who's comfortable with being a subcontractor without benefits for up to six months, until we get to that decision point.  I envision you working around 25-30 hours/week, with frequent visits to my Portland home office but no obligation to work onsite all the time.  (If you are available only part-time, but at least 20 hours a week, that' s also possible.)  I envision paying you something in the range of $15-40/hour, depending on your experience and skills.

You do not necessarily have a graduate degree or transit planning experience, though I'll pay you more if you do.  You probably do have a BA.  You absolutely need to have:

• Passionate enthusiasm about public transit and its role in building a better civilization.
• Strong organization skills -- i.e. organization of documents, information, calendar etc.
• English fluency and readable writing in English.
• Ability to use basic software, including all parts of Microsoft Office on Macs.
• A willingness to pitch in on whatever needs to be done at the moment.
• Ability to work with visualizations, such as graphs and maps, and make connections between this information and other data forms.
• Evidence of ability to learn new material and concepts rapidly.

In addition, it's highly advantageous if you have:

• Some transit planning or policy experience.  (Intelligent volunteer advocacy counts.)
• IT troubleshooting skills and confidence.  (Macs with Microsoft Office, plus online tools including Google Apps, TypePad, and key social media.  This is especially valuable because I'm very bad at this myself.)
• Strong ability to write, and to customize writing style to different audiences.
• Ability to design compelling visuals, including document formats, PowerPoint presentations, and graphs and diagrams that tell a story clearly.
• Advanced data analysis skills, which could include advanced uses of Excel, database programs, and GIS.

Again, I do not recommend that you move to Portland just for this opportunity, though I won't discriminate against out-of-town applicants if you're sure you want to take that risk.  In six months, if I'm ready to build a larger staff, I will be more enthusastically seeking staff interested in coming to Portland to work with us.

If interested, please hit the email button under my photo, over on the far right of this page -->

Email me your questions about this opportunity, and if you are interested, send me:

• A resume
• At least three references I can call who have some experience with you in the skill areas I've described above.
• Optionally: the hourly rate, without benefits, that you think best matches your skills, supported by a history of past compensation if relevant.  If you have a bottom line minimum hourly rate, state it.  If not, we'll figure this out if we're a match.
• Preferably: A sample of some past project you've done that displays both your ability to write and your ability to interpret data, ideally including visualisations (graphs, maps, diagrams) that you've designed.

If this sounds vague it's because I'm intentionally casting a wide net here.  It is the nature of working in a very small firm that you have to do many kinds of tasks -- both professional and clerical -- so there are several possible backgrounds that could be good qualification.  I may also add more than one person to get the complete skillset I need.

The application deadline is July 20, but if you've missed that go ahead and send me something.  I am likely to make decisions based on what I have on July 20, but I may not meet all of my needs then.

Please spread the word, especially in Portland!

portland: summer intern job at transit agency

Portland's transit agency TriMet is hiring a planning intern for this summer.  I held this exalted position in the summers of 1983-85.  And they've raised the pay just a little since then!  Details here:   Download TriMet Service Planning and Scheduling Student Internship Posting- 2012

job: manager of service planning for vancouver's translink

TransLink in Vancouver has a great opportunity for a manager of service planning (10+ years planning experience, including some in management). They do more junior hiring as well, so keep an eye on their careers site.  This one, though, is especially critical for the agency, so I wanted to feature it.

I'm under a long-term contract with TransLink doing work on their Regional Transit Strategy and similar planning tasks, so I hope to be working a bit with this person.

To apply see the "Manager of Transit Planning" item here.  Full job description is attached.  Move fast; it closes on Oct 14.

TransLink, and Vancouver in general, is a great place to work on transit and sustainable urbanism.  Even more remarkable, their colleagues in city governments mostly share that vision, though the usual tensions arise as you'd expect anywhere.  The agency's position as a single regionwide authority makes it relatively easy to think across boundaries.  Few metro areas in North America have such a strong pro-transit consensus as metro Vancouver. 

Their regional long-term plan, Transport 2040, is also the only one I've seen whose fundamental goals refer to the extent of a Frequent Transit Network.  It's Goal #3.  To me this is especially strong evidence that despite all the thrills of their extensive driverless rapid transit, the agency's thinking is focused on mobility outcomes, and their urban livability consequences, but not on technology for its own sake.

If you'd like to work in a region where suburban cities compete over who can build the most vibrant high-density centers around transit stations, but where you can still, as they say, ski in the morning and sail in the afternoon, Vancouver's the spot. 

Fine print:  If my experience in 05-06 is any indication, the days when you can ski in the morning and sail in the afternoon will be heavily overcast and drizzling, but you will still be enjoying the warmest winter weather in all of Canada.  Think of it as the Canadian Riviera!