Planning Specialist III, Grade

Salary : $74,507.00 - $119,032.00 Annually

Location : 100 Edison Park Dr Gaithersburg MD 20878 USA

Job Type: Permanent

Job Number: 2025-00287

Department: Department of Transportation

Division: DOT 50 Transportation Planning and Design Section

Opening Date: 05/06/2025

Closing Date: Continuous

FLSA: Exempt

About the Position

The anticipated salary upon hire: $74,507 - $117,836

WHO WE ARE

MCDOT's mission is to move people and connect places with seamless, equitable transportation options that are safe, environmentally responsible, and support economic growth and vibrancy in Montgomery County. MCDOT supports its residents, commuters and visitors with transit options and infrastructure that provides seamless transportation services to the public.

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR

MCDOT is seeking a Planning Specialist III position that will serve in the Department of Transportation; Division of Transportation Engineering (DTE); Bus Rapid transit Section. This is an exciting opportunity to shape the future of multimodal travel in Montgomery County. DTE is responsible for advancing the County's Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) program. The County is working to advance BRT on 100 miles of streets with 100 stations.

The Planning Specialist III is generally responsible for planning capital projects for the BRT program, leading public outreach efforts, and leading programmatic efforts to advance the BRT program. General responsibilities include project management, technical analysis expertise, website update and development, documentation development, outreach lead, and quality assurance/ quality control. The Planning Specialist III has a thorough understanding of transportation planning concepts and principles and is able to effectively identify, develop and deliver strategic communications with internal and external stakeholders, including consultants, other County agencies, state and federal agencies or special purpose agencies (such as M-NCPPC and WSSC) on matters essential to expedite the planning process. The County is seeking a Senior Planner III with knowledge, skills and experience in the following area to assist in the delivery of MCDOT's Flash BRT program.

Transit Planning - The transit planning position focuses on the planning of capital transit projects. This position focuses on leading technical analysis, developing conceptual designs, and working with internal and external stakeholders. It is also responsible for leading various programmatic tasks to advance the BRT program. The ideal candidate for the transit planning position will have experience working with capital transit projects pursuing FTA CIG funding. Key to fulfilling the role will be the ability to identify, develop, and deliver strategic messages for BRT projects to varied internal and external stakeholder groups. The candidate should possess the ability to discuss complex and technical related engineering issues with any audience and effectively foster understanding and collaboration. In addition, the candidate should be comfortable leading discussions publicly and able to effectively present reports on project status, goals and objectives.

What You'll Be Doing

The Planning Specialist III works out of the Division of Transportation Engineering and manages planning efforts and public outreach.

General responsibilities include:

The Planning Specialist III exercises independent judgment, resourcefulness, and creativity.

The scope and effect of work includes but is not limited to identification and resolution of significant planning problems related to concepts, analysis, outreach, budget, schedules, and quality for major capital projects.

The project management function performed by Planning Specialist III is non-supervisory; although some employees in the class may, on occasion, lead lower grade coworkers in broad scope projects.

Provides technical direction on planning scopes of work and is proficient in a variety of planning analyses including but not limited to traffic analysis, transit analysis, concept development, GIS analysis, and other relevant planning analysis.

Lead the development of and review of planning documentation prepared by consultants.

Perform cost/ benefit analyses and risk assessment as necessary to ensure timely and cost-effective delivery of the project.

Take a lead role on communicating project highlights and milestones both internally with MCDOT staff and leadership as well as externally to the broader community and outside agencies, This includes creating maps, infographics, memorandum of understanding (MOU), project summaries, PowerPoint presentations, conceptual visualizations press releases, and social media content.

Conduct and/or participate in a variety of multi-modal planning efforts such as site plan and traffic analysis review, data collection, coordination of project plans and documents including permits, ADA compliant design issues, and tracking project status and coordinating consultant teams and internal project teams.

Be responsible for maintaining all project web pages as well as coordinating many of the public engagement efforts for the Planning and Design Section. Minimum Qualifications

Education: Graduation from an accredited college or university with a Bachelor's Degree in planning, urban design, environmental studies, public administration, or related field such as Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Engineering or Planning with a concentration in transportation.

Experience: Three (3) years of experience in planning and research related to land use, urban economics, human services, environmental issues, conservation or other work directly related to some municipalities planning and development work, such as multi-modal transportation planning.

Equivalency: An equivalent combination of education and experience may be substituted.

License: Possession of a valid Class "C" (or equivalent) driver's license from the applicant's state of residence.

Preferred Criteria, Interview Preferences

Experience managing planning efforts.

Experience participating in and developing public outreach efforts.

Experience with planning and visualization softwares such as ArcGIS, CAD, Adobe Design Software, or similar softwares.

Experience in planning of transportation, transit, bikeway or pedestrian projects that includes concept development, alternatives analysis, stakeholder engagement, and public outreach.

Experience developing and presenting technical recommendations to government officials, stakeholders, and citizen groups.

Experience with traffic and transit analysis.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

The Office of Human Resources (OHR) reviews the minimum qualifications of all applicants, irrespective of whether the candidate has previously been found to have met the minimum requirements for the job or been temporarily promoted to the same position. This evaluation is based solely on the information contained in the application/resume submitted for this specific position.

Montgomery County Government(MCG) is an equal opportunity employer, committed to workforce diversity. Accordingly, as it relates to employment opportunities, the County will provide reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, in accordance with the law. Applicants requiring reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process should email OHR at . Individual determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be made in accordance with all applicable laws.

MCG also provides hiring preference to certain categories of veterans and veterans/persons with a disability. For more information and to claim employment preference, refer to the Careers webpage on Hiring Preference.

All applicants will respond to a series of questions related to their education, relevant experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities required to minimally perform the job. The applicant's responses in conjunction with their resume and all other information provided in the employment application process will be evaluated to determine the minimum qualifications and preferred criteria or interview preference status. Based on the results, the highest qualified applicants will be placed on an Eligible List and may be considered for an interview. Employees meeting minimum qualifications who are the same grade will be placed on the Eligible List as a "Lateral Transfer" candidate and may be considered for an interview.

This will establish an Eligible List that may be used to fill both current and future vacancies.

If selected for consideration for this position, you may be required to provide evidence that you possess the knowledge, skills, and abilities indicated on your resume.

Montgomery County Ethics Law: Except as provided by law or regulation, the County's "Public Employees" (which does not include employees of the Sheriff's office) are subject to the County's ethics law including the requirements to obtain advanced approval of any outside employment and the prohibitions on certain outside employment. The outside employment requirements of the ethics law can be found at 19A-12 of the County Code. Additional information about outside employment can be obtained from the Ethics Commission website.

Leave Benefits

Our generous leave package starts with non-MLS permanent and term employees earning 15 days of sick leave and 15 days of annual leave in their first year, as well as up to three additional personal days each calendar year. Positions in MLS earn 35 days of paid time off each year. In addition, we offer all employees 10 paid holidays. Our leave policies adhere to the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993, and we provide six weeks of paid parental leave for new parents.

Retirement Benefits

All permanent and term positions are eligible for robust retirement plans. Public safety positions are eligible for a defined benefit pension plan in which they are vested after only five years. Employees in non-public safety positions can participate in retirement plans that contribute up to 12 percent of their annual salary. All employees can also participate in a supplemental retirement plan, the 457 Deferred Compensation Plan, to contribute even more to their retirement goals.

Tuition Assistance & Student Loan Forgiveness

Montgomery County employees are eligible to participate in the Federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. Participants who meet all requirements may qualify for forgiveness on the remaining balance on their Direct Loans after making 120 qualifying monthly payments under a qualifying repayment plan while working full-time in a qualifying public service position. To learn more about PSLF, please visit the Student Loan Repayment Benefits page. Our tuition assistance program allows you to receive up to $2,130 annually in tuition assistance to help you achieve a degree that supports your career path.

Free Mass Transit Benefit

County employees are entitled to use the RideOn Bus service for free with a valid County-employee ID. This benefit can be used any time of the day or evening, including weekends. We also offer a pre-tax flexible spending account to reduce the cost of other mass-transit options such as MARC trains and Metro.

Reduced Child and Health Care Costs

Working for Montgomery County also entitles permanent and term employees to participate in healthcare and childcare Flexible Spending Accounts. These plans allow eligible employees to save on a pretax basis for healthcare and dependent care costs incurred during the plan year.

Employee Wellbeing

We deeply care about your holistic wellness. Our award-winning wellness program, LiveWell, will support you in improving and maintaining your physical, mental, financial, social, and intellectual well-being.

Learn more about our wonderful benefits available to you once you join our team. Montgomery County Benefits

01

MQ Question PLANNING SPECIALIST III (004403)

Do you possess and currently maintain a VALID driver's license from your state of residence?

Yes

No

02

MQ Question PLANNING SPECIALIST III (004403)

Do you have a degree in planning, urban design, environmental studies, public administration, or related field?

Yes

No

03

MQ Question PLANNING SPECIALIST III (004403)

What is your highest level of completed education?

N/A

High School/GED

Associate's Degree

Bachelor's Degree

Master's Degree

Juris Doctor

Doctorate

04

MQ Question PLANNING SPECIALIST III (004403)

How many years of planning and research experience do you have in land use, urban economics, human services, environmental issues, conservation or other work directly related to some municipalities planning and development work?

No Experience

1 Year's Experience

2 Year's Experience

3 Year's Experience

4 Year's Experience

5 Year's Experience

6 Year's Experience

7+ Year's Experience

05

Do you possess experience managing planning efforts? If Yes, please describe. If NO, put "N/A"

06

Do you possess experience participating in and developing public outreach efforts? If Yes, please describe. If NO, put "N/A"

07

Do you have experience with planning and visualization software such as ArcGIS, CAD, Adobe Design Software, or similar software? If Yes, please describe. If NO, put "N/A"

08

Do you have experience in the planning of transportation, transit, bikeway or pedestrian projects that includes concept development, alternatives analysis, stakeholder engagement, and public outreach? If Yes, please describe. If NO, put "N/A"

09

Do you have experience developing and presenting technical recommendations to government officials, stakeholders, and citizen groups? If Yes, please describe. If NO, put "N/A"

10

Do you have experience with traffic and transit analysis? If Yes, please describe. If NO, put "N/A"

Required Question