Career Center

NICTD intends to hire a Chief Operating Officer (“COO”) to succeed its well regarded incumbent.  The selected candidate will provide strategic level operational leadership for its existing South Shore Line service and the anticipated West Lake Corridor and Double Track NWI Projects.  The COO will be the senior leader for the transportation, engineering, and mechanical departments comprised of approximately 84 rail vehicles and over 280 employees.  Headquartered in Michigan City, Indiana, the COO is responsible for the supervision and effective delivery of on-time reliable service during normal conditions and the pro-active real-time leadership necessary for the prompt resumption of service after a service disruption.  This over-arching responsibility encompasses the South Shore Line’s service territory between Chicago, Illinois and South Bend, Indiana, including South Shore Line operations on the Metra Electric District within Chicago.  To be considered for this position, the person must have ten (10) or more years of successful and increasingly responsible supervisory and operational experience in railroad or heavy rail transit service.   This is an excellent opportunity for a motivated individual to use his or her skills in leadership, teamwork, communication, and critical thought to maintain and enhance the South Shore Line’s reputation for safe and high-quality service.

Duties include the following:

• Overall pro-active leadership of the managers, staff, and represented employees of the South Shore Line’s Engineering, Mechanical, and Transportation Departments. Serves as a key person on the senior leadership team responsible for establishing and meeting performance targets for passenger/employee safety, on-time performance, and capital projects.
• Serves as a visible and accessible leader who provides daily mentorship; addresses shortfalls in leadership or operational performance as needed. Encourages selfaccountability and critical thought; builds relationships that encourage a collaborative and team-oriented environment. Strongly supports the District’s overall strategy and mission while encouraging a creative, professional, team-oriented culture.
• Leads the seamless incorporation of new services on the West Lake Corridor and Double Track NWI Project into the existing service profiles for the South Shore Line.
• Provides supervisory oversight to ensure that the Engineering, Mechanical, and Transportation are working cooperatively with the Information Technology Department to minimize delays relating to Positive Train Control.
• Supervises all Engineering, Mechanical, and Transportation Department employees in areas including, but not limited to, Customer Service, Short and Long Term Operations Planning, Service Recovery, and Operating Efficiency.
• Performs real-time on-site leadership and supervisory response to customer service issues, situational incidents, and operating emergencies.
• Works closely and cooperates with other departments on matters of mutual concern.
• Serves as the highest engineering, mechanical, and transportation representative in discussions with Metra on matters relating to the Metra Electric District including overarching oversight of track repair programs, asset outages, and scheduling to ensure that the Metra Electric District seamlessly supports South Shore Line services.
• Builds and maintains excellent working relationships with Amtrak, Metra, Chicago SouthShore and South Bend Railroad, Indiana Harbor Belt, various labor unions, governmental officials, and other internal and external customers.
• Other duties as assigned.

The following skills are required:

• Ten (10) or more years of progressive supervisory or combined supervisory and operating experience in railroad or heavy rail transit operations. Familiarity with commuter, passenger, NICTD, and/or Metra Electric commuter operations is preferred but not required.   Superior safety, attendance, and work service records required. Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience required.
• Strategic Vision and Results Orientation. Ability to think strategically, anticipate future consequences and trends, and incorporate them into successful operating plans.   Demonstrated record of exceeding goals and a bottom-line orientation, evidence of the ability to make good decisions through a combination of analysis, wisdom, experience, and judgment.
• Mission-focused with a demonstrated success record in previous leadership roles consistent with the South Shore Line’s reputation for delivering safe and reliable service.
• Customer Oriented. Capable of discerning the needs and wants of both external and internal customers; clearly conveys belief in and commitment to project success.
• Leadership and Organization. Exceptional demonstrated capacity for managing and leading people; a team builder with experience in scaling up organizations; ability to connect with staff on an individual level and in large groups; capacity to enforce accountability, recognize, develop and empower top-notch leaders at all levels of the organization, and learn the strengths and weaknesses of the team.
• Action Oriented. Enjoys working hard and looking for challenges; ability to effectively multi-task among competing short term priorities, able to act and react decisively as necessary, even if limited information is available; skilled at assessing and engaging operating risk; unafraid to take charge of a situation; effective in building support and achieving buy-in, both internally and externally.
• Demonstrated superior interpersonal skills; ability to effectively work with the public, employees and other departments within NICTD while under time or operational constraints; solid proficiency in business writing and Microsoft Office products.
• Thorough knowledge of the General Code of Operating Rules as well as all statutes and regulations applicable to railroad operations.
• Valid driver’s license with a safe driving record.

Selection is also subject to satisfactory results from a post-offer physical examination, drug and alcohol screening test, and background evaluation (including criminal and trust-related criteria).