Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Urban Transport Project Director

🎯 Role Definition

The Urban Transport Project Director leads delivery of large-scale urban mobility and infrastructure projects from concept through commissioning and operations transition. This role combines strategic leadership, technical transport planning expertise, stakeholder and donor management, risk and financial oversight, and team leadership to ensure projects deliver sustainable, inclusive and resilient mobility outcomes on time and within budget.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Senior Transport Planner / Lead Transport Engineer
Project Manager, Infrastructure or Urban Mobility
Head of Transit Operations / Program Manager at consulting firm or public authority

Advancement To:

Head of Urban Mobility / Director of Infrastructure Programs
Chief Operating Officer (in transport-focused NGO or agency)
Country Director for transport-focused donor or development program

Lateral Moves:

Transport Policy Director
Chief of Party / Program Director for multi-sector urban development projects

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Lead the end-to-end delivery of urban transport projects (planning, design, procurement, construction, commissioning and handover), ensuring alignment with strategic objectives, stakeholder expectations and donor requirements for multimodal mobility systems.
Define and own project governance, program schedules and delivery milestones; maintain an integrated master schedule and use earned-value and other performance metrics to drive on-time, on-budget delivery.
Develop, manage and report on comprehensive project budgets including capital, O&M transition, contingency and donor disbursement schedules; enforce financial controls and provide regular forecasts to sponsors and funders.
Oversee procurement strategy and supervise procurement processes for works, goods and consultancy contracts (RFPs, bid evaluations, contract negotiations), ensuring transparency, value-for-money and compliance with donor and local regulations.
Lead contract management and administration for design-build, EPC, construction, supervision and operations contracts; manage claims, variations and claims avoidance processes to protect project value and timelines.
Provide technical leadership and quality assurance for transport planning, traffic engineering, civil works, systems integration (ITS, fare collection, signalling), and infrastructure design reviews to ensure constructability and performance.
Direct stakeholder engagement and multi-level coordination with national and local government, regulatory authorities, utilities, community groups, operators and donors to align project scope, permits, land acquisition and right-of-way processes.
Champion environmental and social safeguards, land acquisition, resettlement and community consultation strategies; ensure full compliance with environmental impact assessments, E&S management plans and donor safeguard policies.
Lead risk management: identify program-level risks, develop mitigation and contingency plans, maintain a live risk register and escalate critical issues to the steering committee in a timely manner.
Establish and maintain robust monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) systems and KPIs (ridership, travel-time reductions, safety, emissions impact) to measure project outcomes, inform adaptive management and satisfy donor reporting.
Build, mentor and manage a multi-disciplinary project team (planners, engineers, procurement, finance, social and environmental specialists, M&E) and external consultants to deliver high-quality outputs and build local capacity.
Lead integration and interface management between civil works, systems (ITS, signaling, fare collection), operations and maintenance contracts to reduce delays and ensure systems interoperability and handover readiness.
Oversee commissioning, testing and operational readiness programs including trial operations, driver/operator training, maintenance planning and transfer of assets to operating agencies.
Ensure project design and implementation prioritize sustainable and inclusive mobility — active transport, accessibility for persons with disabilities, gender-sensitive services, and low-carbon solutions — and document climate resilience measures.
Prepare and present high-quality, data-driven reports, board papers and donor briefings; lead project steering committee meetings and facilitate decision-making among senior stakeholders.
Manage and optimize project financing arrangements, including grants, loans, public-private partnerships (PPP) and blended finance structures; liaise with financial advisors and funders to secure and manage disbursements.
Coordinate with urban planning, land-use and economic development stakeholders to ensure transport infrastructure enables transit-oriented development and maximizes social and economic benefits.
Drive supplier performance management and implementation of performance-based contracts where applicable; enforce warranties, guarantees and handback conditions.
Ensure occupational health and safety standards on-site, lead incident management and ensure corrective action implementation in line with project safety plans and local regulations.
Lead change management, communications and public relations strategies for project awareness, stakeholder buy-in and sustained ridership adoption during and after construction.
Manage complex statutory approvals, permits, utility diversion coordination and interface agreements with municipal departments to prevent right-of-way and schedule conflicts.
Coordinate data governance, integration and analytics strategies for transport operations (ridership data, ticketing, ITS telemetry) and ensure secure handover and accessibility for operating agencies and partners.
Drive innovation in project delivery through adoption of digital construction management tools, BIM, traffic simulation (VISSIM, VISUM), asset management systems and real-time monitoring dashboards.
Lead lessons-learned exercises and institutionalize capacity-building programs for local agencies to strengthen long-term service delivery and project sustainability.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis to inform policy, design choices and operational performance improvements.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap to enable evidence-based planning and smart mobility initiatives.
Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering and operational requirements for ITS, fare collection and performance dashboards.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the project delivery team to accelerate systems integration and software-related deliverables.
Support resource mobilization efforts, prepare technical inputs for donor proposals and contribute to grant/loan application development.
Lead community consultation sessions and stakeholder workshops to collect inputs and manage expectations during project implementation.
Supervise third-party audits (financial, environmental, social, technical) and ensure timely closure of audit findings and remedial action plans.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Proven expertise in large-scale transport project delivery, including BRT, light rail/tram, metro extension, multimodal integration, or major corridor upgrades.
Advanced project and program management skills: master scheduling, earned value management (EVM), Primavera P6 or MS Project.
Strong procurement and contract management knowledge: FIDIC, NEC, PPP frameworks, RFP development, bid evaluation and contract negotiation.
Financial management and budgeting for infrastructure projects, including capital planning, cashflow forecasting and donor disbursement management.
Technical competence in transport planning and traffic engineering, including demand modeling, traffic simulation (VISSIM, VISUM) and corridor design.
Systems integration experience: ITS, fare collection systems, signaling, communications and SCADA interfaces.
Environmental and Social Safeguards knowledge, including resettlement policy frameworks, EIA management and gender/social inclusion mainstreaming.
Monitoring, evaluation and KPI development for transport outcomes; experience with M&E frameworks and impact assessment methodologies.
Familiarity with digital tools: BIM, GIS, AutoCAD, data analytics platforms (Power BI, Tableau), SQL and cloud-based project management tools.
Strong contract claims and change order management experience; ability to assess variations, extensions of time and cost impacts.
Experience working with multilateral and bilateral donors (World Bank, ADB, EBRD, GIZ, DFID) and compliance with their fiduciary and safeguard requirements.
Knowledge of urban planning, transit-oriented development, land value capture and integration of transport with urban growth strategies.

Soft Skills

Strategic leadership with proven ability to lead cross-functional teams and create high-performance delivery cultures.
Exceptional stakeholder management and diplomacy — comfortable engaging mayors, ministers, donors, community leaders and private sector partners.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills for high-level reporting, public presentations and negotiation.
Strong problem-solving and decision-making under uncertainty with a pragmatic, outcomes-oriented mindset.
Change management and political acumen to navigate complex governance environments and manage public expectations.
Coaching and mentoring skills to build institutional capacity and transfer knowledge to local agencies.
Attention to detail combined with a systems view — balancing technical rigor with programmatic objectives.
Resilience and adaptability: experience managing projects in fast-changing urban environments and constrained resource settings.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering, Transport Engineering, Urban Planning, Infrastructure Management or a related technical field.

Preferred Education:

Master's degree in Transport Planning, Civil/Transport Engineering, Urban Planning, Project Management, or a related discipline; MBA or MPA is a plus.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Transport Engineering / Traffic Engineering
Urban Planning / Urban Design
Civil Engineering
Project Management / Infrastructure Finance
Environmental Management / Social Development

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

10–20+ years of professional experience in transport or infrastructure project delivery with at least 5–8 years in senior project leadership roles.

Preferred:

Extensive experience (12+ years) managing donor-funded or PPP urban transport projects, with demonstrable track record of delivering complex multimodal projects on time and within budget; experience in the target country or region is highly desirable.