GTFS Engineer

At the Technology Innovation Department (TID), our mission is to apply modern principles of research, design, and technology to make our transit system easy for all riders to use. Effective and equitable public transit is essential to the social, economic, and environmental progress of Greater Boston.

The MBTA Technology Innovation team is working to transform how people get around the Boston area.

We are a team of designers, engineers, product and content specialists charged with bringing novel ideas, modern standards and a user-centered approach to technology at the T. As the MBTA works to reinvent itself, we have a rare opportunity to craft the future of transportation for Boston and communities all around Eastern Massachusetts, as well as pioneer innovations for other transit agencies around the country.

Do you want to improve the daily transportation experience for 4.7 million people in the Boston region? Ready for the challenge? Then read on.

The GTFS Engineer works in MBTA’s Technology Innovation Department (TID) as part of the Transit Data team to ensure that data about schedules matches actual transit operations while adhering to transit data standards such as General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) and Operational Data Standard (ODS).

GTFS and ODS data is consumed by popular apps, maps, and the many data systems TID operates. TID’s applications such as MBTA.com help riders know what service is running and support trip planning. Internal apps such as Skate enable operations staff to manage the flow of bus service—among many other use cases. 

In this role, you will apply a combination of software engineering and collaboration skills. For software engineering, you will maintain and update the code that publishes schedule and other changes and collaborate with other engineers applying modern software engineering practices. On the collaboration side, you will regularly communicate with internal stakeholders about unique technical challenges that arise while also working with subject matter experts to gain deep knowledge of how transit data gets generated and used, end-to-end. 

While this is an advanced technical role, people skills such as clear communication, working within challenging constraints, and creativity are all required to thrive on this team responsible for timely, critical, and complex data publishing.

Skill requirements:

• Software engineering practices 
• Software development lifecycle 
• Data processing with Python 
• Scripting languages (such as Bash) 
• Automated testing 
• Debugging software defects 
• Technical writing 
• Navigating deadlines 
• Attention to detail 
• Technical communication 
• Bonus: Knowledge of Transit Schedules 
• Bonus: Knowledge of GTFS and ODS 
• Bonus: Functional programming

Day to day experience:

• The morning kicks off with team standup, where we share our progress and ask questions all together. From there, you might huddle up with the Program and Product Managers to confirm the technical approach to a complex Green Line diversion on the horizon. The rest of the day could see you teaming up with another engineer on a GTFS pipeline improvement, jumping into a stakeholder meeting to confirm the desired output for the latest Commuter Rail schedules, parsing through timetables for rail replacement shuttles, and perhaps even drafting out a future extension for the GTFS spec on the back of a napkin.




• As the day wraps up, you’ll ensure our GTFS deployments go off without a hitch, coordinating with the team to ensure everybody’s work makes it on board. And if it’s Friday, you’ll jump into department-wide demos and kudos, showcasing your achievements, cheering on your teammates, and reflecting on TID’s working agreement: “We work for riders.” GTFS is how we extend MBTA service beyond the station or the bus stop - and as you close your laptop for the day, you feel pride in bringing accurate, impactful, real-time information to riders’ fingertips. 

Place inside company/reporting structure:

• TID is a relatively flat organization. In this role, you report to the Director of Engineering and work collaboratively with the other technical and non-technical members of the Transit Data team.

Benefits and advantages:

• While working in government may not be glamorous, this is a long-term contract role with compensation comparable to similar private sector roles. 




• Flexibility and remote work
• Working with one of the most advanced tech teams working in government
• Work-life balance: we rarely exceed a 40-hour workweek
• A social mission to improve the rider experience and make public transit viable and appealing to the public
• A results-oriented culture where we frequently deploy new features or services
• The ability to be of service to both riders and operations staff who depend on accurate and timely transit data 

Hiring process:

• We are committed to equal opportunity
• 30-minute screening with the hiring manager 
• 90-minute final round interview with team members
• The final round includes a technical skills assessment exercise
• Guaranteed response (no ghosting!)

Required experience and certifications:

• At least 3 years of experience working with Python in a technical role that involved data processing.

Location:

This role can be 100% remote.

As a contracted role for the MBTA, we are unable to hire candidates who would perform their work in California, Connecticut, Washington DC, Hawaii, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Washington, West Virginia, and Puerto Rico.

At this time, we are only able to hire US residents who will reside in the US for the duration of their employment

Compensation:

Pay rate range is $75 - $97 per hour (W-2), up to 1880 hours per year.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion:

TID is dedicated to creating a diverse and inclusive environment—it’s essential to the work we do. In order to effectively partner with MBTA departments and do our best work for riders, our team must reflect the wide variety of people who use the MBTA’s services. We welcome people with different strengths, experiences, and backgrounds who share a passion for improving people's lives. Our team is deeply committed to diversity, inclusion, and continual learning. We strive to foster an environment where each individual is valued, feels a sense of belonging, and is welcomed to bring their best self to work.

Here at TID, we provide equal opportunity for all employees and applicants. We recruit, hire, train, promote, compensate, and manage all personnel without regard to race, color, national origin, cultural identification or expression, socioeconomic background, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, family status, marital status, learning style, neurodiversity, genetics, disability, age, veteran status, or any other non-merit based or legally protected grounds. 

Research has shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply for roles unless they believe they meet all qualifications. We strongly encourage candidates from marginalized groups to apply, even if you don't believe you meet every one of the job qualifications listed. We’re committed to maximizing the diversity of our team and want to hear from anyone who is passionate about our efforts and interested in supporting our work for riders.