MANAGER, SIGNAGE AND ENVIRONMENTAL GRAPHIC DESIGN (WAYFINDING & NAVAGATIONAL SIGNAGE)

The Manager of Signage and Environmental Graphic Design at the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority oversees the planning, design, and development of signage and wayfinding projects for transit systems. This role includes managing staff and consultants, ensuring compliance with design standards, and collaborating with various stakeholders. Responsibilities involve conceptualizing design solutions, conducting audits, and aligning projects with regulatory requirements to enhance the customer experience across Metro's services.
Manages the planning, design, and development of major high-visibility customer signage and environmental graphic design projects for the delivery of major capital projects and signage related start-up activities for new transit corridors, including bus and rail fleet and the construction of stations, facilities, and other projects to provide patrons with the information needed to navigate Metro's systems. The Manager, Signage and Environmental Graphic Design (Wayfinding & Navigational Signage) leads the production design of systemwide signage, wayfinding, & branded environment projects and ensures alignment with agency standards, accessibility guidelines, and regulatory requirements. The position supervises internal staff and external consultants, collaborating closely with architects, engineers, planners, and creative teams. This role helps shape the visual & navigational experience across Metro’s stations, stops, and fleet.

Recruitment Timeline: Interviews are are projected to be scheduled for the week of June 9, 2025. These dates are subject to change. We encourage you to monitor your governmentjobs.com profile and emails for the latest updates.
• Manages the planning, conceptualization, design, refinements, and production of a wide range of environmental graphic design work for the construction of station, facilities, and vehicles to ensure the continuity and integration of Metro's Environmental Graphic Design Systemwide Standards into the customer environment
• Manages environmental graphic design, customer environment branding standards, and visual information systems for highly visible capital projects and ensures that work is on schedule, within budget, and complies with technical and regulatory requirements
• Manages and evaluates the work of staff and consultants in developing complex signage and wayfinding design plans, programs, and processes to ensure consistency and integration of the Metro transit system
• Plans, conceptualizes, develops, and executes creative strategies and solutions, and effectively communicates these strategies to staff and consultants
• Analyzes complex design issues/problems and recommends visual solutions that convey clear, consistent, and effective information, and reflect best industry practices
• Reviews design and construction documents, project specifications, and shop drawings for compliance with Metro's Environmental Graphic Design Systemwide Standards and to provide comments and direction to construction design teams
• Conducts comments resolution meetings with the capital project construction teams, designers, and vendors
• Conducts field audits of all signage for capital projects for placement, location, quality, and compliance with approved drawings and standards
• Consults with other Metro departments for best practices and means and methods for fabricating and installing illuminated and static signage in new capital construction projects and existing facilities and stations
• Works with multidisciplinary stakeholders, such as Architecture, Maintenance, Operations, Civil Rights, Safety, Security, Fleet Acquisition, and Marketing teams to incorporate complex environmental graphic design, signage, wayfinding, and other customer environment enhancements
• Interfaces with designers, engineers, architects, fabricators, and other design professionals to deliver quality projects and/or ensure quality and integrity of customer environments
• Develops and writes complex scopes of work for highly visible construction projects, prepares cost estimates, and evaluates proposals
• Facilitates procurement; serves as technical subject matter expert during contract bidding, negotiation and award process; and manages the implementation of contractor/ consultant contracts
• Responds to requests for signage resulting from alterations to the transit system environment, with a particular focus on mitigating impacts from regulatory requirements and digital information integration into the built environment
• Supports the seamless integration of environmental graphic design components in relation to other key design elements, such as public art, architecture, and landscape architecture
• Allocates and manages workflow and contractor resources
• Develops and manages agency Environmental Graphic Design Systemwide Standards and Fleet Identity Standards
• Facilitates management-level client meetings to define issues and develop strategies/work plans
• Collaborates with clients to refine project objectives and determine how they can best be accomplished within time and budgetary constraints
• Works closely with Program Delivery, Operations, and Marketing to ensure sure deadlines are met
• Provides technical support and ensures design activities meet operations, maintenance, and quality standards and expectations
• Manages special signage and environmental graphic design related studies
• Supervises, trains, and motivates assigned staff
• Prepares and presents comprehensive presentations, reports, and presentations to management, committees, and outside agencies
• Represents the department at meetings with consultants and the public
• Contributes to ensuring that the EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity) policies and programs of Metro are carried out

May be required to perform other related job duties
A combination of education and/or experience that provides the required knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the essential functions of the position. Additional experience, as outlined below, may be substituted for required education on a year-for-year basis. A typical combination includes:

Education
• Bachelor's Degree in Urban or Transportation Planning; Public Administration, Public Policy, Visual Communications, Industrial Design, Graphic Design, Environmental Graphic Design, Architecture, Urban Design, or a related field; Master's Degree in a related field preferred

Experience
• Six years of relevant experience or three years of relevant supervisory-level experience in developing complex, highly visible environmental graphic design programs and products

Certifications/Licenses/Special Requirements
• A valid California Class C Driver License or the ability to utilize an alternative method of transportation when needed to carry out job-related essential functions

Preferred Qualifications
Preferred Qualifications (PQs) are used to identify relevant knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) as determined by business necessity. These criteria are considered preferred qualifications and are not intended to serve as minimum requirements for the position. PQs will help support selection decisions throughout the recruitment. In addition, applicants who possess these PQs will not automatically be selected.

The following are the preferred qualifications:
• Experience managing complex signage and environmental graphic design projects within a public or transportation industry focusing on wayfinding for stations, stops and fleet vehicles
• Experience managing signage designs from concept to completion while reviewing and complying with design standards
• Experience analyzing construction drawings and providing feedback to produce production-ready visuals to enhance navigational systems
• Experience developing and implementing wayfinding strategies that prioritize accessibility, enhance user experience, and ensure compliance with ADA and other relevant codes and regulatory standards
• Experience communicating and collaborating with multidisciplinary teams, vendors and stakeholders

Knowledge of(defined as a learned body of information that is required for and applied in the performance of job tasks)
• Applicable local, state, and federal laws, rules, and regulations governing signage and environmental graphic design policies and funding for a public transportation agency
• Current theories, principles, and practices of environmental graphic design, typography, navigational schemes, and signage
• Wayfinding plans, engineering studies, and highly complex technical documents
• Project management, budgeting, and cost estimating
• Contract administration and negotiation
• Capital project program delivery
• Copyright issues
• American Disability Act (ADA) standards and Title VI requirements
• Signage fabrication and installation means and methods, including materials, coatings, and hardware
• Macintosh hardware and a range of software programs, such as Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Acrobat, Distiller, CAD (Computer-Aided Design) applications and tools, font management software utilities, Microsoft Office Suite, and other desktop publishing tools
• Modern management theory

Skill in(defined as the proficient manual, verbal, or mental utilization of data, people, or things)
• Managing the design and development of environmental graphic design standards and/or project delivery of signage plans/ systems to help achieve the agency's long-range mission
• Reading and understanding architectural, engineering and construction documents and drawings
• Analyzing situations, identifying problems, recommending solutions, and evaluating outcomes
• Discerning anomalies and discrepancies between required standards and contractor submittals
• Effective project management while working on multiple projects concurrently
• Communicating effectively, verbally, and in writing
• Communicating an overall appreciation and understanding of quality design with project team members and creating relationships with other agency departments and individuals
• Interacting professionally with various levels of Metro employees, design professionals, and the public
• Exercising creativity, critical judgement, and constructive problem solving

Ability to(defined as a present competence to perform an observable behavior or produce an observable result)
• Understand complex wayfinding plans and communication systems
• Retain institutional knowledge and recall detailed information from protracted projects
• Think and act independently
• Establish and implement relevant policies and procedures
• Understand, interpret, and apply laws, rules, regulations, policies, and procedures
• Supervise, train, and motivate assigned staff
• Effectively organize complex information and maintain organized and accurate job files
• Meet tight time constraints and deadlines for tasks and projects
• Prepare comprehensive reports and correspondence
• Read, write, speak, and understand English

Special ConditionsThe physical demands described are representative of those that must be met by the employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Metro provides reasonable accommodation to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Working Conditions
• Typical office situation
• Close exposure to computer monitors and video screen

Physical Effort Required
• Sitting at a desk or table
• Operate a telephone or other telecommunications device and communicate through the medium
• Type and use a keyboard and mouse to perform necessary computer-based functions
• Communicating through speech in the English language required
• Good distance vision and/or depth perception to judge distances
• Color recognition (e.g., distinguishing wires, resistors, containers, light signals, etc.)
(JAL)