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About Us:
CALSTART is a mission-driven industry organization focused on transportation decarbonization and clean air for all.
For over 30 years, it’s been CALSTART’s mission to develop, assess, and implement large-scale, zero-emission transportation solutions to mitigate climate change and support economic growth. CALSTART works with businesses, organizations, governments, and communities to create real-life impact toward clean air and equitable access to clean transportation for all. CALSTART provides scientific, technical and policy support for regulatory development and clean technology and infrastructure acceleration.
About The Role:
CALSTART is seeking a Senior Director, Bus Programs to lead strategy, execution, and market acceleration efforts across zero-emission transit and school bus sectors. This leader will work closely with other initiatives, activities, and regional office leads to align priorities and advance the most effective technologies, policies, and programs that accelerate adoption of zero-emission buses nationwide.
The Senior Director will drive initiative strategy, influence policy, develop and manage implementation of innovative programs, and cultivate strong industry and government partnerships. This role bridges CALSTART’s industry leadership with state and federal agencies, transit authorities, school districts, manufacturers, utilities, and member partners to ensure measurable market outcomes that drive toward a net-zero future in public and school transportation technology.
The Senior Director will play a key leadership role in scaling impact nationally and across regions by working with member companies, policymakers, transit agencies, school transportation providers OEMs, and additional industry stakeholders.
The Senior Director, Bus Programs is responsible for the development and oversight of the Initiative’s strategy, operational planning, and execution. This includes coordination across CALSTART initiatives, activities, policy, and regional teams to ensure alignment and measurable outcomes.
This leader will manage and grow a high-performing team while overseeing a portfolio of complex programs, incentive projects, research initiatives, and market acceleration efforts that advance zero-emission transit and school bus deployment.
The Senior Director reports to the Executive Vice President of Initiatives, and works in close partnership with Policy, Business Development, Regional Offices, Technology, and Member Services. These teams have been established to support and help all initiatives, including Bus, achieve their mission of driving down transportation emissions.
What You'll Bring To The Table:
- Initiative Strategy & Operational Leadership: Develop and manage oversight of the Bus Initiative Strategy and Operational Plan, including annual business development goals, OKRs, KPIs, and quarterly performance reviews.
- Align initiative priorities with organizational strategy, funding opportunities, and market needs.
- Oversee development of work plans, hiring plans, and initiative-level budget coordination in partnership with executive leadership.
- Ensure cross-cutting collaboration to develop and create cutting-edge innovative demonstrations, pilots, and commercialization programs.
- Identify and address key market barriers including funding complexity, procurement constraints, infrastructure readiness, workforce training, and deployment challenges.
- Program & Portfolio Oversight: Oversee strategy, administration, and management of major Bus programs and projects, including demonstration initiatives, fleet transition planning efforts, first-of-a-kind deployments, and incentive programs.
- Provide executive oversight of scopes, budgets, schedules, and deliverables across the initiative portfolio.
- Ensure projects support Initiative goals, market acceleration, effective economic and technical federal and state policy, and develop research priorities for industry advancement.
- Advance deployment technical assistance strategies including route analysis, charging and depot planning, total cost of ownership modeling, and operational transition planning.
- Policy & Industry Leadership: Work closely with CALSTART’s Policy team and industry stakeholders to advance policy and regulatory frameworks that accelerate zero-emission bus deployment.
- Provide subject matter expertise on battery-electric and hydrogen fuel cell bus technologies, charging infrastructure, grid integration, and fleet transition strategies.
- Engage with state and federal agencies (e.g., FTA, EPA, DOE, FHWA, DOT, CARB, CEC, and others), supporting program design and implementation.
- Represent CALSTART at industry forums, public events, and technical convenings.
- Support funding strategies related to transit and school bus programs at the federal and state levels.
- Business Development & External Partnerships: Partner with the Business Development team and the Executive Vice President of Initiatives to identify and secure new funded opportunities.
- Support proposal strategy, partnership development, and funder engagement.
- Maintain and expand strong relationships with transit agencies, school districts, manufacturers, suppliers, utilities, financing partners, government agencies, foundations, and community organizations.
- Leverage industry networks to build coalitions and advance collaborative initiatives.
- Team Leadership & Operations: Lead, mentor, and grow a passionate team of program managers, technical experts, and analysts.
- Foster a culture of innovation, creativity, collaboration, accountability, and determination.
- Ensure effective coordination across regional offices, initiative teams, supporting staff teams, and member companies.
- Support talent recruitment, onboarding, professional development, and performance management.
What You Bring To The Table:
- Education: Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Planning, Environmental Studies, Public Administration, Business Administration, or related field required. Master’s degree preferred.
- Experience: 10+ years of experience in transit, school transportation, fleet electrification, or related clean transportation sectors.
- Demonstrated experience managing clean transportation programs, including zero-emission bus deployment and associated infrastructure planning.
- 7+ years of program and project management experience overseeing complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives.
- 5+ years of business development and partnership cultivation experience.
- Proven team leadership and staff management experience.
- Strong understanding of policy, regulatory, and market drivers impacting bus deployment nationally.
- Knowledge of advanced bus technologies including battery-electric and hydrogen fuel cell systems.
- Experience working with transit agencies, school districts, manufacturers, utilities, and public agencies.
Desired Qualifications:
- Exceptional strategic thinking and operational planning capability.
- Ability to create and translate complex technical solutions into actionable, real-world implementation strategies.
- Strong coalition-building and stakeholder engagement skills.
- Technical writing, speaking, and presentation experience.
- Familiarity with modeling, business case analysis, and fleet performance assessment.
We understand that not everyone will match the above qualifications 100%. If your background isn't perfectly aligned but you feel you would be a great addition to the team, we'd love to hear from you.
We're a tight-knit team of world-class innovators, business minds, and change agents who believe passionately in our mission and put our team ahead of self. We are committed to the continued development and growth of our employees and invest in your success!
We care about your personal well being as much as your professional success and offer generous benefits to full time employees including: 100% company paid comprehensive health benefits for Medical, Dental, Vision, Short Term Disability, Long Term Disability and Life Insurance, Retirement plan with generous company contributions, FSA for Health and Dependent Care, 3 weeks of vacation time in the first year of employment, 11 paid company holidays, paid sick time, paid family leave, and more!
Our inclusive environment focuses on making decisions based on merit without regard to race, color, hair texture, gender, religion, age, nationality, social or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, LGBTQIA+ status, marital status, pregnancy, disability, genetics, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
