Transit Disability Services Manager

Summary

The Employee Services Division within the Metro Transit Department (MTD) seeks an experienced, collaborative, and motivated Transit Disability Services (TDS) Manager.

The Transit Disability Services (TDS) Manager provides strategic leadership, direction, and oversight to ensure the effective and high-quality delivery of Metro's Disability Services programs. These programs support employees through the reasonable accommodation process, offer guidance on leave options, and promote return-to-work and stay-at-work initiatives.

This role leads and manages a team of Disability Service Specialists and Senior Disability Service Specialists, ensuring consistent and equitable service across the agency.

As a key member of the Employee Services Management Team (ESMT), the TDS Manager reports directly to Metro's HR Manager II. The position works in close collaboration with human resources professionals across King County, delivering expert support to both management and employees. Success in this role requires balancing operational needs with strict adherence to federal, state, and local regulations, as well as collective bargaining agreements.

This recruitment will be used to fill one (1) Transit Disability Services (TDS) Manager. In addition, this selection process may be used to generate an eligibility pool for future career service vacancies that may occur in this classification within this workgroup. The eligibility pool will be retained for 12 months from the date of posting and may be used at the discretion of the hiring authority.

Job Duties

Applying equity and social justice principles is a daily responsibility and a foundational expectation for all King County employees. In this role, you will apply equity and social justice principles that exemplify shared values, behaviors, and practices to all aspects of the work.

As the Transit Disability Services Manager, you will:

• Lead and manage the Transit Disability Services (TDS) team by setting clear goals, fostering open communication, supporting performance, providing coaching and feedback, recognizing individual strengths, encouraging professional growth, and effectively addressing challenges.
• Oversee the processes related to reasonable workplace accommodations, ensuring compliance with federal and state laws, as well as collective bargaining agreements, and ensuring consistent, accurate, and equitable policy implementation across Metro.
• Assess and recommend reasonable accommodations that are legally sound while aligning with departmental operational needs, supporting the uninterrupted delivery of Metro services.
• Partner with the Metro HR Manager III to develop and execute both short- and long-term strategic plans for the Transit Disability Services program.
• Design, implement, and monitor key performance indicators and metrics to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of TDS services.
• Apply strong customer service and interpersonal skills to handle inquiries with professionalism and tact, and de-escalate sensitive or challenging situations involving employees, supervisors, managers, and leadership.
• Create and manage onboarding and orientation programs for new and current staff, ensuring they understand TDS services, procedures, and expectations.
• Provide continuous learning opportunities for the TDS team to stay current on relevant laws, policies, collective bargaining agreements, and industry best practices.
• Engage the team in collaborative decision-making by actively seeking input, incorporating feedback, and fostering a culture of inclusion and shared ownership.
• Evaluate individual and team performance through regular assessments and constructive feedback, working closely with staff to support their development and success.
• Provide expert guidance and support to the TDS team, including answering questions related to medical conditions impacting CDL licensure, facilitating fitness-for-duty evaluations, managing non-disciplinary medical separations, and addressing disability-related performance concerns.
• Serve as a resource to employees, supervisors, and leadership by providing information on disability programs and benefits, including short- and long-term disability, Washington Paid Family Leave, Social Security disability, benefits continuation, end-of-life resources, and more.
• Conduct all work with the utmost integrity and confidentiality, ensuring sensitive employee information is managed with the highest level of discretion.
• Actively contribute as a working manager and member of the Employee Services Management Team (ESMT), and perform other duties as assigned.

Experience, Qualifications, Knowledge, Skills

We are looking for candidates who meet the Minimum Qualifications and Skills:

• Minimum of two (2) years of experience in a leadership, supervisory, or management role, or an equivalent combination of education, training, and experience that demonstrates the necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the responsibilities of the position.
• Extensive experience and expertise in interpreting and applying federal, state, and local laws related to workplace accommodations and employee leave, particularly within large, unionized organizations.
• Strong knowledge of supervisory and management principles, including the ability to lead, coach, and develop teams effectively.
• Proven ability to lead teams collaboratively and achieve successful outcomes through strong interpersonal relationships and inclusive leadership practices.
• Demonstrated aptitude for building cooperative and respectful working relationships across diverse groups, exercising discretion, tact, sound judgment, and diplomacy.
• Understanding of public sector management within a political or unionized environment.
• Skilled in planning, prioritizing, allocating resources, and managing complex projects, including cross-functional coordination across departments.
• Highly effective verbal and written communicator with the ability to present technical information in a clear, accessible manner using visuals and simple language.
• Strong problem-solving, conflict resolution, and decision-making skills.
• Adaptive and proactive, with the ability to anticipate needs, identify process gaps, and develop actionable plans in response.
• Collaborative team player who shares knowledge, fosters teamwork, and supports others to achieve collective goals.
• Experienced in healthy conflict resolution and promoting a constructive team environment.
• Familiar with core human resources functions and processes across the employee life cycle.
• Excellent time management and delegation skills

Highly competitive candidates will also have:

• Experience supervising employees, conducting performance appraisals, coaching, and providing constructive feedback.
• Related vocational certifications such as Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC), Professional Human Resource designation (SPHR, PHR, SHRM-SCP, SHRM-CP, or IMPA-HR), Certified Disability Management Specialist (CDMS), or Registered Washington State Department of Labor and Industries Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor (VRC).
• Experience working in the public sector in a highly unionized workforce.

Supplemental Information

Required Application Materials

• Supplemental questions must be completed.
• An online employment application, to include all relevant employment history and experience related to this role as well as responses to supplemental questions.
• A cover letter no longer than one page addressing the following:
• How has your previous managerial experience prepared you for the challenges and responsibilities of leading the Disability Services team in our organization? Please provide specific examples of successful team management, problem-solving, and achieving key objectives.

NOTE: Applications that do not include the required materials may be rejected as incomplete and not advance in the process.

Selection Process

Applicants will be screened for competitiveness, completeness, and written communication skills to determine the most qualified candidates. The process may include the following: a review of the application and supplemental questions, testing and/or panel interview, and references. For more information regarding this recruitment, please contact: Manal Tirhi at mtirhi@kingcounty.gov

Work Schedule

This position is exempt from the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act and not overtime eligible. Employees are

paid on a bi-weekly schedule, every other Thursday, comprising a 40-hour workweek, normally 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Union Membership/Job Code

This position is not represented by a union. / 117401 (Human Resources Manager I)

Work Location

This position will be located in the King Street Center Building - 201 S Jackson St, Seattle, WA 98104

Teleworking Requirement

The work associated with this position will be performed predominantly in a hybrid work environment working in the office and at home. Employees will have access to shared workspaces at various King County facilities. Employees must reside in Washington state and within a reasonable distance to their King County worksite to respond to workplace reporting requirements.

Who May Apply

This position is open to the general public and all King County employees.

To Apply

If you are interested in pursuing this position, please follow the application instructions carefully. If you need this announcement in an alternate language or