Transportation Data Lead

Virtual interviews via web portals or phone may be offered as deemed appropriate and feasible by the hiring manager - standard in-person interviews will still be offered if conditions permit. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is seeking a Transportation Data Lead to direct the data engineering, management, analysis and policy research that supports regulation of transportation network companies (TNCs) and autonomous vehicle (AV) passenger services in California. This role sits within the CPUC’s Transportation Licensing and Analysis Branch (TLAB), which regulates TNCs like Uber and Lyft and AV passenger service providers including Waymo. The position is a hybrid technical and policy role: you will help design and maintain the systems and workflows used to manage very large, complex transportation datasets, then work with policy staff to turn regulatory and transportation questions into reproducible analyses, findings, and recommendations. Responsibilities:

• Manage the ingestion, validation, cleaning, storage, retrieval, transformation, documentation, and curation of large and complex TNC and AV datasets, including confidential regulatory data, to ensure data quality and usability.
• Maintain and improve data pipelines, storage and retrieval systems, and cloud-based data environments used to organize and analyze TLAB data; coordinate technical requirements and issue resolution with contractors and internal partners that support the data infrastructure.
• Conduct research and develop reproducible analyses using programming, query, statistical, and visualization tools to answer regulatory and transportation policy questions, identify trends, assess compliance or program impacts, and support policy recommendations.
• Work closely with transportation policy and program staff to translate policy, regulatory, planning, and operational questions into analytical approaches, data requirements, and useful work products.
• Communicate analytical methods, findings, limitations, and recommendations to technical and nontechnical audiences, including managers and senior decision-makers.
• mprove TLAB’s data practices by documenting workflows, developing reusable analytical tools, and evaluating new technical approaches and automation that can improve the reliability and efficiency of data management and analysis., 1. Describe one or two examples that demonstrate your experience designing, maintaining, or improving data workflows for large or complex datasets. Explain the scale and complexity of the data, your personal role, and how the data were ingested, validated, stored, transformed, queried, and analyzed. Identify the programming languages, query tools, cloud platforms, data warehouses or data lakes, and other tools you personally used. Describe a significant technical or data-quality challenge and how you addressed it, including how you ensured the resulting data and analysis were accurate and reproducible. 2. Describe an example in which you translated a policy, regulatory, planning, program, or operational question into an analytical approach and used data to inform a decision or recommendation. Explain the question, your analytical approach, the findings and limitations, how you communicated the results to nontechnical decision-makers, and the outcome. A transportation example is preferred; if you do not have direct transportation experience, use the most analogous example and explain how your experience would apply to transportation policy. 3. Describe an example of leading or managing a complex data project involving multiple stakeholders, technical partners, contractors, or data providers. Explain your role in defining requirements, establishing schedules and deliverables, coordinating work, resolving technical or data-quality issues, and ensuring timely delivery. Describe the outcome and any lessons that changed how you managed the project.

Application Instructions

Completed applications and all required documents must be received or postmarked by the Final Filing Date in order to be considered. Dates printed on Mobile Bar Codes, such as the Quick Response (QR) Codes available at the USPS, are not considered Postmark dates for the purpose of determining timely filing of an application. Final Filing Date: 10/8/2026

Who May Apply Individuals who are currently in the classification, eligible for lateral transfer, eligible for reinstatement, have list or LEAP eligibility, are in the process of obtaining list eligibility, or have SROA and/or Surplus eligibility (please attach your letter, if available). SROA and Surplus candidates are given priority; therefore, individuals with other eligibility may be considered in the event no SROA or Surplus candidates apply.

In addition to evaluating each candidate’s relative ability, as demonstrated by quality and breadth of experience, the following factors will provide the basis for competitively evaluating each candidate:

• At least two years of experience working in the transportation sector. Examples of relevant transportation sector experience include public or private sector transportation policy, planning, operations, or research experience on issues of transportation safety, electrification, automation, accessibility, or sustainability.
• At least two years of experience conducting complex data analysis using Python, R, or another programming language and translating policy, regulatory, planning, program, or operational questions into analytical approaches and recommendations for decision-makers.
• At least two years of experience designing, maintaining, or leading data workflows for large or complex datasets, including data ingestion, validation, transformation, storage, and retrieval, with demonstrated proficiency in a programming language that supports this work (like Python, R, or SQL) and experience working with a cloud-based data platform, data warehouse, or data lake.

This is a statewide recruitment. This position can be filled in the following locations: Sacramento or San Francisco. All identified locations will be considered as one candidate pool to fill one position.