Program Manager Strategic Initiatives Jobs in Edina, MN

Salary : $111,820.80 - $181,480.00 Annually
Location : 390 Robert St. N St. Paul, MN
Job Type: Full-Time
Job Number: 2026-00311
Division: Regional Administration
Department: IS-Admin
Opening Date: 08/31/2026
Closing Date: 9/14/2026 11:59 PM Central
WHO WE ARE
We are the Metropolitan Council, the regional government for the seven-county Twin Cities metropolitan area. We plan 30 years ahead for the future of the metropolitan area and provide regional transportation, wastewater, and housing services.
We are committed to supporting a diverse workforce that reflects the communities we serve.
Information Services is the central IT department within the Regional Administration (RA) division that supports all divisions of the Metropolitan Council. Our 140 team members provide technology, practices, and innovative solutions that enable the Council's core services.
This position is eligible for a hybrid (both remote and onsite) telework arrangement. Candidate's permanent residence must be in Minnesota or Wisconsin.
This posting will create a six-month eligibility list for current and future openings.
How your work would contribute to our organization and the Twin Cities region:
The Data Management Program Manager (DMPM) is critical to the development and execution of key strategic Data Management (DM) projects across the Metropolitan Council's divisions.
As a successful DMPM, you:

• Are a leader, advisor, and facilitator.
• Are driven, organized, detailed, and results oriented.
• Excel in program/project management.
• Are flexible, resilient, and communicate with ease at all levels.
• Are a self-starter and self-motivated to succeed in ambiguous environments.
• Leverage your strong technical expertise, experience, and knowledge across transportation, planning, communities, housing, parks and trails, and wastewater to meet the DM needs of the Council.
• Collaborate across data, engineering, application, security, regulatory, financial, procurement, and other teams, as well as with business units and vendors to create positive and successful outcomes for significant projects.
• Help lead the execution of DM strategic initiatives from start to finish, ensuring alignment across the multiple organizations of the Council.
• Demonstrate a strong sense of ownership and autonomy in driving projects forward, taking initiative to overcome obstacles and deliver results.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with internal and external partners of DM.
• Learn and dive deep into details and processes, seeking to understand underlying complexities and specifics, communicating requirements and timelines to facilitate technical readiness.
• Influence teams and outcomes in project areas outside of DM.
• Facilitate communications, upward and downward through the organization, and raise key issues and related options for resolution with executive teams.
• Drive quality, cost, labor initiatives and efficiencies across Council organizations.
• Bring diverse business units and teams together to align on funding strategies and collaborate across those teams to identify and implement common goals.

What you would do in this job

• Work cross-functionally to ensure DM obligations and objectives are met, supporting and leading efforts to anticipate and resolve issues and inter-group challenges and conflict.
• Create and deliver presentations, interface with senior management, corporate-level managers, and high-ranking customers on all matters affecting the status of DM.
• Help identify, develop, improve, and mature DM standards, processes, policies, and ways of work.
• Oversee and encourage the coordination and implementation of DM project work across diverse teams and business divisions.
• Partner with internal and external stakeholders to support expansion and optimization of Council data solutions, data platforms, and data products.
• Own program strategy, proactively identifying risks and solving ambiguous problems, streamlining processes, fostering innovation, building trust, reducing risk, escalating issues for resolution, ensuring on-time delivery of planned projects, and applying process improvement methodologies to drive the vision of the DM program.
• Own and manage the lifecycle of new and existing DM programs and initiatives, successfully delivering concurrent complex projects aligned with business objectives.
• Engage the right stakeholders, customers, and partner teams to communicate with and positively affect critical business initiatives, crafting and delivering cross-functional, scalable solutions.
• Develop, implement, and govern Key Performance Indicator (KPI) reporting for a portfolio of programs, providing visibility to stakeholders on program performance, and use this data to drive business decisions.
• Advise and help partner with stakeholder teams and make trade-offs by considering the impact to the business and customer (e.g. customer experience, quality, efficiency, supportability, etc.).
• Proactively identify opportunities to continuously improve program quality, efficiency, and operational excellence.

What education and experience are required for this job (minimum qualifications)
Any of the following combinations of experience managing IT and business projects/programs AND completed education in Computer Science/Engineering, Business/Project Management, or a related field:

• Master's degree and 5 years of experience, of which 3 or more years must be in a lead role requiring project management and collaboration across divisions and organizational levels.
• Bachelor's degree and 7 years of experience, of which 3 or more years must be in a lead role requiring project management and collaboration across divisions and organizational levels.
• Associate's degree and 9 years of experience, of which 3 or more years must be in a lead role requiring project management and collaboration across divisions and organizational levels.
• High school diploma/GED and 11 years of experience, of which 3 or more years must be in a lead role requiring project management and collaboration across divisions and organizational levels.

Experience managing projects/programs should include successfully delivering solutions within designated timelines while managing multiple projects and demonstrating sound knowledge of project management tools and techniques, including up-to-date knowledge of industry standards and best practices.
What additional skills and experience would be helpful in this job (desired qualifications):

• Experience working with municipal or similar partners to co-develop and design DM solutions in areas such as transportation, planning, communities, housing, parks, and wastewater.
• Familiarity with the varied communities served by the Council.
• Commitment to supporting DM solutions that support sustainable, efficient, and economic growth for a prosperous region.
• Experience managing multiple vendors and contractors to support projects.
• Experience promoting an equitable, positive, and respectful work environment.

What knowledge, skills, and abilities you should have within the first 6 months on the job:

• Understanding of the various Council business units and what they do, their way of working, and their needs and requirements.
• Ability to juggle diverse projects and their regulatory aspects and budget constraints.
• Ability to communicate across the various business units and form strong interpersonal relationships to remove barriers, reduce risk, build trust, and improve insights across the Council.
• Ability to set others up to be successful in their work, providing a helping hand through servant leadership.
• Comfort with delivering strategic guidance to all levels of leadership across multiple divisions and business units of the Council.

What you can expect from us:

• We offer the opportunity to make a difference and positively influence the Twin Cities metropolitan area.
• We encourage our employees to develop their skills through on-site training and tuition reimbursement.
• We provide a comprehensive salary, excellent benefits, and good work/life balance.

Additional information
Union/Grade: Non-Rep Grade KFLSA Status: ExemptSafety Sensitive: No
What your work environment would be:
You would perform your work in a standard office setting. Work may sometimes require travel between your primary work site and other sites, and periodic after-hours availability for incident escalations or major service disruptions.
What steps the recruitment process involves:

1. We review your minimal qualifications
2. We rate your education and experience
3. We conduct a structured panel interview
4. We conduct a selection interview

Once you have successfully completed the steps above, then:
If you are new to the Metropolitan Council, you must pass a drug test (safety sensitive positions only), and a background check which verifies education, employment, and criminal history. A driving record check and/or physical may be conducted if applicable to the job. If you have a criminal conviction, you do not automatically fail. The Metropolitan Council considers felony, gross misdemeanor and misdemeanor convictions on a case-by-case basis, based on whether they are related to the job and whether the candidate has demonstrated adequate rehabilitation.
If you are already an employee of the Metropolitan Council, you must pass a drug test (if moving from a non-safety sensitive position to a safety sensitive position) and criminal background check if the job you're applying for is safety sensitive, is a supervisory or management job, is in the Finance, Information Services, Audit, or Human Resources departments, or has access to financial records, files/databases, cash, vouchers or transit fare cards. A driving record check and/or physical may be conducted if applicable to the position.
Security Policy:
This position involves direct access to Criminal Justice Information (CJI) as defined by the FBI CJIS (Criminal Justice Information Services) Security Policy. In accordance with section 5.12.1.1 of the FBI CJIS Security Policy, final candidates must agree to submit to a state-of-residence and national fingerprint-based record check. If the record check reveals criminal convictions, the Metropolitan Transit Police Department and/or the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension will review the nature and circumstances of those convictions to determine whether access to Criminal Justice Information would be permissible. If it is determined that access to Criminal Justice Information would not be permissible, the candidate will no longer be eligible for this position.
IMPORTANT: If you make a false statement or withhold information, you may be barred from job consideration.
The Metropolitan Council is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action, and veteran-friendly employer. The Council is committed to a workforce that reflects the diversity of the region and strongly encourages persons of color, members of the LGBTQ community, individuals with disabilities, women, and veterans to apply.
If you have a disability that requires accommodation during the selection process, please email .
We believe our employees are a key to our agency's success! In order to attract and retain high quality employees, the Council provides a highly competitive benefits package both in choice and coverage levels. Some highlights about our benefits are listed below:

• Guaranteed monthly retirement income through Minnesota State Retirement System pension fund
• Opportunity to save additional funds for retirement on a tax-deferred basis through a voluntary deferred compensation (457) plan
• Two or more medical plans from which to choose, with employer contribution towards premiums over 80%
• Dental insurance, life insurance and vision insurance

The following benefits are provided to all employees as part of working for the Council. You will have access to free:

• Well@Work clinic
• bus/rail pass valued at over $1200 per year
• parking at many job locations
• fitness centers at many job locations
• Employee Assistance Program
• extensive health and wellness programs and resources

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Applicant Instructions: It is important that your application shows all relevant education and experience you possess. The supplemental questions listed below are to further evaluate your education and experience and to determine your eligibility for this position. Answer each question completely, and please do not type "see resume." Otherwise, your application will be considered incomplete, and you will not receive further consideration for this position. The experience you indicate in your responses should also be consistent with the Work History section of this application. If you attach a resume and/or cover letter to your application, it will be reviewed at the education and experience review step.I have read and understand the above instructions regarding my application and supplemental questions.

• Yes
• No

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How did you first hear about this job opening?

• CareerForce Center
• Community Event/Organization
• Employee Referral
• Facebook
• Glassdoor
• Indeed
• Job Fair
• LinkedIn
• Metro Transit Bus Advertisement
• X (formerly known as Twitter)
• Website: governmentjobs.com
• Website: metrocouncil.org
• Website: metrotransit.org
• Website: minnesotajobnetwork.com
• Other

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If you selected 'Other', please describe where you first heard about this job. if you selected 'Employee Referral' please enter the employee's first and last name, ID number (if known), and job title