Transportation Research Associate

The Organization

The Metropolitan Abundance Project (MAP) works to make American cities prosperous, affordable, sustainable, and joyous places to live and raise families. We help advocates and legislators transform great policy ideas into lasting, real-world solutions that make American cities thrive, advancing this work through strong partnerships with advocates and the development of actionable, widely needed model legislation.

MAP is a project of California YIMBY.

Position Overview

MAP is seeking a Transportation Research Associate to help build and expand our transportation policy portfolio. This role will play a central role in developing model legislation, supporting coalitions, and advancing transportation abundance at the state level. This position reports to the MAP Managing Director. 

Key Responsibilities

• Leading the drafting and publication of transportation model legislation aligned with MAP’s mission, including (but not limited to) state department of transportation reforms, transit-oriented development, and transit project delivery reforms.
• Developing MAP’s transportation policy agenda in partnership with the Managing Director.
• Producing state-level policy recommendations, toolkits, and advocacy resources to support legislative education and implementation.
• Providing technical assistance and direct policy support to legislators, legislative staff, and partners across multiple states, including adapting model legislation to local contexts.
• Coordinating and supporting multi-state transportation policy coalitions and policy partners.
• Leading the planning, facilitation, and follow-through of policy convenings to drive post-convening outcomes.
• Translating applied policy research with academic and policy partners for non-technical audiences.
• Collaborating with MAP’s communications team on webinars, educational resources, and blog content that highlight transportation policy lessons and successes.
• Representing MAP at conferences, events, and in the media.

Minimum Qualifications

Possess strong writing and communication skills, strong organizational, analytical, and project management abilities, and be comfortable working on a distributed team. Have expert knowledge in transportation policy, and be able to develop expertise in other MAP priority areas. The successful applicant will have a passion to shape the national conversation and propose solutions on transportation abundance and a minimum of 2 years of relevant professional experience. 

Preferred Qualifications

Experience in drafting transportation policy and legislation and working with planners, staffers, advocates, legislators, and the media to explain technical issues in a manner comprehensible to lay people. Knowledge of a wide array of federal, state, and municipal transportation programs is strongly preferred.

Compensation

$95,000 – $105,000 annual salary, with health insurance, vision and dental, 11 paid holidays, 4 weeks paid vacation, sick leave, 401K with employer contributions, life insurance, and disability insurance.

Application

Please email a cover letter and resume to misti@cayimby.org  with “Application for MAP Research Associate” in the subject line. Applications will be given priority if received by Monday, February 9, 2026. To confirm you have read and followed the application instructions, please include the phrase “Transportation Station” somewhere in the body of your email.

MAP is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and is committed to providing equal opportunity for all employees and applicants. MAP recruits, hires, trains, promotes, compensates, and administers all personnel actions without regard to age, ancestry, color, disability (mental and physical), exercising the right to family care and medical leave, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, military or veteran status, national origin, political affiliation, race, religious creed, sex (includes pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and related medical conditions), and sexual orientation. MAP will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.