Assistant Commissioner for Engagement and Community Affairs

The New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) is the City agency responsible for regulating for-hire transportation in New York City, including taxis, street hail liveries, high-volume for-hire services such as Uber and Lyft, black cars, luxury limousines, livery vehicles, commuter vans, and paratransit vehicles. TLC licenses about 175,000 drivers, 115,000 vehicles, and 1,000 businesses, which together transport nearly a million passengers a day, making TLC the most active for-hire transportation regulatory agency in the world with oversight of a key component of the City’s transportation network. TLC is on the front lines of a rapidly changing mobility landscape and our innovative efforts--whether regulating driver pay, ensuring wheelchair accessibility, working to eliminate traffic fatalities, or reducing vehicle emissions--often serve as a model for other cities.

TLC is seeking an Assistant Commissioner for Engagement and Community Affairs to lead the agency’s Office of Community Affairs which includes the agency’s driver and passenger outreach, stakeholder relationship development and engagement, and community partnership efforts. The Assistant Commissioner will serve as the agency’s primary bridge to TLC’s diverse constituencies, including drivers, base owners, community-based organizations, advocacy groups, and passengers. This role, reporting to the Deputy Commissioner for Policy and External Affairs, will lead the agency’s engagement strategy designing and executing culturally competent, accessible, and proactive outreach efforts that meet people where they are. The Assistant Commissioner will play a central role in shaping how TLC listens, communicates, and builds trust across the industry.

This position will work in close partnership with the Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner, and the Communications team to ensure that engagement efforts are aligned with policy priorities, regulatory initiatives, and public communications. This is a unique opportunity to help redefine how a major public agency builds trust and partnership at scale. The Assistant Commissioner will play a critical role in shaping a more inclusive, responsive, and community-centered TLC.

The Assistant Commissioner will, with full latitude for the exercise of independent initiative and judgment, manage the Office of Community Affairs and collaborate with licensees, business leaders, drivers, driver representatives, advocacy organizations, other agency divisions, the Mayor’s Office, and other city agencies to support engagement and communication related to TLC policies and initiatives and gather feedback about agency policies, plans, and operations. The Assistant Commissioner will work with divisions throughout the agency to organize community events for outreach to drivers and members of the public and to ensure consistent messaging and responsiveness to stakeholders.
Activities under the purview of this role include cultivating, maintaining, and strengthening deep relationships with stakeholders and community partners, developing engagement strategies for a diverse population of licensees and members of the public, coordinating meetings with stakeholders such as drivers, small businesses, and advocacy groups, conducting outreach events such as delivering agency services to drivers in their communities, overseeing the agency’s language access responsibilities, and drafting and editing correspondence and messaging to licensees and passengers. Additionally, the Assistant Commissioner will serve supervise the Director of Intergovernmental Affairs and serve as the Director of the Office of Inclusion, ensuring TLC fulfills its mandate to promote cultural sensitivity towards passengers and educate drivers and passengers about discriminatory treatment and service refusals.

Responsibilities include:

- Lead Engagement Strategy: Develop and implement a comprehensive, agency-wide engagement strategy to reach TLC’s over 200,000 licensees and key stakeholder groups.
- Build Community Trust: Establish and maintain strong relationships with driver communities, advocacy organizations, industry groups, and community leaders across New York City. Manage day-to-day relationships with licensees, advocates, other industry stakeholders, and TLC internal departments, ensuring consistent messaging and responsiveness.
- Culturally Competent Outreach: Design outreach initiatives that reflect the linguistic, cultural, and geographic diversity of TLC’s workforce and ridership. Conduct and attend outreach events, including public events, meetings, town halls, and webinars, sometimes during evenings and weekends.
- Field-Based Leadership: Maintain a visible, on-the-ground presence at industry hubs, community events, driver gatherings, and public forums with the team.
- Stakeholder Coordination: Serve as a key liaison between the Commissioner’s Office and departments including Policy and Communications to ensure cohesive and effective engagement.
- Feedback Loop: Create systems to capture, analyze, and elevate stakeholder feedback to inform policy, enforcement, and service delivery.
- Crisis and Issue Response: Support rapid-response engagement during policy rollouts, emergencies, or high-profile events impacting TLC communities. Support the agency during critical emergency response efforts, including emergency communications and urgent project requests.
- Partnership Development: Identify and cultivate strategic partnerships with community-based organizations, workforce groups, and advocacy coalitions.
- Program Management: Oversee engagement initiatives, including workshops, listening sessions, multilingual campaigns, and community convenings. Manage staff of analysts and coordinators in the execution of their duties.
- Regulatory Communications: In collaboration with the Policy team and other divisions, monitor and communicate TLC policies and processes to TLC licensees and the riding public. Review, edit, and draft correspondence and other external communications to licensees and the riding public.
- Language Access: Implement TLC’s language access policies, including developing and implementing training for agency staff.

To Apply:

Please go to cityjobs.nyc.gov and search for Job ID# 780480 or click the "Apply" button below.

SUBMISSION OF A RESUME IS NOT A GUARANTEE THAT YOU WILL RECEIVE AN INTERVIEW.

APPOINTMENTS ARE SUBJECT TO OVERSIGHT APPROVAL.

*Proposed salary will be determined based on experience and preferred skills of the selected candidate.”

Work Location:
New York, NY

ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER - TLC - 95787

1. A Master’s Degree from an accredited college in Public Administration, Personnel Administration, Business Administration, Finance, Economics, Accounting, Labor Relations, Human Services, Criminal Justice, Political Science, Psychology, Information Technology, or a related field, or a Juris Doctor degree from an accredited law school plus three years of satisfactory experience of a nature to qualify for the duties and responsibilities of the position, at least 18 months of which must have been in an administrative, managerial, or executive capacity or supervising personnel performing activities related to the duties of the position; or

2. A bachelor’s degree from an accredited college and five years of satisfactory experience of a nature to qualify for the duties and responsibilities of the position, at least 18 months of which must have been in an administrative, managerial, or executive capacity or supervising personnel performing activities related to the duties of the position; or

3. A four-year high school diploma or its educational equivalent and nine years of satisfactory, full-time progressively responsible experience as described in "1" above, 18 months of which must have been in an administrative, managerial, executive or supervisory capacity.

The City of New York is an inclusive equal opportunity employer committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based upon any legally protected status or protected characteristic, including but not limited to an individual's sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity, or pregnancy.