How engineer Daniela Amores built a career behind the systems that move transit 

Today, Daniela serves as Senior Director of Project Control for Operations Engineering at Metro. In short, she helps ensure the infrastructure behind Metro’s network – train control, traction power, communication systems, track components – receives the engineering support needed to keep running. Daniela’s group works closely with maintenance crews who handle daily inspections and repairs. When an issue can’t be resolved through routine procedures, it’s escalated to her team for deeper engineering support.   

One of Daniela’s biggest responsibilities is overseeing what transit agencies call “state of good repair,” i.e., keeping Metro’s older equipment working by replacing or upgrading infrastructure. Her team takes care of 80 projects Metro manages and performs in-house, representing millions of dollars in work across the system.   

“We deal with existing infrastructure,” she explains using a simple comparison. If a home needs the HVAC system replaced, the roof retiled or the electrical panels upgraded, that’s similar to the work her team does — maintaining and renewing what already exists. One example currently underway is the replacement of the overhead catenary system – the electrical lines that power the trains – on Metro’s C Line. The system has been in service since 1995 and is now being upgraded.     

Ultimately, the projects roll up to Daniela, who helps ensure the work stays on schedule, on budget and properly resourced while coordinating updates for Metro leadership.   

But her journey into engineering began long before she joined Metro. Born in Quito, Ecuador, she moved to the United States when she was three and grew up in Florida after her mother helped the family relocate.  

Daniela later earned an engineering degree from Brown University – an Ivy League school – and complemented it with classes in business, economics and finance. For her, this profession felt like the kind of degree that could open doors and provide a stable career. However, the path wasn’t easy. At the beginning, she says, it felt like a lonely one. Out of about 100 students in her engineering class, less than ten were women.   

After graduating, Daniela entered the construction side of the rail industry. Her first major assignment was on a light rail project in Phoenix when she was just 24 and working as a field engineer overseeing the installation of communications and traction power systems.  

As a young Latina woman entering a male dominated field, it wasn’t an easy start. “You go to school and you’re taught project management theory and principles,” she said. “But you’re not taught how to manage people with more seniority than you.”  

So instead of walking onto construction sites telling experienced workers how to do their jobs, Daniela took a different approach. “I would ask them about their work and their methods,” she said. “Later, they started sharing all the cool tips.” That approach helped her build trust and bond with the crews, working together as a team.  

Speaking Spanish also helped her connect with many frontline workers in construction environments, where some felt more comfortable communicating in their native language.  

Over time, Daniela worked on major rail projects across the country, helping build startup light rail systems in Phoenix, Seattle, Salt Lake City and Dallas. “It was from scratch, no rail existed,” she said. “I got to work on those projects and help get them into operations.”  

Along the way, there were difficult moments. Early in her career, Daniela experienced harassment on the job. Today, with more experience, she supports other women entering the field and shares ways to navigate those situations. “I’ve also talked with senior friends throughout the industry about it, so that they are looking out for these issues for new generations coming in,.” she says.  

Daniela admits that during the early years of her career, she wished she had mentors to guide her. “Often, I just had to rely on my own experience and knowledge to say, ‘I belong here.’” Over time, her determination helped her grow. In Miami, she became the first woman to lead train control and traction power departments.   

Engineering overall has taught her resilience, a strength rooted in the example set by her mother.  

Daniela describes her mother as the person who changed the trajectory of their family. After studying in the United States as a teenager, her mother had a path to residency and eventually helped bring the family from Ecuador. She arrived first, secured a job and found a place to live before Daniela, her brother and her father, joined her.   

Her mother later studied at night and retook her nursing boards to become certified as a nurse in the U.S. She was also the person who consistently encouraged Daniela to pursue education and independence.  

Now, after nearly two decades in the rail industry and about 16 months at Metro, Daniela says one of the things she values most about her role is the team she works with every day. “I love my team,” she said. “It’s a small world in rail engineering, and it’s exciting to work with people who care about keeping the system running.”  

During Women’s History Month, she hopes girls reading her story will see that there is a place for them in engineering and transportation. “Dream big,” she said. “You can be more than what society wants to prescribe you to be.”  

In nearly 20 years in the industry, she has had only one female boss. However, Daniela says she is seeing more women entering the field. “We’re breaking glass ceiling in these last few generations,” she says. “I hope girls can see that we’re making more room for them.”