Lead the operation of a truly integrated railway

This is a rare opportunity to lead the largest and most complex rail operation in the UK at a defining moment for the industry. You will have a million reasons to deliver excellence, because that is how many people we carry on our busiest days. 

As Chief Operating Officer, you will join the Executive Leadership Team and take overall responsibility for the safe, reliable and efficient delivery of train services across the integrated railway. Working across GTR and Network Rail, you will shape operational strategy, drive performance and lead the transformation required to support the transition to Great British Railways.

You will work extensively with other Integrated Business Units to support our customers journeys on our network.

This is a highly visible executive role where your leadership will directly influence customer experience, operational excellence and the future performance of the railway.

What You'll Be Doing

You will:

• Lead Train Services, Network Operations and Control functions across the integrated railway.
• Develop and deliver the integrated operating strategy, ensuring the achievement of safety, performance, customer and business objectives.
• Drive improvements in reliability, punctuality, capacity, productivity and service delivery across the network.
• Lead operational transformation, workforce reform and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Oversee operational control, incident response, business continuity and service recovery activities, ensuring disruption is managed safely and effectively.
• Champion a positive safety culture and ensure robust risk management across all operational activities.
• Lead resource and workforce planning to deliver a sustainable, efficient and customer-focused railway.
• Build strong relationships with industry partners, government stakeholders, regulators and trade unions.
• Deliver financial, operational and customer performance targets while maintaining excellent governance and accountability.
• Support the successful introduction of new trains and future operational enhancements.
• Participate in the Executive On-Call rota for significant operational and business incidents.

About You

You are an accomplished operational leader with significant experience in a complex, customer-focused and safety-critical environment.

You will bring:

• A proven track record of leading large-scale operational businesses and delivering sustained performance improvement.
• Strong experience of safety management, operational delivery, risk management and business planning.
• The ability to lead and inspire large multidisciplinary teams through change and transformation.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, with the credibility to influence at Executive, Government and industry level.
• Strong commercial and financial acumen, with experience managing significant operational budgets and resources.
• Outstanding communication, negotiation and relationship-building skills.
• Degree-level, MBA or equivalent professional experience.

Experience within rail, transport, infrastructure or another highly regulated operational environment would be advantageous, as would experience operating within complex partnership or matrix organisations.

The Opportunity

The future railway will be built on closer integration, stronger partnerships and a relentless focus on customer outcomes.

As Chief Operating Officer, you will play a central role in making that vision a reality. You will lead the largest operational function in UK rail, shape how train services are delivered across an integrated network and drive improvements that matter to 1 million customers every day.

Joining the Executive Leadership Team, you will have the opportunity to influence not only operational performance today, but how the railway evolves for the future and prepares for the extraordinary opportunity on the Thameslink Growth Corridor where Luton and Gatwick Airports and Universal Resort offer significant growth potential.

If you are a strategic, inspiring and customer-focused operational leader with the ambition to shape the future of rail, we would like to hear from you.