Rail Services Lead

About DFT Operator

Join Our Team at DFTO

DFTO is the governments public sector rail owning group. Its purpose is to bring all currently privately-owned train operators into public ownership in advance of the creation of Great British Railways in 2027 - and deliver improvements in the here and now by unifying and integrating train operations under common public ownership.

DFTO has over 30000 employees runs over 8500 services a day and delivers over 640 million customer journeys across its networks every year. 7000people joined the railway family in the last year

Major improvements are being delivered by DFTO train operators (TOCs) that are already under public ownership - these are LNER Northern TransPennine Express (TPE) Southeastern South Western Railway (SWR) c2c Greater Anglia and WM Trains.

We work closely with the DfT but operate independently with our own governance and leadership teams. Our priority is ensuring efficient dependable rail services for everyone.

Primary Purpose of Job:

This is an exciting opportunity to join one of the Rail Services Teams who sit within Rail Services Group which is responsible for ensuring the successful development and the day-to-day management ofrailway contracts to enable improvements in operational performance and reductions in subsidy.

Key Deliverables:

• You will work collaboratively with the Train Operator as our delivery partner so that they operate their contract in the interest of passengers ensuring that they meet their suite of obligations and are supported and challenged to deliver agreed outcomes.
• You may be required to work flexibly in future across teams managing other Train Operating Companies.
• The role is high-profile and fast-moving and will require a blend of strategic stakeholder
• management commercial project management and leadership skills.

Key Responsibilities:

You will be responsible for:

• Working with senior level executives of in the Train Operator including on the Annual Business Plan performance target setting negotiations subsidy reduction and contract management.
• Advising internal stakeholders and also external stakeholders in DfT including Ministers and other DfT senior leaders including providing material to the correspondence teams sometimes within challenging timescales.
• Managing the contract/agreement and having a clear understanding of the key levers that can be used to maximise passenger benefits while minimising risk to the taxpayer.
• Developing relationships and working collaboratively with NR and other Train Operating Companies.
• Effective use of management information to challenge and support the operator highlighting key trends and issues using data and putting in place improvement plans when necessary.
• Taking the lead on identifying and driving forward solutions supported by analysis of a range of credible options to overcome problems. This could include leadership of specific projects such as on rolling stock or cross-cutting issues.
• Management responsibility of a team as well as organising reporting and planning information and their workloads.
• Covering for and assisting the Senior Rail Services Lead on the development resilience and recruitment for the wider team or across regional teams to improve the overall effectiveness and productivity. For Train Operators on National Rail Contracts.
• Lead/ Contribute to the twice-yearly Performance Based Fee process including scorecard assessment and Quantified Target Measures (QTM) monitoring.
• Build knowledge and play a key role in the transition to the new public ownership Services Agreement including working closely with the Public Ownership Transition (POTP) team.
• Using commercial expertise to support effective wind down of National Rail Contracts working collaboratively with Public Ownership Transition teams.

Knowledge Skills Experience & Technical Qualifications:

We are looking for an individual who has:

• The ability to build and establish collaborative commercial relationships with multiple stakeholders at Board level.
• Experience of solving complex commercial problems in a fast paced and high-profile environment.
• An understanding of market and change in commercial drivers and the ability to develop strategies to exploit these considering financial legal and commercial implications.
• A high degree of personal resilience with the ability to work under pressure and maintain your performance levels under challenging circumstances.
• Be able to demonstrate or quickly build understanding of strategic relationship management including contract management processes.
• You will also be required to complete the Contract Management Capability Programme (CMCP) and achieve the accreditation at Foundation level once in the role.

Duration: Permanent/secondment
Location:London Waterloo Leeds or Birmingham
Salary:up to 67251
Closing date: 13th May 2026

DFTO Benefits:

Annual Leave: Starting at 25 days and rising to an additional day per year of service completed within the first 5 completed years up to a maximum of 5 additional (30 days)

DC Pension Scheme: 10% Employer contribution 5% Employee contribution

Opportunities to learn and network across the wider industry

Additional Information

Disclaimer: Candidates applying for this position on a secondment basis must inform their line manager prior to submitting their application. This is to ensure transparency and facilitate any necessary discussions regarding workload and responsibilities.

About our people and the recruitment process - Were an inclusive employer of choice and we welcome applications from everyone! We encourage our colleagues to work flexibly as we know traditional working patterns dont always fit. If you want to consider working flexibly just let us know and well do our best to help and invest in your career with us whilst you have a healthy work life balance.

Contact: If you have any questions or reasonable adjustments please contact Amra

Please do not email any CVs to us your application must be made by clicking the Apply button.