Senior Manager: Rail Systems

Role overview

Program leadership and assurance

• Set rail systems direction and priorities across projects and maintain strategies, standards, and technical principles.
• Ensure employer requirements are carried into contracts, work scopes, and design briefs; advise senior client leadership on issues, risks, and opportunities.
• Coordinate project rail systems managers and engineers; review delivery plans across design, procurement, installation, testing, and commissioning.
• Oversee technical assurance, design reviews, requirements management, verification, validation, and interface processes.
• Lead systems integration across rail systems, rolling stock, civil/MEP/architectural works, control centres, operational systems, utilities, and external networks.
• Oversee safety cases, hazard logs, RAMS analyses, safety evidence, and coordination with independent assessors, notified bodies, and regulators.
• Ensure cybersecurity requirements for critical rail systems are integrated into contracts, designs, and assurance evidence.
• Oversee testing and commissioning strategies, FAT/SAT, static/dynamic and integration tests, trial operations, milestone readiness, acceptance criteria, and EIS go/no-go recommendations.

Program coordination and leadership

• Work with program controls and risk teams to track activities, constraints, risks, opportunities, changes, variations, and value engineering.
• Report rail systems progress, risk, and decisions to program governance bodies.
• Coordinate with client stakeholders, future operators and maintainers, regulators, transport authorities, and adjacent infrastructure owners.
• Lead and mentor rail systems managers and engineers; build capability through training, knowledge sharing, lessons learned, and succession planning.

Qualifications and experience

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics, Telecommunications, Control/Systems Engineering, or a closely related discipline.
• Master's degree in Railway Systems, Transportation Engineering, Systems Engineering, or Project/Program Management is an advantage.
• Professional registration or chartership such as CEng, PE, or equivalent is highly desirable; project/program management certification is an advantage.
• 15+ years of rail systems engineering experience on major rail, metro, light rail, or high-speed rail programs.
• Significant PMC, client organization, or major consultancy experience with program- or portfolio-level rail systems responsibility.
• Proven systems integration, technical assurance, RAMS, and safety certification experience; experience in integrated client/PMC environments leading multidisciplinary teams and contractors/OEMs.
• Experience across design, procurement, installation, testing and commissioning, and EIS delivery phases.
• Deep knowledge of rail systems architectures and systems engineering, integration, RAMS, and CENELEC safety processes.
• Strong leadership, stakeholder management, influencing, analytical, strategic, communication, and presentation skills; understands program time, cost, and risk controls.