We have an exciting opportunity to join #TeamEMR as a Fleet and Engineering Manager.

About the role

You will provide senior technical and operational leadership across EMR’s Intercity and Connect fleets, bringing together engineering governance, fleet production delivery and commercial contract management in a complex, safety-critical railway environment.

Leading Fleet Engineering and Fleet Delivery teams, you will drive robust maintenance strategies, strong engineering assurance and high-performing operational delivery. You will work closely with internal teams and maintenance partners to improve fleet performance, manage risk, optimise whole-life costs and ensure safe, reliable and sustainable services for customers.

You will also be accountable for depot safety and operational performance across Etches Park and Bedford Cauldwell, ensuring effective and compliant processes support EMR’s strategic, operational and customer objectives.

Key responsibilities include:

Fleet Operations & Strategic Leadership

• Accountable for the safe, compliant and efficient delivery of the Intercity (Class 222, Class 810) and Connect (Class 360) fleets, providing strategic operational leadership across a complex, safety-critical environment.
• Lead complex operational and engineering decision-making, balancing safety, performance, customer and operational priorities to support effective service delivery.
• Provide authoritative operational and engineering advice to senior business leaders, supporting strategic planning, business risk management and investment decision-making.
• Deputise for the Head of Fleet across strategic, operational and governance responsibilities, providing continuity of senior leadership across the function.

Fleet Engineering & Maintenance Strategy

• Provide integrated leadership across Fleet Engineering and Fleet Delivery, ensuring engineering governance, maintenance strategy, engineering assurance, operational delivery and supplier performance are effectively aligned.
• Develop and own the integrated fleet maintenance and engineering strategy across the Intercity and Connect fleets, ensuring business objectives are delivered through effective prioritisation of resources.
• Provide leadership and direction to Fleet Engineering and Fleet Delivery teams, fostering a high-performing, safety-focused culture.

Safety, Engineering Governance & Compliance

• Provide senior engineering and safety governance across the fleets, including ownership of safety management obligations under ROGS.
• Oversee maintenance strategy, engineering change, defect management, technical investigations and engineering compliance activities, interfacing with ORR and RAIB as required.
• Ensure fleet safety, compliance, reliability and availability targets are achieved through effective engineering governance and assurance.

Supplier & Contract Management

• Govern the delivery and performance of Hitachi, Siemens and Alstom under TSA and TSSSA contractual arrangements, holding contracted maintenance suppliers accountable for operational, engineering, safety and commercial obligations.
• Lead the operational interface between EMR, contracted maintainers and ROSCOs, providing strategic direction to drive fleet reliability, operational performance, engineering compliance and continuous improvement.
• Chair supplier governance forums, including bi-partite, tri-partite, TSA, TSSSA and ROSCO review meetings, ensuring risks, performance issues and contractual obligations are effectively managed and improvement actions delivered.
• Drive supplier performance and continuous improvement, ensuring contractual outputs deliver value for money and meet fleet performance requirements.

Fleet Reliability & Performance Improvement

• Lead fleet reliability growth and performance improvement plans across the Class 222, Class 810 and Class 360 fleets.
• Ensure repeat failures, technical incidents and operational performance risks are identified, investigated and effectively addressed.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives that improve fleet safety, reliability, availability, operational performance and customer outcomes.

 Class 810 Fleet Introduction & Integration

• Lead the operational introduction, integration and performance improvement of the Class 810 fleet.
• Provide senior engineering and operational leadership to manage introduction risks, resolve technical issues and ensure the fleet achieves agreed reliability and performance targets within required timescales.

Continuous Improvement & Best Practice

• Promote continuous improvement, innovation and industry best practice across fleet engineering and operational delivery.
• Identify and implement opportunities to improve safety, reliability, operational performance, efficiency and customer outcomes.

Leadership, Culture & Organisational Capability

• Provide strategic leadership across Fleet Engineering and Fleet Delivery, ensuring effective prioritisation of resources and delivery of business objectives.
• Build and maintain a high-performing, collaborative and safety-focused culture across internal teams and external maintenance partners.
• Provide clear leadership across organisational interfaces, ensuring engineering, operational, commercial and supplier priorities are aligned.
• 
  

About you

• Chartered Engineer status (Mechanical or Electrical).
• Significant senior leadership experience within a rolling stock or safety-critical engineering environment.
• Strong knowledge of railway engineering standards, maintenance governance and rolling stock legislation.
• Proven experience managing supplier and contractual relationships, including TSA, TSSSA or equivalent outsourced maintenance arrangements.
• Strong commercial, operational and strategic awareness, with the ability to balance safety, performance, customer and financial priorities.
• Demonstrable experience leading fleet reliability growth, operational performance improvement and engineering risk reduction initiatives.
• Experience leading complex operational investigations, recovery planning and performance improvement activities.
• Strong leadership, influencing and stakeholder management skills, with experience operating at senior management level across multi-disciplinary environments.
• Excellent analytical, problem-solving and decision-making skills, with the ability to operate effectively in high-pressure operational environments.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to influence and engage stakeholders at all levels, both internally and externally.

As well as a competitive salary, we’ll also offer you:

• An excellent defined benefit Railway pension scheme
• 32 days’ holiday in the first 2 years; moving up to 34 days’ thereafter
• Free First Class duty travel on the EMR network
• Free standard leisure travel on the EMR network and Train Operating Companies under Transport UK & LNER and 75% discount on national leisure travel (inc partner and dependants)
• Friends and Family discounted tickets on the EMR network
• Various training opportunities
• Employee benefits portal with access to generous discounts, Cycle 2 Work Scheme …and many more!

At EMR we want to proactively embrace diversity across our workforce and recognise that we are under-represented in terms of females and ethnic minority groups. We’re therefore taking positive steps to promote a positive and inclusive culture; we welcome applications from those that identify with these groups to better represent our communities.

Ready to take on this exciting opportunity? Submit your online application form and upload your CV. As we operate a blind screening process please remove all personal information including your name from your CV.

 If you're successful in this role, you'll be expected to support our frontline colleagues at some points throughout the year. This might be undertaking safety critical work, for which you'll receive training, but it could just be helping out with Customer Service when our stations are busy. We're One Team, and that means our managers step up for the frontline, not just manage from a distance. Supporting frontline colleagues is part of our DNA at EMR.

Closing Date: 06 Aug 2026

Department: Managerial/Administration

Salary: circa £65,786 dependent on experience