About DFT Operator
Join Our Team at DFTO
DFTO is the government’s 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 23,000 employees, runs over 6,000 services a day and delivers over 450 million customer journeys across its networks every year. This accounts for 26% of total UK passenger journeys and 30% of passenger miles.
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) and c2c.
Primary Purpose of Job:
To lead and manage integration between DFTO Train Operating Companies (TOCs) and Network Rail Regions/ Routes, in particular through supporting the establishment and increased maturity of alliances to enable the delivery of passenger improvements from track and train integration within the boundaries of existing legislation.
Vacancy Details:
Duration: 2 year Fixed Term contract/secondment
Location: London Waterloo
Salary: up to £90,000
Closing date: 05 September 2025
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
Key Responsibilities:
- Lead, develop and manage the plan to facilitate the integration between Network Rail Routes and DFTO TOCs, as well as between individual DFTO TOCs, taking into account the boundaries afforded by the present legislation.
- Develop and manage the plan to integrate DFTO TOCs into GBR during its stand-up phase, building on the initial projects of TOC/Route integration under alliancing.
- Work collaboratively with DFTO TOCs and Network Rail Regions/ Routes on the establishment of new alliancing structures between the two entities or, increasing the alliance maturity where these structures are already in place, taking account of the boundaries afforded by present legislation.
- Cultivate effective working relationships with the DFTO team and DfT, DFTO TOCs, Network Rail and other stakeholders to deliver consistent, rigorous and value-added outcomes and enable the delivery of benefits to passengers from the integration of track and train prior to the establishment of GBR by legislation.
- Manage effective stakeholder relationships throughout partner organisations, Regions, Routes and TOCs.
- Preparation of industry plans as appropriate to demonstrate alignment of integration activities with the public ownership transfer programme and future GBR business cases.
- Report progress and status of the Network Rail/ TOC and TOC/ TOC integration activities as required.
- Direct the development and delivery of change projects in compliance with company processes and procedures, including leading the production of project management plans.
- Contribute as a member of the management team for DFTO in relation to work arising during the forthcoming period of significant change and uncertainty.
- Long Term Planning – responsible for the successful integration of future interventions which take place during the public ownership transfer programme.
- Establish and support collaborative cross-functional and cross-industry teams to deliver the projects, where appropriate.
- As required, support DFTO TOCs to deliver improvement projects to enhance the service offered to customers and the value for taxpayers in the near term, which may include but is not limited to, train service performance improvement, opportunities for efficiencies from TOC/ TOC collaboration and joint customer service initiatives.
- As required, support the Programme Director with the business planning and business case preparation for GBR establishment, which may include, but is not limited to operating model and governance design, cases for change and transition planning.
Knowledge, Skills, Experience Technical Qualifications:
- Educated to degree level.
- Relevant experience in the successful management of integration activities on significant projects in the rail industry.
- Able to think strategically and tactically.
- Demonstrable ability to plan integration activities in a complex and fast paced environment
- Strong commercial focus and financially astute.
- Strong leadership ability.
- Strong knowledge of rail industry structure, operations and cultures.
- Excellent communications skills and the ability to develop relationships with a wide range of key stakeholders at Director and Executive level.
- Experience working within the rail 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 - We're an inclusive employer of choice and we welcome applications from everyone! We encourage our colleagues to work flexibly, as we know traditional working patterns don't always fit. If you want to consider working flexibly, just let us know and we'll 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 [email protected].
Please do not email any CV's to us, your application must be made by clicking the 'Apply' button.
