Are you looking for the opportunity to play a vital role, being second in command to a key director of a relatively new, but already well-established railway franchise in the Midlands?

Ford & Stanley – The Rail Recruitment Experts are recruiting a Head of Franchise Projects who will be accountable for the committed obligations that our client has put forward to deliver against, which have been pivotal in them being awarded the franchise for the next 10 years. You will work across multiple functions, including improvements of the infrastructure across the network, including station and depot upgrades, and any enhancements of the fleet of vehicles that are currently utilised in this location.

You will also be a key point of contact with various interfaces, including but not limited to, external bodies such as TfL, DfT, HS2 and Network Rail, as well reporting into several key executives with our client and managing and supporting wider teams across various disciplines.

Location: Birmingham

Role and Responsibilities:

• Deputising for Transition and Projects Director, as required
• Providing programme/project management and assurance for our clients’ franchise strategic projects including: new fleet introductions, new depot introductions, new station introductions, enhancement schemes, ensuring efficient inter-project coordination
• Ensuring key stakeholder and partner collaboration, through Chairpersonship of the Programme Board and the relevant Alliance Boards
• Managing client requirements and controlling work scope
• Monitoring cost and schedule performance against the approved performance measurement
• Ensuring that the customer is always at the forefront of decisions, minimising disruption to them
• Participating in wider management meetings and decision making
• Providing periodic reports to the Transition & Projects Director to inform the Programme Board meetings, Business Review Group meetings, Board meetings and client meetings
• Working with the other “heads of” to review workloads and ensure adequate resource is provided to support all the projects

The Candidate:

• Experience of leading and delivering complex projects involving multi-disciplinary teams
• Experience of leading teams of project managers
• Strong Appreciation of importance of stakeholder engagement, and requisite inter-personal skills to engage with stakeholders
• Strong appreciation of importance of customer experience
• Strong ability to produce clear and concise reports
• Professional Programme and Project management Qualifications
• Educated to Degree level or equivalent

Closing Date: 1^st July 2018