Deputy Director, Railway Engineering & Investment

Job summary

This role can be based at any of our office locations: London, Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, York, Glasgow. ORR operates a hybrid working model, working from a workplace location other than home for at least 40% of each month. This may be higher depending on the role and business needs. Workplace locations include ORR offices, inspection sites, off-site meetings, conferences, and other approved business locations.

The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) is the independent economic and safety regulator for Britain’s railways and monitor of performance on England’s strategic road network. This is an exciting time to join ORR, we are delivering a significant transformation programme to create a consistently agile and enabling organisation, with the right capability and a strong, inclusive culture that reflects our talented people. This will ensure we continue to operate as an independent, expert regulator, fit for the future and equipped with the capabilities and ways of working required to support sector-wide rail reform, while contributing to the government’s broader agenda on regulatory reform and economic growth. Further detail on our future role is set outhere.

Job description

The Deputy Director, Railway Engineering & Investment is a strategically important leadership role at ORR, serving as the organisation’s senior technical authority on railway engineering, asset management, capital investment and infrastructure delivery across Great Britain’s rail network.

Reporting directly to the Director of Planning and Performance and forming a key part of the Senior Leadership Team, this role combines technical expertise, regulatory leadership and stakeholder influence. The postholder will provide expert oversight of the engineering performance, resilience and long-term stewardship of railway assets, ensuring that infrastructure managers, operators and other duty holders deliver safe, reliable and sustainable outcomes for passengers and freight users. Additionally, there is a dotted-line reporting relationship to the Railway Safety Director and Directorate on interoperability and safety matters.

This is a critical role at a time of significant transformation across the rail industry, including the transition toward Great British Railways. The successful candidate will help shape the future of railway regulation.

As ORR's senior technical authority for railway engineering, the Deputy Director will oversee asset stewardship, cost management and capital delivery oversight across Great Britain’s rail network. For these areas, the role leads ORR’s activity with respect to Network Rail (NR), High Speed 1 (HS1), and other licensed duty holders. The role also requires leading review of applications to enter new or upgraded rolling stock and infrastructure into service in the UK

The postholder will provide expert advice to the ORR Board and Executive Committee, ensuring that regulatory decisions are informed by robust technical evidence and engineering excellence. Working closely with government departments, industry leaders, manufacturers and infrastructure managers, they will build strong partnerships to drive excellence in engineering, investment and asset stewardship across therail sector.

We are seeking an exceptional and inspirational leader who demonstrates strong corporate leadership, role models ORR's valuesand behaviours, and fosters a high-performing, inclusive and collaborative culture. The successful candidate will be capable of balancing strategic vision with technical credibility, influencing at the highest levels while leading complex regulatory and engineering challenges.

The role leads a multidisciplinary team of approximately 34 colleagues through six direct reports and works closely with colleagues across ORR, particularly within Railway Safety, to ensure a coherent and integrated approach to regulation and oversight. While team structures and specific accountabilities may evolve over time, the strategic leadership requirements and significance of the role will remain central to ORR's success.

Find out what our colleagues have to say about their ORR careers at Our people , Office of Rail and Road (orr.gov.uk).

We have partnered with Veredus to recruit for this role. To book a confidential discussion about the role, please contact Laura Spurgin, [email removed]

Person specification

Please refer to the attached candidate pack for further details.

Benefits

A Civil Service Pension with employer contribution of 28.97%

Find out what our colleagues have to say about their ORR careers Our people Office of Rail and Road (orr.gov.uk).

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

For information on the selection process, please see the attached Candidate Information Pack and Job Description.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.This role has a minimum assignment duration of 3 years. An assignment duration is the period of time a Senior Civil Servant is expected to remain in the same post to enable them to deliver on the agreed key business outcomes. The assignment duration also supports your career through building your depth of expertise.

As part of accepting this role you will be agreeing to the expected assignment duration set out above. This will not result in a contractual change to your terms and conditions. Please note this is an expectation only, it is not something which is written into your terms and conditions or indeed which the employing organisation or you are bound by. It will depend on your personal circumstances at a particular time and business needs, for example, would not preclude any absence like family friendly leave. It is nonetheless an important expectation, which is why we ask you to confirm you agree to the assignment duration set out above.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Repub