Head of Fleet - Intercity & Connect

We are proud to be One Team at East Midlands Railway (EMR). We are passionate about keeping people safe, delighting our customers and doing the right thing. With over 2,600 employees, our people are the reason for our success. Ten times accredited as a Top Employer, and Gold accredited for Inclusive Employers we value our people and are dedicated to making sure that everybody feels empowered to bring their authentic self to work.

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 are 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.

About the Role of Head of Fleet

Reporting to the Fleet Director and based at our head office in Derby, this is a high-impact leadership opportunity to shape and deliver the strategic direction of Fleet Maintenance across EMR's depots and outstations.

You will set the vision, inspire our teams and maintenance partners, and drive a culture of engineering excellence, safety and continuous improvement. With accountability for fleet performance, availability, infrastructure and financial value, you will influence business-wide priorities, develop future talent and build the partnerships and capabilities needed to deliver a safe, reliable and high-performing fleet. As a key member of the senior leadership team, you will play a pivotal role in shaping the strategic direction of the wider business.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership - Set the strategic direction for Fleet Production, inspiring teams and maintenance partners to deliver excellence.
• Fleet Performance - Own fleet availability, maintenance delivery and depot performance, ensuring operational and business objectives are achieved.
• Engineering, Safety & Compliance - Lead engineering standards, technical capability, safety and regulatory compliance across the Fleet function.
• Commercial & Financial Management - Own budgets, resource planning and financial performance, driving efficiency and value for money.
• Stakeholder & Partnership Management - Build influential relationships with trade unions, suppliers, senior stakeholders and wider Group partners to deliver shared objectives.
• People, Facilities & Continuous Improvement - Develop organisational capability, oversee fleet facilities and champion innovation, sustainability and continuous improvement.

Who we are looking for

Leadership & People Management

• Proven senior-level experience leading large teams within a production, engineering or maintenance environment.
• Strong people leadership and employee relations experience within a unionised environment.
• An engaging communicator with the ability to inspire, influence and motivate diverse teams.

Strategic & Commercial Capability

• Strong commercial acumen and stakeholder management experience.
• Ability to analyse performance data, identify opportunities and drive meaningful improvements.
• Experience of strategic safety leadership and delivering safety improvement initiatives.

Qualifications & Professional Development

• Degree-level qualification in Engineering, Management or equivalent experience.
• Chartered status, or actively working towards professional chartership in Engineering or Management.

Desirable Experience

• Experience within railway rolling stock, rail operations or another complex engineering, manufacturing or asset-intensive environment.
• IOSH, NEBOSH or an equivalent health and safety qualification.

Why EMR?

Joining EMR means being part of a team that values every voice and recognises the unique contributions of everyone in engineering. We're dedicated to your professional growth and ensuring that you have the resources and support to thrive in your career. If you're ready to lead, innovate, and make a real difference, we encourage you to apply and bring your unique perspective to our team.

Ready to Make a Difference? We invite you to watch this video to learn more about what it's like to work at EMR.

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

• A great pension scheme
• Free first-class duty travel on the EMR network
• Free first-class leisure travel on the EMR network and Train Operating Companies under Transport UK
• Friends and Family discounted tickets on the EMR network
• 75% discount on national leisure travel (inc partner and dependants)
• Flexible working hours
• 32 days holiday per year increasing to 34 after 2 years
• ...and many more!

We are open minded to applications from people who wish to have flexible working. Many of our staff work flexibly in many different ways. Please talk to us at interview about the flexibility you need. We can't promise to give you exactly what you want, but we do promise not to judge you for asking.

This role is also hybrid, we operate with "more time together than apart" usually this means 3 days in the office and 2 days at home but full time in the office is also available if preferred.

Supporting Our Frontline

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.