About the role
Following the UK Government's policy announcement on Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR), Network Rail is growing its team to develop this multi-billion-pound rail investment, which will improve rail connectivity in the North of England.¿¿¿¿
Northern Powerhouse Rail spans from Liverpool, through Manchester and on to Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield and York, and builds on the benefits planned from the Transpennine Route Upgrade programme.¿¿¿
This job is one of several exciting opportunities to join the growing NPR team in this early stage of development.¿ You will be part of the challenge and innovation¿required¿to drive efficiency and value for money for the UK taxpayer.¿ It is important that our product is an affordable and sustainable railway that brings our passengers and freight users more frequent, faster, greener trains, running on a better,¿cleaner¿and more reliable railway.¿¿¿
We recognise that flexibility is necessary for helping our people excel, both professionally and personally. At Network Rail we have a flexible working policy which allows up to 40% of our working hours, to be completed from home.¿ Alongside this, most of our team benefit from some form of individual working arrangement including reduced or compressed hours, to balance business and individual needs.¿¿¿¿
We recognise the importance of flexibility in attracting and¿retaining¿great people to work on NPR and are¿very happy¿to consider proposals to meet individual needs.¿¿
This role can be based from Manchester or York.
Job Purpose:
The role is responsible for leading and further improving the Digital Engineering Management function, including its processes, procedures, and supporting systems, for Northern Powerhouse Rail, to ensure a consistent approach across the portfolio in compliance with national standards and processes as defined within NR/L2/ADG/003, NR/L2/INI/EDT/CP0091, and other related standards. Specific areas of focus include GIS, Asset Tagging, Data Security for the NPR Digital Environment, ProjectWise (automation), and development of digital tools for business management and reporting.
Key Accountabilities:
- Engage with NR Route Services and other NR digital teams as the key contact for NPR
- Approve processes, procedures and systems to maintain effective information management and document control.
- Monitor adoption of information management and document control processes within programme and project teams.
- Supporting the continued oversight and/or development of GIS tools so that our internal teams and suppliers can view project design data, including models, hazard information, stakeholder mapping, etc, on the same platform for all component programmes, in line with the NPR Programme Information Requirements.
- Promoting and delivering the continued development of asset tagging options to help provide our suppliers with the appropriate specifications, tools, and training to make asset tagging a worthwhile reality, aiding our ability to compare capital costs, lifecycle costs, and carbon costs, whilst providing a platform fit for future expansion into areas such as design-to-cost, construction, construction assurance, and as-built data for handover to asset management and maintenance.
- Continuing to promote valuable solutions for our data and digital environment that meet the latest standards and capabilities in terms of security.
- Continuing to develop the automation of performance statistics from our Common Data Environment (ProjectWise) into conventional applications for measurement and reporting, taking into account the nuances of workflows and being capable of producing and amending Python scripts, etc.
- Driving the development of registers and trackers used for our assurance activities to improve the automation of reporting from conventional tools such as Lists and Excel, reducing errors associated with manual handling. Develop these tools so that, as a management team, we can focus more on insights and action, and less on data handling.
Essential Criteria:
- Experience within Network Rail, rail infrastructure, projects and regulated rail environment or similar.
- Member of a relevant professional institution and/or educated to degree level.
- Appropiate knowledge of digital tools, and software required for the development of SharePoint, PowerApps, web design etc.
- The ability to manage teams, and interfaces across multiple stakeholders.
Desirable Criteria:
- Experience of working on complex multi-disciplinary rail programmes or portfolio, particularly the early stages (e.g. PACE Stages ES2 Feasibility / ES3 Option Selection).
- Experience of working with Asset Management/Maintenance as well as Major projects
- Familiarity with Ellipse, ARM, PPS, or other NR systems
- Professional qualification in engineering or project management (e.g., BSc (Hons), MSc IMechE, PRINCE2, MAPM)
Please note: Applicants must provide proof of essential qualifications and/or competencies where required, or demonstrate active progress toward obtaining them, or evidence their applicable experience as a condition of employment.
External how to apply:
Network Rail welcomes applications regardless of age, disability, marital status (including civil partnerships), pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, transgender status, sex (or gender), employment status, trade union affiliation, or other irrelevant factor.
We are a Disability Confident Leader employer! We will interview all disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria.
We are here to support you through every step of the recruitment process and to enable you to perform to the best of your ability. If you require any adjustments or modifications please contact Mark Holt (Resourcing Business Partner) at mark.holt@networkrail.co.uk. You can also visit Evenbreak's Career Hive for advice on accessibility support if you're unsure of the options available.
We positively embrace flexible working, recognising that employees may wish to balance work with their family and home life.
Network Rail Benefits - To find out about what benefits we offer, click here
Network Rail is required to comply with UK Government standards when carrying out pre-employment checks for all new starters; this includes a basic criminal record check. In addition to the basic criminal record check, in accordance with the UK Government we are also required to verify your identity, right to work in the UK and previous three years employment history.
All offers of employment are conditional upon satisfactory completion of pre-employment checks. Click here for more information. Please ensure you have the appropriate Right to Work status when applying for this role."
Keeping people safe on the railway is at the heart of everything we do, safe behaviour is therefore a requirement of working for Network Rail. You should be able to demonstrate your personal commitment to safety and awareness of our safety vision.
Network Rail can offer you a rewarding career with competitive pay and excellent benefits including a choice of contributory pension schemes, a generous annual leave package, a bonus scheme and an annual 75% subsidy on season tickets costing up to £3,333 (to a maximum amount of £2,500). You will also be entitled to 28 days annual leave
Salary: £55,595 to £67,813 per annum.
*Employees will be entitled to a 75% discount off leisure travel, this includes off peak and super off peak tickets*
***Some of our roles require face to face Drugs & Alcohol testing. Further details will be shared with you as part of your formal offer.****
Closing date: 16th November 2026. Late applications will not be accepted. We retain the right to close the advert before the listed closing date based on application volumes.
What's in it for you
Here are a few of the benefits we offer
- 28-day annual leave with the option to buy and sell days
- Choice of pension schemes
- 75% discount of leisure travel for you and your family
- Private Healthcare
- 5 days paid volunteer or carers leave
- Up to 75% subsidised Rail and Underground travel
- Gym Pass -access to gyms across UK
- My Benefits platform- giving national and local retail discount
Our aim is to ensure your candidate experience is as positive as possible. If you require reasonable adjustments at any point, simply let us know and we'll do our best to assist you.
Some of our roles require face to face Drugs & Alcohol testing. We will share further details with you as part of your formal offer.
All offers of employment are conditional upon satisfactory completion of pre-employment checks. Click here for more information.