About Network Rail

At Network Rail, we’re part of a large family serving millions of passengers and freight users throughout the UK every day. Our service impacts millions of people and we strive to become more efficient as we enhance, maintain and operate our network.

Our passengers and freight users are at the heart of everything we do. We help connect people to their friends and families and get goods to their destination safely and efficiently. We’re an organisation where people matter.  When you're part of our team, you matter to us, and you matter to millions. 

The Wales & Western region includes more than 2,700 miles of railway and we serve communities and businesses of Wales, the Thames Valley, West of England and the Southwest Peninsula.

Our ambition to be responsive to passengers and freight users drives us every day and we're empowered to do the right thing for those who use the rail network. We actively challenge unsafe practices and take responsibility for addressing risks, resolving issues and protecting safety and wellbeing.

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. 

In Wales and Western region, you will have the opportunity to join PROUD, our reward and recognition scheme where you can say thanks and recognise colleagues across the region who have demonstrated outstanding values and behaviours.

We want to help deliver a railway which is safe, reliable, affordable and that provides great customer service to everyone. 

Brief Description

The successful candidate will lead on all aspects of the governance, risk & assurance framework for a circa 5000 FTE organisation, with annualised operational and expenditure budgets of in excess of
1-1.5 billion annually. You will work with a small direct team of experts that influences across an executive team level. The role is a direct report to a member of the regional executive team (Regional Finance Director) and you will need the skills, capabilities, and experience to influence at a senior executive level, shaping, defining, and successfully executing strategies to enable the business successful delivery through effective governance, risk and assurance.

The standout candidate will have demonstrated experience and capability of influencing and operating at a senior executive level in an equivalent sized organisation and be a visible leader of significant improvement and implementation.

Please note the location of this role is flexible in terms of location, and can be based in either Bristol, Swindon, Reading, London, or Cardiff.

About the role

Key Accountabilities:

• Lead the delivery of the Network Rail strategic vision and direction for governance, risk, assurance to enable the Region to deliver on its commitments both internally and for external stakeholders through the determination process for each Control Period (CP).
• Direct and lead the corporate governance, assurance and improvement forums leading strategy and influencing decision making across the Region to guarantee the strategic objectives of the business are met.
• Lead the development and implementation of the regional governance framework and management system guaranteeing internal Network Rail policy and external regulatory requirements are adhered to maintaining risk to acceptable levels and delivering on commitments to all key internal and external stakeholders. 
• Manage the development and delivery of the Region audit plan, including integration and support of the Network Rail business audit interventions, corporate Safety Functional Audit and corporate Internal Audit activity to maintain the three lines of defence required to protect business reputation and customer confidence.
• Lead the region enterprise risk portfolio focussed on the key threats and opportunities to the achievement of the regions strategic plan.
• Direct the reduction in region exposure with robust plans to keep threats within appetite thresholds and maximise the benefits of opportunities. Direct and maintain the development of the desired quality culture throughout the Region to maintain legal compliance and the adoption of best practise through good governance, stakeholder confidence through effective assurance and structured improvement to achieve efficiencies internally and through the supply chain.
• Direct the development and manage the deployment of relevant quality measures and controls to monitor quality across the Region.
• Lead and manage the effective implementation and delivery of the region assurance framework to maintain the three lines of defence and to provide customer confidence and protect business reputation.

The successful candidate will have: (Essential)

• Chartered Quality Professional or an equivalent in the fields of governance, risk and assurance
• Able to demonstrate significant governance, risk and assurance experience in a large and complex multidisciplinary organisation
• Recognised leadership capability, with the vision and ability to establish cross-functional relationships and drive cultural/organisational change
• Demonstrable excellent communication and presentation skills, numerate, analytical and articulate and ability to develop business-wide solutions
• Able to demonstrate expert knowledge and experience at a senior level in the successful delivery of governance, assurance, and improvement in a large and complex multidisciplinary organisation
• Proven exceptional interpersonal skills, possessing the ability to maintain credibility and influence people at all levels within a large complex organisation, up to and including executive level as well as diverse senior stakeholders
• Proven ability to motivate and engage virtual teams Successful substantial experience in senior management roles in a complex organisation
• Proven strong commercial awareness and financially astute
• Demonstrable good knowledge and experience of managing appropriate system certifications in a complex business (e.g., ISO 9001, 14001, OHSAS 18001, BS 11000) or equivalent demonstrated experience.

The following knowledge and skills would also be beneficial:

• Demonstrable good knowledge of railway operational and contractual practices
• Lead auditor qualified

Closing date: 01/09/22

Please get your application in as soon as possible, we may close the advert before the listed closing date if we receive enough applications.  Late applications will not be accepted.

Click the ‘Apply’ button to find out more and apply.

Network Rail is a Disability Confident Leader and we’ll try our best to adapt the process and offer a reasonable alternative to help support people with disabilities access, apply and interview for roles. You can visit Evenbreak’s Career Hive for advice on accessibility support if you’re unsure of the options available. Should you require any reasonable adjustments/modifications, please add a note to your application.

All offers of employment are conditional upon satisfactory completion of pre-employment checks. 

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 demonstrate your personal dedication to safety on your application.