Join the Southern Region where your work truly matters.
Covering Wessex, Sussex, and Kent, the Southern Region is one of the busiest and most dynamic parts of the railway. Our teams keep some of the UK's most vital passenger and freight routes moving every single day.
This is a place where collaboration, innovation, and resilience are key and where your contribution will directly impact millions of journeys. We are entering an exciting new chapter as we integrate with train operating companies under one national leadership, creating even greater opportunities to shape the future of rail.
From supporting major modernisation programmes to improving performance for local communities and enhancing safety across complex operational environments, Southern offers a fast-paced, rewarding environment to grow your career and make a real difference.
Lead and develop the production of strategic documents in line with the Long Term Planning Process (LTPP). Support and maintain stakeholder relationships, internally and externally, to ensure agreement and alignment of key strategic outputs. Management of virtual teams, incorporating expertise from across the rail industry, to understand strategic constraints and issues when developing strategic advice.
As a strategic planning team, we are seeking to show how improving rail services in the Wessex Route can meet the long term needs of the railway, our stakeholders, the economy, and our passengers, whilst providing more immediate benefits to service performance and resilience. We are therefore seeking an adaptable individual who can lead and develop relationships with Route and cross-regional teams, technical experts, external stakeholders, and funders to achieve the best outcomes for the industry. Whilst knowledge of performance analysis and the performance issues affecting the Wessex Route is advantageous, it is not mandatory, as we work closely with the relevant teams across the business.
Key Accountabilities
- Facilitation of cross-functional input to the development of Strategic Advice.
- Contribute to development of Strategic Advice for specified routes, both from internal perspective (i.e. Operating Route / Area) and external perspective (i.e. by strategic route), supporting decision-making with each devolved route to make decisions based on meeting the needs and priorities of stakeholders (e.g. regulatory outputs and customer commitments).
- Manage analysis for capacity studies, taking into account the existing capability, contractual and regulatory obligations, and the implications of expected future traffic levels.
- Review Strategic Advice for consistency with other industry plans, particularly relating to new rolling stock.
- Review maintenance and renewal plans for strategic fit and consistency with Strategic Advice making sure renewals and enhancement projects reflect the needs of the route.
- As required by the line manager to support the Strategic Planning team's activity.
Job Skills, Experience and Qualifications
Essential
- Experience of network strategy and business planning
- Understanding of the basic infrastructure issues which influence capacity
- Numerate degree or equivalent
- Good relationship management with good experience of cross-functional, collaborative working
- Good communication skills (both written and verbal) skills
- Good commercial and financial awareness, including understanding economic trade-off analysis
- Knowledge of rail industry and commercial framework
Desirable
- Knowledge of Network Rail's sponsorship and investment processes and procedures
- Knowledge of project development and delivery processes
- A wide-ranging knowledge of the customers and assets of the route
How to apply
Band & Salary: £46,701 - £56,963
Vacancy type: Perm
Location: London Puddle Dock
Closing date: 4 th August 2026
We're an organisation where people matter. We matter to millions.
We offer excellent benefits, including:
¿ Generous annual leave with the option to buy/sell days.
¿ Defined benefit pension scheme.
¿ 75% subsidy on rail and underground season tickets.
¿ Up to 75% off leisure travel.
Carer's leave to support those who matter.
¿ Healthcare Scheme, GymPass discounts, Cycle to work plus more.
¿ We offer generous maternity, paternity, and adoption leave to support our employees during significant life moments
Discover all our benefits and what life is like at Network Rail.- click here
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All offers of employment are conditional upon satisfactory completion of pre-employment checks.
***Some of our roles require face to face Drugs & Alcohol testing. Further details will be shared with you as part of your formal offer.****
