Job Ref: DOH1272
Branch: DFT Operator
Location: London
Salary/Benefits: Salary up to £122,000
Contract type: Fixed Term
Hours: Full Time
Hours per week: 37.5
Posted date: 27/08/2026
Closing date: 11/09/2026
About DFT Operator
Join Our Team at DFTO
DFTO is the government’s public sector rail owning group. Its purpose is to bring all currently privately-owned train operators into public ownership in advance of the creation of Great British Railways in 2027 - and deliver improvements in the here and now by unifying and integrating train operations under common public ownership.
DFTO has over 30,000 employees, runs over 11,000 services a day and delivers over 930 million customer journeys across its networks every year. 7,000 people joined the railway family in the last year
Major improvements are being delivered by DFTO train operators (TOCs) that are already under public ownership - these are LNER, Northern, TransPennine Express (TPE), Southeastern, South Western Railway (SWR), c2c, Greater Anglia, WM Trains and GTR.
We work closely with the DfT but operate independently with our own governance and leadership teams. Our priority is ensuring efficient, dependable rail services for everyone.
About the role
This is a rare opportunity to lead the design of the future customer, commercial, operational, and performance operating model at the heart of rail reform.
As Head of Customer Commercial Design, you will shape how Great British Railways (GBR) delivers customer, commercial and revenue services in the future for both freight and passengers. Working across the rail industry, government and delivery partners, you will translate strategic ambition into practical, implementable operating models and organisational designs that will define how customer and commercial functions operate across the future railway.
This role sits at the centre of one of the most significant transformations in Britain's railway. You will lead the design of the future Chief Customer and Commercial Officer (CCCO) operating model, establishing clear system wide interfaces, governance, operational ownership, performance accountabilities and service delivery arrangements required to support Great British Railways Day One.
For the right candidate, this is an opportunity to leave a lasting legacy, shaping the future customer and commercial organisation of Britain's railway and helping create a more joined-up, customer-focused and commercially successful industry.
The role
You will provide strategic leadership for customer and commercial operating model design, leading the development of the future GBR network level Customer Commercial organisation, ensuring strategic intent is translated into detailed, deliverable operating models that you successfully implement.
The primary objective of the role is to lead the design of the Chief Customer and Commercial Officer (CCCO) operating model, working with stakeholders across DFTO, Train Operating Companies, Network Rail, Rail Delivery Group and wider industry partners to create an integrated model with clear customer, commercial, operational and performance accountabilities.
You will oversee the creation of interface maps, implementation plans and transition roadmaps, ensuring agreed designs are translated into practical delivery arrangements and successfully embedded. A core focus of the role will be co-ordinating the successful stand-up of CCCO functions through a people centric approach, ensuring readiness for Great British Railways Day One and realising benefits for customers and taxpayers.
This is a highly visible leadership role requiring strategic thinking, commercial acumen, operating model expertise and exceptional stakeholder management. Success will depend on your ability to influence across organisational boundaries, build industry consensus and convert complex design challenges into practical, sustainable solutions.
What you'll be responsible for
- Leading the design of the future GBR network level Customer Commercial operating model and influencing the structure, interfaces, governance and accountabilities required for Day One readiness.
- Leading the development of end-to-end customer and commercial service blueprints and service architectures that translate strategy into practical operating models.
- Defining clear operational and performance ownership, governance arrangements and accountability frameworks across the future customer and commercial organisation.
- Securing alignment across the rail industry on future-state operating models, organisational interfaces, design principles and delivery approaches.
- Acting as the senior authority on customer and commercial operating model design, providing expert advice and challenge to executive leaders and programme teams.
- Championing customer-centred design principles and ensuring customer, commercial, operational and performance insight informs design decisions and trade-offs.
- Creating implementation-ready design artefacts, interface maps, roadmaps and transition plans that support successful mobilisation and delivery.
- Working with operational and delivery teams to define the future ownership and running of services once implementation is complete.
- Maintaining design integrity through implementation, identifying risks, resolving issues and ensuring successful mobilisation of future capabilities.
What we're looking for
Essential
- Significant experience in a senior customer, commercial, operating model, service design or transformation leadership role, ideally within transport or another complex customer-focused sector.
- Experience of delivering large complex programmes of work
- Authoritative understanding of customer, commercial, operational and revenue operating models, including service delivery frameworks, organisational interfaces, performance accountabilities and ownership boundaries.
- Strong analytical capability, with experience using customer, operational and commercial insight to inform strategic design decisions and trade-offs.
- Proven experience developing operating models, service architectures, governance frameworks and implementation-ready designs in complex environments.
- Experience building alignment across organisational and industry boundaries and delivering outcomes through influence rather than direct control.
- Experience developing design artefacts, business cases and implementation documentation, presenting complex concepts clearly and credibly to senior stakeholders.
- Experience leading design governance, assurance and decision-making processes across large-scale programmes.
- Exceptional communication, negotiation and influencing skills, with credibility to engage at executive and industry leadership level.
Desirable
- Experience of service design, customer journey mapping and end-to-end service blueprinting across complex multi-channel environments.
- Knowledge of operating model design frameworks, service architecture and implementation planning methodologies.
- Experience working in operational, performance or service delivery environments.
- Experience leading operating model design in complex multi-stakeholder organisations and translating strategic intent into implementable solutions, that drive cultural and customer centric change
- Experience working with government, industry bodies or regulated sectors undergoing significant organisational transformation.
Vacancy details
Duration: Fixed-term opportunity aligned to rail reform and the transition towards Great British Railways currently October 2027. This is an exceptional opportunity for an experienced leader to play a pivotal role in shaping the future commercial and customer strategy of Britain's railway.
Location: Any DFTO location, with hybrid working. Regular travel to London and industry locations will be required.
DFTO Locations:
DFTO currently have office locations in London, Birmingham and Leeds and individuals can be based from any of the three locations. Whilst we do offer hybrid working there are sometimes demands to travel to the other office locations.
DFTO Benefits:
Annual Leave: Starting at 25 days and rising to an additional day per year of service completed within the first 5 completed years up to a maximum of 5 additional (30 days)
DC Pension Scheme: 10% Employer contribution, 5% Employee contribution
Opportunities to learn and network across the wider industry
Additional Information…
Disclaimer: Candidates applying for this position on a secondment basis must inform their line manager prior to submitting their application. This is to ensure transparency and facilitate any necessary discussions regarding workload and responsibilities.
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.
Contact: If you have any questions or reasonable adjustments, please contact [email protected].
Please do not email any CV's to us, your application must be made by clicking the 'Apply' button.
