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.
Safe behaviour is a requirement of working for Network Rail. Applicants should be able to demonstrate their awareness of our safety vision .
Shape the future of railway performance and operational excellence
Are you a strategic leader with a passion for driving performance improvement, delivering change, and making a real difference to the customer experience? We're looking for a Route Operations Performance & Projects Manager to play a pivotal role in improving train performance, leading complex projects, and helping create a safer, more reliable railway for passengers and freight users.
In this influential role, you'll work collaboratively with operational teams, train operating companies (TOCs), and key stakeholders to develop and deliver improvement strategies, lead transformational change programmes, and provide operational expertise across major projects. You'll use data, insight, and innovation to identify opportunities, solve challenges, and deliver sustainable improvements across the route.
About the role
As Route Operations Performance & Projects Manager, you will lead the development and delivery of the operations teams change capability, ensuring strategic plans are in place to drive risk-based approaches, effective improvement programmes, and collaborative partnerships that maximise operational success.
You'll oversee a programme of change projects, ensuring they are delivered to agreed scope, time, cost, and quality requirements, whilst providing operational leadership and assurance throughout the project lifecycle.
This is an exciting opportunity to influence operational performance at a strategic level while developing high-performing teams and driving continuous improvement across the railway.
What you'll be doing
- Acting as the route's focal point for operational performance leadership, including weather preparedness and resilience planning.
- Own disruption response, and the relationship with all emergency services, to drive risk-based approaches to all responder actions.
- Lead the operations team input into operational risk, working with all operators to drive operational risk improvements and pragmatic approaches.
- Developing and implementing strategies that improve train performance through well-managed and sustainable improvement initiatives.
- Working in partnership with Train Operating Companies and internal stakeholders to deliver improvement plans across trespass and weather risk that benefit customers and the wider railway.
- Developing and managing delay budgets, ensuring effective monitoring and escalation of performance risks.
- Providing expert operational advice and support to project and programme teams in line with Network Rail standards and industry requirements.
- Leading the operational input into major projects and programmes, ensuring operational feasibility is considered throughout the project lifecycle.
- Reviewing and approving operational strategies, requirements, risk assessments and key project documentation.
- Acting as a project sponsor where required and representing operational interests at senior stakeholder forums.
- Managing the delivery of a programme of change projects and providing regular updates on progress, risks and issues to senior leaders and project sponsors.
About you
We're looking for someone who can combine strong operational knowledge with exceptional leadership, analytical thinking and stakeholder management skills.
You'll be able to:
- Build strong relationships and influence a wide range of stakeholders.
- Use data and insight to identify opportunities and drive performance improvements.
- Lead and develop diverse teams, creating an environment where people feel valued, supported and empowered to succeed.
- Manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced operational environment.
- Deliver change programmes and projects that achieve measurable business benefits.
- Communicate complex information clearly and confidently to technical and non-technical audiences.
Job Skills, Experience and Qualifications
Essential
- Ability to think strategically and communicate effectively.
- Leadership and influence of cross functional and cross company relationships
- Strong customer focus.
Able to demonstrate in depth knowledge and previous experience of applying relevant
standards and procedures, including specifically weather risk management.
Able to demonstrate in depth knowledge and previous experience of applying operational
procedures and practices in a working environment
- Able to demonstrate detailed knowledge of operational and signalling principles, including operational risk capability.
Able to demonstrate knowledge of health and safety management and compliance
management processes
- Able to demonstrate excellent interpersonal, influencing, communication and organisation skills.
Desirable
- Significant successful experience in an operational role
- Member of a relevant professional institution or equivalent experience
How to apply
Band & Salary: £71,163 - £86,801
Vacancy type: Perm
Location: Basingstoke
Closing date: 19 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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We're proud to champion a diverse and inclusive workplace that reflects the communities we serve. To explore our ED&I commitments, https://www.networkrail.co.uk/who-we-are/diversity-and-inclusion/ .
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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.****
