System Strategy Manager

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 8,500 services a day and delivers over 640 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 and WM Trains.

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.

Primary Purpose of Job

The Rolling Stock and Infrastructure Whole System Strategy team is responsible for producing an overarching strategy for the specification and supply of trains on the network and the infrastructure needed to support them. The strategy will focus on passenger needs while improving rail industry efficiency, environmental performance, and visibility and certainty to industry supply chains.

The new team brings together consideration of the financial, economic, commercial and operational aspects of the rolling stock and infrastructure in the long term. It includes policy teams on train service, rolling stock, depots and infrastructure, and will work closely with stakeholders in Network Rail, DfT Operator and others elsewhere in DfT and the wider government.

Key Deliverables

• The Whole System Strategy team will lead on the development of the overall strategy, pulling together a wide range of workstreams, evaluating against policy aims and proposing alternative and recommended strategies.
• They will, for the first time, bring together a "whole system" approach around rolling stock contracts and the interaction with infrastructure such as electrification and charging stations, taking into account the current Public Ownership and Reform programmes for the railways.
• Within the Whole System Strategy team, the System Strategy Manager will have primary responsibility for the development of the strategy, through working closely with other members of the RSISS team and others in RSG, DfT and the wider rail industry.

Key Responsibilities

• Development of an "interim" rolling stock and infrastructure strategy that provides a framework for decision making on rolling stock and infrastructure ahead of the full strategy being in place.
• Understanding of the interaction of contracts covering the supply and maintenance of almost 15,000 rail vehicles worth over £2bn/year and allowing decisions to be made on how to proceed with procurement of new trains to replace old trains on a whole life basis.
• Development of a future rolling stock and infrastructure needs assessment, working with the Head of Train Service, Rolling Stock and Depots, and the Head of Network Interfaces.
• Passengers will be at the heart of the strategy, understanding how the needs of a £10bn/year rail market and complex infrastructure and technological requirements will change over the next 25 years, and the impacts on the UK rail network.
• Development of alternative strategies for the supply of rolling stock and associated infrastructure, in line with other industry strategies and DfT policies, particularly the emerging Long Term Rail Strategy; working with and coordinating other workstreams as needed.
• Consideration of many complex elements including driving long term financial sustainability of the rail industry, and ensuring the proposed strategy is deliverable and affordable.

Additional Contributions

• Provision of input to Rail Reform Programme on the Long Term Rail Strategy, Rail Reform legislation and future GBR design, including systems and processes around strategy development.
• Representing RSG in discussions and providing recommendations on how best to achieve Rail Reform objectives.
• Ongoing communication with others in RSG around rolling stock and infrastructure decisions, to ensure consistency with the interim and emerging strategies, including presenting to senior stakeholders inside and outside RSG.

Behaviours Seeing the Bigger Picture

• Ensure plans and activities in your area of work reflect wider strategic priorities and communicate effectively with senior leaders to influence future strategies.
• Bring together views, perspectives and diverse needs of stakeholders to gain a broader understanding of the issues surrounding policies and activities.

Making Effective Decisions

• Analyse and accurately interpret data from various sources to support decisions.
• Find the best option by identifying positives, negatives, risks and implications.
• Present reasonable conclusions from a wide range of complex and sometimes incomplete evidence.

Working Together

• Actively build and maintain a network of colleagues and contacts to achieve progress on shared objectives.
• Challenge assumptions while being willing to compromise if beneficial to progress.
• Create an inclusive working environment where all opinions and challenges are taken into account and bullying, harassment and discrimination are unacceptable.

Communicating and Influencing

• Communicate with others in a clear, honest and enthusiastic way in order to build trust.
• Remain open minded and impartial in discussions, whilst respecting the diverse interests and opinions of others.

Delivering at Pace

• Give honest, motivating and enthusiastic messages about priorities, objectives and expectations to get the best out of people.
• Set out clear processes and standards for managing performance at all levels.

Experience

• This role will be developing a systems strategy for spend amounting to billions of pounds of operations and investment costs each year.
• No experience of the rail industry is required, however the successful candidate will need to be experienced in strategy development and have a good understanding of commercial, financial and economic issues on a large scale.

Application Evidence Required

• Experience of strategy development.
• Experience of analysing commercial, financial and economic issues on a large scale.

Vacancy Details

Duration: Permanent or secondment

Location: London Waterloo

Salary: up to £59,686

Closing date: 10th May 2026

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.

Contact: If you have any questions or reasonable adjustments, please contact Amra. .

Please do not email any CV's to us; your application must be made by clicking the 'Apply' button.