Deputy Director Great British Rail Stand Up and Transition

Job summary

The Department for Transport is seeking an exceptional senior leader to help deliver one of the most significant reforms to Britain’s railways in a generation. Great British Railways (GBR) will bring track and train closer together, providing clearer accountability and a stronger focus on passengers, freight customers and taxpayers.

This Deputy Director role will provide senior leadership for the stand up and transition to GBR, working at the centre of Government and industry to turn policy intent into a deliverable organisation. The postholder will shape the route to day one, lead key design and delivery choices, and ensure ministers and senior leaders have the evidence, options and advice needed to make timely decisions.

Job description

Key Responsibilities

You will lead a high-profile portfolio at the heart of rail reform, bringing together policy, legal, finance, commercial, operational and delivery expertise. You will need to operate with confidence in ambiguity, build alignment across senior stakeholders, and maintain pace while managing risk, dependencies and competing priorities.

Key responsibilities include:

• Supporting the development and delivery of a credible transition plan to GBR day one, including sequencing, milestones, benefits, dependencies, risks, interventions and decision points.
• Shaping GBR’s corporate structure and operating arrangements, working with policy, legal, finance, commercial and industry partners to assess options, implications and trade-offs.
• Providing clear, evidence-based advice to senior civil servants and ministers so that decisions on GBR stand up are aligned with policy, operational, commercial and political objectives.
• Influencing across a complex senior stakeholder landscape, including Network Rail, DfTO, devolved authorities, industry partners and expert advisers, to secure clear outcomes and timely decisions.
• Framing complex choices for senior decision-makers, including the trade-offs, affordability, deliverability, risks and consequences of different options.
• Establishing and operating robust governance, assurance and decision-making frameworks so design and transition choices are timely, evidence-based and aligned with Government objectives.
• Ensuring your team deliver high-quality briefing and correspondence for ministers and senior officials, including Freedom of Information requests, Parliamentary Questions and stakeholder commissions, while managing cross-government engagement to ensure consistent, timely and accurate messaging on GBR stand up and transition
• Providing visible, inclusive senior leadership across the GBR design and stand up programme, building capability, confidence and delivery momentum across the team.

Person specification

You will need to be able to show, through your application, that you have the professional skills, breadth of experience and personal qualities for this post, as well as the leadership skills to succeed at Director level in the Senior Civil Service.

We are looking for a confident, collaborative and delivery-focused senior leader who can operate credibly with ministers, senior officials and industry leaders. You will combine strategic judgement with practical delivery grip, and be comfortable leading work where the route forward is complex, contested or still evolving.

Person specification

• A strong track record of senior leadership in a complex, multi-stakeholder environment, with the ability to lead through ambiguity, influence without direct control and deliver at pace
• Experience of delivering major transformation, transition or operating model change in a complex organisation, system or public-sector environment which meets strategic, political and operational objectives
• Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills, including the ability to secure outcomes with senior stakeholders across organisational, sectoral and political boundaries
• Excellent judgement and decision-making skills, with the ability to provide clear, evidence-based recommendations under pressure
• Outstanding communication skills, with the ability to explain complexity clearly and build consensus between technical experts, delivery partners, policymakers and senior leaders

Desirable criteria

• Knowledge and experience of working in the rail sector
• Knowledge and experience of corporate structure design and delivery
• Experience of working with legislation, public bodies, arm’s-length bodies, regulated sectors or complex public-sector delivery environments

We encourage applications from a diverse range of candidates

At DfT, we are proud of the commitment we make to diversity and inclusion and of the progress we have made. We have active & vibrant staff networks, special leave policies and workplace adjustments put in place for those who need them. We are continuing to build a diverse DfT, in an inclusive environment which nurtures and realises potential in all, at all levels.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £86,000, Department for Transport contributes £24,914 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

Whatever your role, we take your career and development seriously, and want to enable you to build a really successful career with the Department and wider Civil Service.

It is crucial that our employees have the right skills to develop their careers and meet the challenges ahead, and you’ll benefit from regular performance and development reviews to ensure this development is ongoing. As a Civil Service employee, you’ll be entitled to a large range of benefits.

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

The Civil Service values and supports all its employees.

We have strong and pro-active staff networks, special leave policies for hospital appointments, reasonable adjustments put in place for those who need them, and diversity talent programmes to help everyone irrespective of background, to achieve their potential.

Pension

Your pension is a valuable part of your total reward package.

A competitive contributory pension scheme that you can enter as soon as you join where we will make a significant contribution to the cost of your pension; where your contributions come out of your salary before any tax is taken; and where your pension will continue to provide valuable benefits for you and your family if you are too ill to continue to work or die before you retire. Visit Civil Service Pension Scheme for more details.

Generous Annual Leave and Bank Holiday Allowance

25 days annual leave on entry, increasing on a sliding scale to 30 days after 5 years’ service (allowance is pro rata for part-time employees). This is in addition to 8 public holidays.

This will be complimented by one further day paid privilege entitlement to mark the King’s Birthday.
(Leave is Pro rata basis for part time/job share)

Staff Wellbeing

Flexible working including part-time or term-time working and access to Flexible Working Schemes allowing you to vary your working day as long as you work your total hours.

Generous paid maternity and paternity leave which is notably more than the statutory minimum offered by many other employers.

Childcare benefits (policy for new employees as of 5 April 2018): The government has introduced the Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) scheme. Working parents can open an online childcare account and for every £8 they pay in, the government adds £2, up to a maximum of £2000 a year for each child or £4000 for a disabled child. Parents then use the funds to pay for registered childcare. Existing employees may be able to continue to claim childcare vouchers, so please check how the policy would work for you here. Any move to the DfT from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments.

Onsite facilities Opportunity to use onsite facilities including fitness centres and staff canteens (where applicable).

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

Application

To apply for this post, you will need to complete the online form. This should be completed no later than 23:55 on 19th July2026.

The application will include:

A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements.

A Statement of Suitability (no longer than 1000 words) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the criteria in the person specification.

Failure to submit both documents will mean the panel only have limited information on which to assess your application against the criteria in the person specification.

As part of the online application process, you will be asked a number of diversity-related questions. If you do not wish to provide a declaration on any of the particular characteristics, you will have the option to select 'prefer not to say’.

All monitoring data will be treated in the strictest confidence and will not be provided to the selection panel.

Should you encounter any issues with your online application please get in touch with us via scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Your application will be acknowledged when it is received.

Assessment

Shortlisted candidates may be asked to take part in a series of assessments which could include:

• Individual Leadership Assessment – acombination of psychometric assessments
• Staff Engagement Exercise - a presentation and Q&A with a representative staff group from across the DfT.

These assessments will not result in a pass or fail decision. Rather, they are designed to support the panel’s decision making and highlight areas for the panel to explore further at interview.

Interview

You will be asked to attend a panel interview in order to have a more in-depth discussion of your previous experience and professional competence in relation to the criteria set out in the Person Specification.

The Success Profile Framework will be used to assess and recruit the most suitable candidate. As well as Experience, we will also be using the following four behaviours at the interview stage:

• Leadership
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing

Further information about Success Profiles can be found here:

Interviews are expected to take place face to face in our London office, all shortlisted candidates will be asked to prepare a 5 minute presentation.

Offer and Feedback

Unfortunately, due to the anticipated number of applicants for this role, we are unable to provide feedback to those not successful at shortlist stage. Candidates who are shortlisted and attend an interview will be offered verbal feedback from a member of the interview panel.

The timeline further down this page indicates the date by which decisions are expected to be made, all candidates will be advised of the outcome as soon as possible thereafter, and we will advise on any delays.

Expected Timeline

We will try and offer as much flexibility as we can, but it may not be possible to offer alternative dates for assessments or interviews. You are therefore asked to note the below timetable, exercising flexibility through the recruitment and selection process, in order to meet the dates given. Please note that these dates may be subject to change.

The anticipated timetable is as follows:

Advert Closing Date: 23:55 19th July 2026

Shortlist: c27th July 2026

Assessments: w/c 3rd August 2026

Panel Interviews: w/c 10th August 2026

Reasonable Adjustment

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

• Contact Government Recruitment Service at: scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.
• Complete the ‘assistance required’ section in the ‘personal information’ page of your application form to provide information we should be aware of that will enable us to support you further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

Further Information

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact: scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Should candidates like to discuss the role in more detail before submitting an application, please contact: Marc.Owen@DFT.Gov.UK

If your application is successful but you have been dismissed from the Civil Service, your application could be removed at the pre-employment checking stage depending on the nature of the dismissal.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment. A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5-year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

All external applicants and current employees of accredited non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) will be required to undergo a Social Media Check. A Social Media Check is a review of your publicly available online activity, typically across platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and others. The purpose is to identify any public posts or content that could raise concerns for employers, such as:

• Hate speech or discriminatory behaviour
• Threats or acts of violence
• Illegal activity or substance misuse
• Sexually explicit material
• Extremist views or affiliations

Importantly, this check does not involve hacking into your accounts or accessing private messages. It only considers content you have chosen to make public. Employers use this kind of screening to help ensure their workplace remains safe, inclusive, and aligned with company values. It’s not about judging your personality or lifestyle - it’s about checking for potential red flags that might affect the role or company culture. If you have questions or concerns about the social media check, we would be happy to explain in more detail what’s being looked at and how your data is handled securely and fairly.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.This role has a minimum assignment duration of 2 years. An assignment duration is the period of time a Senior Civil Servant is expected to remain in the same post to enable them to deliver on the agreed key business outcomes. The assignment duration also supports your career through building your depth of expertise.

As part of accepting this role you will be agreeing to the expected assignment duration set out above. This will not result in a contractual change to your terms and conditions. Please note this is an expectation only, it is not something which is written into your terms and conditions or indeed which the employing organisation or you are bound by. It will depend on your personal circumstances at a particular time and business needs, for example, would not preclude any absence like family friendly leave. It is nonetheless an important expectation, which is why we ask you to confirm you agree to the assignment duration set out above.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : SCS Recruitment Team
• Email : scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact Government Recruitment Services via email: dftrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission: Visit the Civil Service Commission website at https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk

Attachments

469581 - DD GBR Stand Up and Transition - FINAL Opens in new window (pdf, 1665kB)469581 - DD GBR Stand Up and Transition accessibility pack Opens in new window (docx, 39kB)