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Job summary

The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) is the independent economic and safety regulator for Britain’s railways and monitor of performance on England’s strategic road network.

This is an exciting time to join ORR, we are delivering a significant transformation programme to create a consistently agile and enabling organisation, with the right capability and a strong, inclusive culture that reflects our talented people. This will ensure we continue to operate as an independent, expert regulator, fit for the future and equipped with the capabilities and ways of working required to support sector-wide rail reform, while contributing to the government’s broader agenda on regulatory reform and economic growth. Further detail on our future role is set outhere.

Job description

Railway Safety Directorate ensures duty-holders in the railway industry manage health and safety risks effectively and comply with their statutory duties.

Join us at the forefront of rail safety and help shape the future of Britain’s railway system.

ORR’s Railway Safety (RS) directorate plays a vital role in keeping Britain’s railways moving safely and efficiently. From the entire mainline network to the London Underground, light rail, trams and the heritage sector, we oversee the safety of one of the most complex and dynamic transport systems in the world.

We want to ensure our railway is not only a safe way to travel, but also a safe place to work.

Across RS, more than 100 health and safety inspectors and specialists are recognised and respected throughout the industry. With significant enforcement powers and deep technical expertise, they help ensure the rail system operates safely and efficiently.

Specialist Team leads strategic intervention in high-risk areas of railway health and safety, helping to shape strategy, improve industry risk control, and support operational teams with specialist knowledge.

We ensure the Railway Safety Directorate maintains a deep understanding of health and safety risks and drives continuous and sustained improvement across the rail sector for our specialist areas.

Our work contributes to the delivery of ORR’s strategic objective of a healthier and safer railway.

You will play a key role in shaping electrical safety across Britain’s railways, using your technical expertise to advise, inspect, support investigation and work closely with duty holders and industry bodies. Your engineering skills and specialist knowledge will be put to real-world use, helping to control electrical risks, drive high standards, and ensure compliance with vital safety legislation. Through your work, you’ll help make sure the right controls are in place to manage electrical hazards and keep the railway safe.

Person specification

For key responsibilities please see the attached job description.

Additional Information

At ORR, our hybrid working means that we currently work from our workplace location a minimum of 40% of our working week, although requirements to attend other offsite locations for official business, also count towards this level of attendance. Working arrangements are subject to continuous review.

Licences

Full UK driving licence.

Qualifications

Degree level qualification or equivalent in electrical engineering, or a directly related discipline, or the ability to demonstrate performance and experience at an equivalent professional level.

Memberships

Must hold Chartered Engineer (CEng) status, or be within 12 months of achieving CEng at the point of application, evidenced by formal progression towards registration (e.g. application submitted or professional Review Stage) and current membership of a relevant professional body (e.g. IET or RailEI)

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together
• Making Effective Decisions

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Electrical engineering experience with knowledge of, Distribution and use of electricity in high and low voltage systems and the design and application of safe systems at work and understanding how safe systems of work are devised and applied.
• An understanding of how the Health and Safety regulatory framework is applied to electrical systems.

Benefits

A Civil Service Pension with employer contribution of 28.97%

Details of our employee benefits can be found in the attached Candidate Information Pack.

Find out what our colleagues have to say about their ORR careers Our people Office of Rail and Road (orr.gov.uk).

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

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.For information on the selection process, please see the attached Candidate Information Pack and Job Description.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.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.

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 : Martin Davies
• Email : martin.davies@orr.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : peopleservices@orr.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 ORR via email: peopleservices@orr.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 here: https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/recruitment/recruitme…

Attachments

HM Inspector of Railways Electrical Safety Specialist Job Description Opens in new window (pdf, 108kB)ORR Job Information Pack Opens in new window (pdf, 1954kB)