Chief Engineer & Technical Officer

GTR Railway; City Of London; On-site; GBP 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Govia Thameslink Railway Ltd. seeks a Chief Engineer & Technical Officer to lead engineering, fleet, asset management, maintenance and infrastructure across the integrated railway.

You will report to the Managing Director and join the Executive Leadership Team, ensuring safety, reliability and performance for today and the future. You will oversee cross-functional delivery with Network Rail and regulators, shaping a technically excellent, customer-focused railway strategy with strong governance

Qualifications

• Chartered Engineer status and senior leadership credibility.
• Experience leading large engineering, fleet, maintenance, renewals, or infrastructure.
• Strong knowledge of asset management, safety, and regulatory compliance.

Responsibilities

• Set and lead engineering, maintenance and renewals strategy.
• Provide executive leadership for Fleet Engineering, Asset Management and Infrastructure.
• Influence asset plans across units and regulators.
• Ensure safety governance and technical compliance across the fleet and assets.
• Lead day-to-day maintenance, overhaul, and long-term asset planning.

Skills

Chartered Engineer

Executive leadership

Rail sector experience

Asset management

Regulatory compliance

Education

CEng or equivalent professional qualification

Job description

Chief Engineer & Technical Officer (3733)

Lead the future of engineering and infrastructure across an integrated railway.

This is a significant executive leadership opportunity at a pivotal moment for the industry on the largest railway in the UK which has an unequalled growth agenda. You will have one million reasons to deliver outstanding outcomes, because that is how many customers we carry on our busiest days.

As Chief Engineer and Technical Director/Officer, youwill lead the engineering, fleet, asset management, maintenance, renewals, and infrastructure agenda across our integrated business, bringing together track and train to deliver a safer, more reliable and better-performing railway for our customers.

Reporting directly to the Managing Director andoperating as a member of the Executive Leadership Team, you will provide professional engineering and asset management leadership across the organisation. You will be accountable for ensuring our fleet and infrastructure assets are safe, sustainable, and capable supporting both today's operational railway and its future development.

Workingacross GTR and Network Rail, you will help shape a genuinely integrated approach to engineering and asset management, improving performance, making better whole-system decisions, and preparing the organisation for the transition towards Great British Railways.

What you'll be doing

• Set andlead the integrated engineering, maintenance, renewals, and enhancements strategy, working across GTR and Network Rail to optimise outcomes across track and train.
• Provide executive leadership for Fleet Engineering, Asset Management, and Infrastructure, ensuring plans support safety, operational performance, customer outcomes, and long-term business objectives.
• Influence assets plans and delivery in other Integrated Business Units to ensure the best outcomes for customers
• Provide Level 1 assurance for asset safety, integrity and sustainability, maintaining strong engineering governance and technical compliance.
• Lead the planning and delivery of day-to-day maintenance and overhaul activity across railway infrastructure and fleet.
• Co-ordinate medium and long-term asset management planning, ensuring investment and renewals decisions reflect future operational requirements.
• Lead and inspire teams to put safety first, promoting engineering excellence and strong environmental performance across all areas of responsibility.
• Drive improvements in fleet availability, maintenance, operational performance, and train presentation, ensuring the railway delivers consistently for its customers.
• Lead major fleet and engineering programmes, including refurbishment, maintenance arrangements and the introduction of new products and technology.
• Work closely with GTR Renewals Enterprise to ensure renewals are delivered against the integrated business strategy and agreed targets.
• Develop innovative approaches to engineering and asset management, identifying opportunities to improve performance, efficiency, and value.
• Build strong relationships with customers, regulators, suppliers, industry partners, and senior leaders across GTR and Network Rail.
• Lead continuous improvement across the directorate, embedding learning from incidents and developments across the wider industry.
• Developengineering capability across the organisation and lead the transformation of engineering and infrastructure management in readiness for the future railway.

About you

We are looking for an accomplishedengineering and asset leader who has operated at significant scale within a complex, safety-critical, and highly regulated environment.

Youwill bring substantial senior leadership experience across engineering, fleet, asset management, maintenance, renewals, or infrastructure, together with the professional credibility to provide assurance and leadership on complex engineering matters.

Youwill also bring:

• Chartered Engineer (CEng) status orequivalent professional experience.
• Significant experience leading large engineering, fleet, maintenance, renewals, or infrastructure organisations.
• Strong knowledge of asset management, engineering assurance, maintenance delivery, infrastructure performance
• Experience successfully delivering major engineering, fleet, maintenance, renewals, or enhancement programmes.
• Deep understanding of safety management, risk, change management and regulatory compliance within a highly regulated environment.
• A strong track record of leading, developing, and inspiring large, multidisciplinary teams through organisational and cultural change.
• The ability to influence and support strategic decision-making at Executive level.
• Excellent stakeholder management, negotiation, and communication skills, with credibility across regulators, suppliers, industry partners, and senior leaders.
• Strong commercial judgement and experience managing budgets, contracts, and supplier relationships.
• Experience within rail would be highly advantageous, as would experience working within an integrated, partnership or complex matrix environment.

Theopportunity

Bringing track and train closer together enables us to manage the railway differently, looking beyond organisational boundaries and focusing on the performance of the whole system.

As Chief Engineer and Technical Director/Officer, youwill have a central role in making that ambition real: bringing together fleet and infrastructure thinking, strengthening engineering assurance, improving reliability, and creating an asset strategy capable of supporting the railway of the future.

Youwill join an Executive Leadership Team with the opportunity to influence not only how our railway performs today, but how engineering and asset management evolve as the industry moves towards greater integration and Great British Railways.

If you are anexceptional asset leader who can combine professional authority with collaborative executive leadership and a focus on safety, performance, and customers, we would like to hear from you.

"It was my brother’s suggestion to join the railway. He was already working in the industry and knew I had some university bills to pay off so told me to give it a go, get out of debt and see what I wanted to do next. After a while, it just felt like actually – this is exactly where I’m meant to be. I’m part of a great team and the on-board department as a whole are brilliant to work with. I feel at home here."

Tonderai Matizha-Johnson
Area Operations Manager

"When I saw that GTR was advertising places for its apprenticeship scheme I looked into it straight away because I thought it was a great opportunity to learn whilst getting real life experience in a 9-5 job. I applied for a level three business administration apprenticeship and was thrilled to find out I had a place on the course! I was so excited that I didn’t even mind it was based 250 miles away from where I lived."

"Working for GTR is very rewarding and fulfilling. You really feel like you're making a difference to customers, no matter what role you're in as at the end of the day they're the heart of our business. I’ve had lots of opportunities to explore other aspects of the business including supporting our station staff and gaining my Train Dispatch Licence which has been enriching for my experience here."

"If you’ve always had an interest in rail, or maybe you’re just curious to find out what working in the railway might look like, GTR is the operator to go for. Not many companies do an official work experience program and this unique opportunity will give you a good grounding with varied activities to help you find the best place in the railway for you. It certainly did it for me."

Nathaniel Owen
Station Manager

"I work as part of the Fleet Infrastructure team, which means ensuring our 18 Engineering locations operate safely and efficiently. We oversee all building and track maintenance works as well as various minor and major projects across the network."

"I started in a small ticket office back in 1996 and have continued to work my way up ever since. A previous manager told me about a job he’d seen advertised for a trainer. ’d never considered a job in HR or mentoring before then, but he said I’d be perfect for it and I haven’t looked back since!"

Zoey Hudson
Head of Talent, Diversity and Inclusion

"Since April, I’ve helped to support our Kickstart Scheme. It’s been a really rewarding process to be part of because I know first‑hand how tough it can be to find work once you’re out of it."

"I’m a Thameslink passenger host and team leader based at Luton station and I’m currently doing a Level 3 Supervisor apprenticeship so that I can improve my skills even further. I was hesitant to do the apprenticeship at first because of my age – I left school over 60 years ago without any qualifications! It’s been hard to get back into the routine of learning again."

"It was my brother’s suggestion to join the railway. He was already working in the industry and knew I had some university bills to pay off so told me to give it a go, get out of debt and see what I wanted to do next. After a while, it just felt like actually – this is exactly where I’m meant to be. I’m part of a great team and the on-board department as a whole are brilliant to work with. I feel at home here."

Tonderai Matizha-Johnson
Area Operations Manager

"When I saw that GTR was advertising places for its apprenticeship scheme I looked into it straight away because I thought it was a great opportunity to learn whilst getting real life experience in a 9-5 job. I applied for a level three business administration apprenticeship and was thrilled to find out I had a place on the course! I was so excited that I didn’t even mind it was based 250 miles away from where I lived."

"Working for GTR is very rewarding and fulfilling. You really feel like you're making a difference to customers, no matter what role you're in as at the end of the day they're the heart of our business. I’ve had lots of opportunities to explore other aspects of the business including supporting our station staff and gaining my Train Dispatch Licence which has been enriching for my experience here."

"If you’ve always had an interest in rail, or maybe you’re just curious to find out what working in the railway might look like, GTR is the operator to go for. Not many companies do an official work experience program and this unique opportunity will give you a good grounding with varied activities to help you find the best place in the railway for you. It certainly did it for me."

Nathaniel Owen
Station Manager

"I work as part of the Fleet Infrastructure team, which means ensuring our 18 Engineering locations operate safely and efficiently. We oversee all building and track maintenance works as well as various minor and major projects across the network."

"I started in a small ticket office back in 1996 and have continued to work my way up ever since. A previous manager told me about a job he’d seen advertised for a trainer. ’d never considered a job in HR or mentoring before then, but he said I’d be perfect for it and I haven’t looked back since!"

Zoey Hudson
Head of Talent, Diversity and Inclusion

"Since April, I’ve helped to support our Kickstart Scheme. It’s been a really rewarding process to be part of because I know first‑hand how tough it can be to find work once you’re out of it."

"I’m a Thameslink passenger host and team leader based at Luton station and I’m currently doing a Level 3 Supervisor apprenticeship so that I can improve my skills even further. I was hesitant to do the apprenticeship at first because of my age – I left school over 60 years ago without any qualifications! It’s been hard to get back into the routine of learning again."