Continuous Improvement Manager
FirstGroup plc
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Benefits offered by this job
Job summary
First Rail London seeks a senior lead to drive the organisation's performance strategy and continuous improvement across the London Overground network. You will oversee incident learning governance, ensure actionable recommendations are embedded, and coordinate joint performance initiatives with partners.
You will build governance that aligns with contractual commitments, industry best practice, and strategic business plans, delivering measurable benefits and sustainable improvements.
Qualifications
- Experience in performance improvement, governance and assurance activities.
- Strong analytical, influencing and communication skills.
- Ability to identify systemic issues and drive sustainable improvement.
Responsibilities
- Lead FRL's performance strategy, governance and improvement programmes.
- Coordinate Joint Performance Strategies with Network Rail and TfL.
- Maintain oversight of ILRs, SPIRs and learning reviews for consistent improvements.
- Track actions, milestones and benefits across programmes.
Skills
Education
Tools
Job description
First Rail London (FRL) is the train operating company responsible for running the London Overground network under a concession agreement with Transport for London (TfL). The concession began in May 2026.
FirstRail London is part of FirstGroup, one of the leading rail operators and one of the largest bus operators in the UK. FirstGroup operates services throughout the UK and Ireland, with over 30,000 employees providing services that make travel smoother and life easier. FirstGroup works hard to reduce its impact on the environment, introducing cleaner and more environmentally responsible methods of transport.
- To provide strategic leadership and oversight of FRL's continuous improvement and performance strategy activities, ensuring lessons identified through operational incidents, investigations, performance reviews and industry best practice are translated into sustainable organisational improvements.
- The rolewill maintain governance and quality assurance of Incident Learning Reviews (ILRs), SPIRs, investigations and associated improvement activity, ensuring recommendations are effectively tracked, implemented and embedded across the organisation. The postholder will ensure transferable learning is shared across functions and with industry partners, whilst holding internal and external stakeholders accountable for delivery of agreed actions.
- The rolewill also coordinate the development, governance and delivery of Joint Performance Strategies, Performance Improvement Management Systems (PIMS), RM3P activities, NPB initiatives and wider performance improvement programmes, ensuring FRL has a structured and evidence-based approach to continuous improvement across the London Overground network.
Your main responsibilities will be:
- Support the development and delivery of FRL's medium and long-term performance improvement strategy.
- Coordinate and monitor delivery of Joint Performance Strategies (JPS) with Network Rail, TfL and other stakeholders.
- Maintain oversight of performance improvement initiatives arising from contractual commitments, concession obligations and internal business plans.
- Support the identification, prioritisation and implementation of performance improvement opportunities across the business.
- Ensure continuous improvement activity is aligned with organisational objectives and delivers measurable benefits
- Responsibility for PIMS and RM3P assessment.
- Maintain strategic oversight of Incident Learning Reviews (ILRs), SPIRs, investigations and other learning review processes.
- Provide quality assurance of learning reviews to ensure consistency, robustness and adherence to Just Culture principles.
- Maintain a centralised recommendations and actions tracker.
- Monitor progress against agreed actions and provide assurance regarding implementation and effectiveness.
- Ensure lessons identified through reviews are translated into sustainable improvements and embedded within relevant processes, standards and training arrangements.
- Identify recurring themes, repeat recommendations and systemic weaknesses requiring intervention.
- Promote transferable learning across operational, performance, fleet, control and infrastructure functions.
- Ensure learning opportunities are shared with Network Rail and wider industry stakeholders where appropriate.
- Coordinate development and governance of Joint Performance Strategies across lines of route.
- Track progress against agreed actions, milestones and benefits.
- Ensure interventions are focused on the most significant performance risks and opportunities.
- Monitor effectiveness of implemented schemes and support identification of future initiatives.
- Support collaborative working between FRL and Network Rail to drive joint ownership of performance outcomes.
- Act as business lead for the Performance Improvement Management System (PIMS).
- Ensure performance improvement activity is consistently recorded, assessed and tracked.
- Maintain visibility of improvement schemes, dependencies, risks and expected benefits.
- Support governance reporting relating to performance improvement delivery.
- Promote consistent use of performance improvement methodologies across the organisation.
- Lead coordination and governance of RM3P activities and associated improvement plans.
- Monitor progress against agreed actions and provide assurance on delivery.
- Support development of maturity assessments and continuous improvement reviews.
- Identify opportunities to strengthen organisational capability through industry best practice.
- Ensure outputs from RM3P reviews are integrated into wider business plans and improvement programmes
- Coordinate FRL activity relating to NPB initiatives, restoration frameworks and industry performance improvement programmes.
- Monitor implementation of recommendations arising from NPB activity.
- Ensure alignment between local improvement plans and wider industry performance strategies.
- Support delivery of collaborative improvement activity across FRL and Network Rail interfaces.
- Identify areas of organisational "TEPID OIL" including recurring issues, accepted workarounds, longstanding risks and historic recommendations that have become normalised.
- Challenge accepted poor practice and drive sustainable resolution of repeat issues.
- Promote a culture of learning, accountability and continuous improvement.
- Ensure the organisation learns effectively from both success and failure.
- Produce regular reports on learning review outcomes, action implementation and continuous improvement performance.
- Provide assurance reporting to Executive, Operational and Performance governance forums.Monitor delivery of improvement plans and elevate emerging concerns where appropriate.
- Support the development of benefits tracking and effectiveness reviews for major improvement schemes.
- Experience in performance improvement, continuous improvement, organisational learning or assurance activities.
- Strong understanding of operational railway environments and performance management principles.
- Experience of managing action plans, governance processes and stakeholder engagement.
- Strong analytical, influencing and communication skills.
- Ability to identify systemic issues and drive sustainable improvement.
- Knowledge of Incident Learning Reviews (ILRs), SPIRs and Just Culture principles.
- Experience of Joint Performance Strategies (JPS), PIMS, RM3P or similar improvement frameworks.
- Continuous Improvement, Lean or change management qualification.
- Experience working with Network Rail or wider industry partners.
Redman Place, Stratford - Travel across the full London Overground network required on an adhoc basis
- Free Travel for you and a nominated person at your address on TfL Network - this alone is worth a potential total of £5,200 per annum
- 75% discount off season tickets and leisure travel on other Train Operating Companies
- Discounts on European rail services after 1 year of service
- First Xclusives – a benefits portal offering a wide range of benefits and discounts
- Employee Assistance Programme - 24hr helpline, covering a multitude of subjects
FirstGroup's vision is to provide an inclusive environment for all colleagues, across its group of businesses, ensuring all candidates have an equal opportunity to access meaningful employment.
We value our differences such as age, gender, LGBTQIA+, ethnicity, religion, and disability. We maintain a zero tolerance towards any form of prejudice towards our colleagues, customers, and future talent.
We celebrate and encourage diversity of thought, progressive ways of working and seeing all our colleagues grow and thrive.
We review all roles and job descriptions to ensure they are accessible and, where possible, we support and provide flexible working options; we recommend that you refer to each vacancy description for further details.
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https://exceptionalindividuals.com/neurodiversity/
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