Early Years Career Manager

East Midlands Trains; East Midlands; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading rail company in the East Midlands is seeking an Early Years Career Manager to drive engagement with young people across educational levels. This role involves designing impactful programmes to promote careers in rail and supporting individuals facing barriers to employment. The ideal candidate will possess experience in education outreach and talent development, showcasing strong project management and communication skills. This position offers a competitive salary, flexible working, and a robust benefits package including travel discounts.

Benefits

Excellent defined benefit pension scheme

32 days’ holiday, rising to 34

Flexible working hours

Free First-Class duty travel

75% discount on national leisure travel

Various training opportunities

Employee benefits portal with discounts

Qualifications

• Experience working with schools, colleges, or youth organizations.
• Confident presenting and influencing diverse audiences.
• Ability to manage budgets and analyze data.
• Proactive in engaging with a variety of stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Lead and coordinate EMR’s engagement with young people.
• Design and evaluate early talent programmes.
• Monitor alignment with Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) objectives.
• Raise the profile of EMR careers through effective communication.

Skills

Experience in early careers, education outreach, talent development

Strong project management skills

Excellent communication skills

Understanding of social mobility

Creativity in designing initiatives

Relationship-driven approach

Education

Degree educated or equivalent

Tools

Excel

Job description

We are proud to be One Team at East Midlands Railway (EMR). We are passionate about keeping people safe, delighting our customers , doing the right thing, and putting customers at the heart of our sustainable railway for the East Midlands.

With over 2,600 employees, our people are the reason we are so successful. Ten times accredited as a Top Employer, we value our people and are dedicated to making sure that everybody feels empowered to bring their authentic self to work.

At EMR we want to proactively embrace diversity across our workforce and recognise that we are under‑represented in terms of females and ethnic minority groups. We’re therefore taking positive steps to promote a positive and inclusive culture; we welcome applications from those that identify with these groups to better represent our communities.

We are looking for a Early Years Career Manager to spearhead our work with young people across Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary education.

In this role, you will lead and coordinate EMR’s engagement with young people, raising awareness of the diverse and rewarding careers available within rail. You will design and deliver impactful programmes that spark interest, promote social mobility, and create clear pathways into employment, especially for those who are not in education, employment, or training (NEET).

As an ambassador for EMR, you’ll champion inclusivity and help us build a sustainable, diverse, and talented future workforce.

Key responsibilities include :

Strategy and Programme Development

• Develop and implement EMR’s Early Careers Strategy in alignment with workforce planning and long-term business objectives.
• Design, manage, and evaluate early talent programmes including work experience, internships, apprenticeships, and graduate schemes.
• Continuously monitor and improve programmes to ensure alignment with Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) objectives.
• Deliver ad hoc projects related to early careers and contribute to EMR’s Employee Value Proposition (EVP) to attract a diverse range of young talent.

Education and Outreach Engagement

• Coordinate career outreach and development activities across Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary education, engaging EMR colleagues to deliver inspiring talks and workshops.
• Collaborate with partners such as Rail Forum, Young Enterprise and Primary Engineer, to promote careers in rail.
• Work with Community Rail Partnerships and other Train Operating Companies to design and deliver engagement events
• Lead EMR’s presence at regional and national skills events, coordinating volunteers and ambassadors to represent the business.

Inclusion and Social Impact

• Coordinate Sector-Based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs) to support people not in education, employment, or training (NEET) into rail careers.
• Lead new initiatives such as supporting offender rehabilitation and employment for homeless individuals, helping to open up opportunities across the rail industry.

Partnership and Stakeholder Management

• Build and maintain partnerships with industry bodies (including RDG / GBR), schools, colleges, universities, local authorities, and third‑sector organisations.
• Manage EMR’s partnership with Young Enterprise, ensuring effective delivery and collaboration to inspire young people.
• Support EMR leaders and line managers in mentoring early careers participants, creating a culture of learning and growth.

Communications and Representation

• Raise the profile of EMR careers through engaging social media, internal communications, and external campaigns.
• Represent EMR at industry forums focused on early careers, skills development, and social impact.

What we’re looking for

You’ll be an enthusiastic and proactive professional with experience in inspiring and developing young talent. Confident engaging with a range of audiences, you’ll bring creativity, organisation, and a genuine commitment to inclusion and opportunity.

You’ll bring :

• Experience in early careers, education outreach, talent development, or employability.
• A background working with schools, colleges, universities, or youth and community organisations.
• Understanding of social mobility and strategies to support people facing barriers to education or employment.
• Strong project management and communication skills, with the confidence to present, influence, and collaborate effectively.
• A proactive, relationship‑driven approach, able to work across all levels of the organisation.
• Experience managing budgets and data, including confident use of Excel.
• A creative and agile mindset, capable of designing engaging initiatives and adapting to changing priorities.
• Degree educated or equivalent professional experience (e.g. CIPD Level 5).

As well as a competitive salary, we’ll also offeryou :

• An excellent defined benefit pension scheme
• 32 days’ holiday per year, rising to 34 after 2 years
• Flexible working hours
• Free First‑Class duty travel on the EMR network
• Free standard leisure travel on the EMR network and Train Operating Companies under Transport UK & LNER
• 75% discount on national leisure travel (inc partner and dependants)
• Friends and Family discounted tickets on the EMR network
• Various training opportunities
• Employee benefits portal with access to generous discounts, Cycle 2 Work Scheme …and many more!

This position is based in our Derby Head office, but we've adopted a flexible hybrid working model that creates the opportunity to work in your own way at home but also provides great spaces for in‑person collaboration.

We are open minded to applications from people who wish to have flexible working. Many of our staff work flexibly in many different ways. Please talk to us at interview about the flexibility you need. We can’t promise to give you exactly what you want, but we do promise not to judge you for asking.

Ready to take on this exciting opportunity? Submit your online application form and upload your CV. As we operate a blind screening process please remove all personal information including your name from your CV.