Fleet Engineer

East Midlands Railway; East Midlands; On-site; GBP 48,000 - 59,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

32 days holiday

Free First Class travel

Free leisure travel on EMR network

75% discount on national travel

Friends and Family tickets

Employee benefits portal

Job summary

East Midlands Railway is seeking a Fleet Engineer to support production teams and third-party maintainers from Etches Park Depot, Derby. The role focuses on safety, reliability, documentation and continuous improvement across the fleet.

You will analyse fleet performance, drive engineering changes, and provide technical briefs to teams while collaborating with stakeholders to deliver the forward fleet strategy and lifecycle cost improvements.

Qualifications

• Strong data analysis and problem solving skills.
• Experience in delivering projects and driving improvements in a live fleet environment.
• Familiarity with rail applications such as R2, Compass and Gemini.
• Experience introducing new fleets is desirable.

Responsibilities

• Own fleet engineering activities and vehicle maintenance documentation.
• Ensure fleet safety, reliability and compliance across operations.
• Provide technical guidance to production teams and third-party maintainers.
• Lead engineering changes and cost-increment reduction initiatives.

Skills

Data analysis

Problem solving

Project delivery

Fleet introduction experience

Tools

Microsoft Office

R2

Compass

Gemini

Job description

Fleet Production - Intercity and Connect

Location: Derby - Etches Park Contract Type: Permanent Salary: circa £53,561 dependent on experience Closing Date: Sunday 20 September 2026 Reference: 2026-FE

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.

We an exciting opportunityto join #TeamEMR as a Fleet Engineer based at Etches Park Depot, Derby.

About the role

We are seeking a rolling stock Engineers to provide expert Fleet Engineering support to production teams and third-party maintainers, ensuring the safety, reliability and effectiveness of our fleet. You will optimise vehicle maintenance instructions, provide technical support across depot and fleet teams, and lead engineering changes to improve reliability, reduce costs and enhance maintainability. You will also support key fleet programmes and projects, helping to deliver our forward fleet strategy, while conducting robust root-cause investigations into fleet defects and driving continuous improvement.

Key responsibilities include:

Fleet Engineering & Technical Performance

• Own fleet engineering activities and vehicle maintenance documentation.
• Ensure the fleet meets required standards for safety, compliance, reliability, availability and customer outcomes.
• Analyse fleet performance data to identify issues, trends and opportunities for improvement.
• Investigate faults and failures and develop effective technical solutions and mitigations.

Safety, Compliance & Engineering Change

• Monitor train safety and technical performance through appropriate KPIs and measures.
• Review safety-related events and ensure appropriate corrective action is taken.
• Control modifications, engineering changes and NIRs, ensuring regulatory and safety requirements are met.
• Ensure technical documentation, approvals and processes are completed correctly and provide clear technical briefs to production teams.

Maintenance & Fleet Support

• Provide technical expertise and guidance to production teams and third-party maintainers.
• Ensure maintenance is delivered in accordance with Vehicle Maintenance Instructions (VMIs).
• Support teams with out-of-course maintenance issues, coaching and technical advice.
• Hold third-party engineering teams accountable for delivering required maintenance and engineering activities.

Fleet Lifecycle, Cost & Investment

• Support the full life care of the fleet, including classified repairs and other mandated requirements.
• Work with ROSCOs to maximise value from fleet leases.
• Develop investment cases to support improvements in technical performance, safety and lifecycle costs.
• Establish and maintain standard maintenance times and ensure budgets reflect changes to maintenance regimes.
• Work with industry partners to identify and share best practice and drive best-in-class fleet performance.
• Identify and promote innovation across the Fleet Function.
• Lead the development and implementation of improvements, including integration with digital solutions.
• Use industry best practice and data-driven insight to continuously improve fleet and business performance.

Leadership & Team Support

• Deputise for the Fleet Engineering Manager when required.
• Provide support and cover for other Fleet Engineers.
• Build effective relationships across production, engineering, industry partners and third-party maintenance organisations.

About you

• Skilled in data analysis, problem-solving, and project delivery.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office and familiar with rail applications such as R2, Compass, and Gemini.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and teamwork skills.
• Experience introducing new fleets of trains (desirable).

As well as a competitive salary, we’ll also offer you

• 32 days’ holiday in the first 2 years; moving up to 34 days’ thereafter
• 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 and 75% discount on national leisure travel (inc partner and dependants)
• Friends and Family discounted tickets on the EMR network
• Employee benefits portal with access to generous discounts, Cycle 2 Work Scheme …and many more!

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.

As we operate a blind screening process please remove all personal information including your name from your CV.

If you're successful in this role, you'll be expected to support our frontline colleagues at some points throughout the year. This might be undertaking safety critical work, for which you'll receive training, but it could just be helping out with Customer Service when our stations are busy. We're One Team, and that means our managers step up for the frontline, not just manage from a distance. Supporting frontline colleagues is part of our DNA at EMR.

We welcome applicants from diverse backgrounds, we promote equal opportunities for all. East Midlands Railway is a non-discriminatory employer committed to the recruitment and promotion of all on the basis of ability and merit irrespective of disability, race, gender, health, social class, sexual preference, marital status, nationality, religion, employment status or age. We’ll treat your application fairly and assess you for the job based on merit and skills.