Fleet Performance Engineer

East Midlands Railway; East Midlands; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 85,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

32 days holiday

Free First Class travel

Discounted travel for family

Employee benefits portal

Job summary

East Midlands Railway is seeking a Fleet Performance Engineer to drive reliability and operational performance through data-driven improvements. You will collaborate with Fleet Engineers, ROSCOs and external partners to identify opportunities and deliver effective solutions.

You will lead performance plans, analyse data, and engage stakeholders across multiple teams to ensure delivery and governance of performance improvements.

Qualifications

• Degree in engineering or equivalent experience.
• Experience in technical/engineering rail environment.
• Strong stakeholder management across internal teams and external partners.
• Experience delivering projects and driving performance improvements with data.

Responsibilities

• Own and deliver Performance Improvement Plans for EMR fleets.
• Identify and implement technical improvements and process changes.
• Lead investigations into performance issues across interfaces.
• Develop solutions with Fleet Engineers, ROSCOs and external consultants.
• Represent Fleet in joint performance teams and pursue funding opportunities.

Skills

Stakeholder management

Data analysis

Problem solving

Communication

Influencing

Education

Engineering degree

Tools

Rolling stock knowledge

Job description

ClosingDate: Wednesday 02 September 2026

Reference: 2026-FPE-R

We are proud to be One Team at East Midlands Railway. 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 have an exciting opportunity to join us as a Fleet Performance Engineer.

About the role

You will be responsible for driving fleet performance improvements by using data and insight to identify opportunities, delivering improvement initiatives, and building strong relationships with internal teams and external partners to enhance reliability and operational performance.

Key responsibilities include:

Performance Improvement & Delivery

• Own and deliver Performance Improvement Plans for EMR fleets, ensuring actions are tracked, stakeholders are held accountable, and progress is reported.
• Work with Fleet Engineers and the Performance team to identify and implement technical improvements, modifications and process changes.
• Lead joint investigations into performance issues, identifying solutions across people, process and technical interfaces.
• Develop technical solutions to performance-related issues in collaboration with Fleet Engineers, ROSCOs, maintainers and external design consultants.

Stakeholder Collaboration & Relationship Management

• Work with key stakeholders across the business, particularly Fleet Engineers, to agree priorities for fleet performance and customer experience.
• Build strong relationships with Network Rail, Fleet teams, Operations and external partners to support the Joint Performance Strategy.
• Chair operational forums to ensure effective communication between Fleet, Drivers, Control and On Train teams.

Performance Data, Reporting & Governance

• Validate fleet performance data to ensure its accuracy and integrity, including vehicle defect and incident reporting.
• Monitor, analyse and report on fleet performance, using data to inform decisions and drive continuous improvement.
• Support Track Access Agreement claims by gathering, validating and collating relevant performance evidence.

External Partnership & Funding

• Represent Fleet within the EMR–Network Rail Joint Performance Team and Joint Performance Board.
• Identify and pursue funding opportunities with Network Rail and other stakeholders to support fleet performance initiatives.

Leadership & Team Support

• Deputise for the Fleet Performance Manager and other direct reports as required.

About you

• Degree qualified in an engineering discipline (or equivalent experience) and working towards Chartered Engineer status (Electrical or Mechanical).
• Experience in a technical, engineering or operational rail environment, with knowledge of rolling stock systems and maintenance.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to build collaborative relationships across internal teams and external partners.
• Experience of delivering projects and driving performance improvements using data and analysis.
• Excellent problem-solving, communication and influencing skills.
• Knowledge of rail industry standards, procedures and performance regimes.
• Experience introducing a new fleet of trains is desirable

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

• 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!

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.