Head of Business Unit - ReWay

TDI; Stratford-upon-Avon; On-site; GBP 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

ReWay Infrastructure seeks a Head of Rail Infrastructure to act as technical authority across track, formation, drainage, bridges and signalling, ensuring safety, compliance and deliverability from planning through to construction.

The role leads planning and estimating, oversees external engineers, and works closely with regulators and funding partners, while embedding a proactive safety culture across ReWay in a scale‑up environment.

Job description

Context:

ReWay Infrastructure is responsible for the planning, development, reinstatement and long-term stewardship of rail corridors forming part of TDI Greenway’s wider Very Light Rail (VLR) ecosystem.

As Greenway Route 1 progresses and Routes 2–11 move through negotiation and configuration, the business must strengthen its in-house rail engineering capability. At present, there is limited internal subject matter expertise across core infrastructure disciplines - particularly bridges and signalling - which presents both delivery and commercial risk.

This role is therefore business-critical.

The Head of Rail Infrastructure will provide experienced, practical and commercially aware engineering leadership across permanent way, right of way, structures and signalling. The role ensures that safety, compliance, estimating accuracy and delivery confidence are embedded from the earliest planning stage through to construction and ongoing maintenance.

Safety and regulatory compliance are the first priority at all times.

Role Purpose:

To act as ReWay’s technical authority for rail infrastructure. The role provides engineering leadership and disciplined planning across track, formation, drainage, bridges and signalling, ensuring that infrastructure solutions are safe, compliant, cost-effective and deliverable.

A core element of the role is strengthening planning and estimating capability - ensuring corridor negotiations and capital programmes are based on robust, defensible cost and scope assumptions.

The Head of Rail Infrastructure will operate as both subject matter expert and delivery leader, bringing clarity, structure and technical rigour to infrastructure development across the portfolio.

Scope of Responsibility:

Infrastructure Planning & Estimating

Lead corridor condition assessments and define clear, deliverable infrastructure scopes across track, structures, drainage and signalling.

Develop robust cost estimates and risk assessments to support corridor negotiations and capital planning. Establish consistent estimating methodologies to improve accuracy, transparency and commercial confidence across Routes 2–11.

Permanent Way & Right of Way

Provide technical oversight of formation, ballast, sleepers, rail geometry and drainage.

Establish proportionate inspection and maintenance regimes aligned with UK regulatory standards, ensuring infrastructure integrity and operational safety are protected from the outset.

Bridges & Structures

Oversee structural inspections, assessments and remediation planning, with particular focus on GW-1 and FFNRA requirements.

Manage external structural engineers and contractors, ensuring compliance, technical assurance and long-term asset resilience.

Signalling & Systems

Act as informed client for signalling scope definition and contractor engagement.

Ensure signalling solutions are technically sound, integrated with track and vehicle systems, and commercially understood.

Safety & Regulatory Compliance

Ensure all infrastructure activity complies with UK railway standards, ORR expectations and CDM regulations.

Act as technical authority for infrastructure-related safety decisions and embed a proactive safety culture across ReWay.

Working Approach:

The role combines technical depth with pragmatic delivery.

The successful individual will be comfortable operating in a scale-up environment where processes are still evolving. They will bring structure without unnecessary bureaucracy, clarity without complexity, and engineering discipline aligned with TDI’s “Lightweight Thinking” approach.

The role requires strong cross-functional collaboration with Vehicles, Energy, Commercial and external partners. It demands clear communication, calm decision-making and commercial awareness.

The postholder will spend significant time on site and within corridors, maintaining practical visibility of infrastructure conditions and works.

Leadership and Influence:

The Head of Rail Infrastructure will lead through credibility, competence and sound engineering judgement. This is not a hierarchical role defined by team size, but by influence — shaping decisions, strengthening confidence and raising the technical standard of infrastructure delivery across ReWay.

The postholder will provide calm, authoritative guidance to project teams and senior leadership, ensuring that infrastructure risks are understood early and addressed proportionately. They will represent ReWay in discussions with regulators, local authorities and funding partners, building confidence in the organisation’s technical capability.

Over time, the role will contribute to developing internal engineering capability, embedding stronger planning discipline and creating a culture where infrastructure decisions are structured, evidence-based and commercially grounded.

What good looks like:

Infrastructure costs are well understood, properly scoped and commercially defensible before agreements are signed. Corridor risks are identified early rather than discovered late. Bridge and structural oversight is confident and compliant, and signalling solutions are defined with clarity rather than uncertainty.

Inspection and maintenance regimes are proportionate and embedded from the outset, creating long-term asset resilience rather than reactive correction. Regulators, partners and funding bodies view ReWay as technically credible and well governed.

Above all, infrastructure decisions are safe, compliant and commercially sound - providing a secure engineering foundation for the wider Greenway growth strategy.