Head of Fleet

EAST MIDLANDS RAILWAY; East Midlands; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Free first-class duty travel on EMR

Free leisure travel on EMR network and

Friends and Family discounted tickets

75% discount on national leisuretravel

32 days holiday increasing to 34

Flexible working arrangements

Job summary

East Midlands Railway invites applications for the Head of Fleet, a senior leadership role based at the Derby head office. You will shape the strategic direction of Fleet Maintenance across EMR depots and outstations, inspiring teams and partners to deliver a safe, reliable, and high-performing fleet.

You will own fleet performance, availability, budgeting, and continuous improvement, reporting to Fleet Director.

Qualifications

• Senior-level leadership experience in production/engineering/maintenance environments.
• Strong people leadership and employee relations in a unionised setting.
• Engaging communicator with ability to inspire and motivate diverse teams.

Responsibilities

• Set the strategic direction for Fleet Production and inspire teams and partners.
• Own fleet performance, availability, maintenance delivery, and depot performance.
• Lead engineering standards, safety and regulatory compliance across Fleet.

Skills

Senior leadership

People management

Communication

Stakeholder management

Data analysis

Safety leadership

Education

Engineering/Management degree

Chartered status / working towards chartership

Job description

Fleet Production - Intercity and Connect

Location: Derby - Head Office Contract Type: Permanent Salary: Competitive salary Free travel on EMR services and 75% discount on all other train operators Closing Date: Thursday 19 November 2026 Reference: 2026-HOF

We are proud to be One Team at East Midlands Railway (EMR). We are passionate about keeping people safe, delighting our customers and doing the right thing. With over 2,600 employees, our people are the reason for our success. Ten times accredited as a Top Employer, and Gold accredited for Inclusive Employers 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 are 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.

About the Role of Head of Fleet

Reporting to the Fleet Director and based at our head office in Derby, this is a high-impact leadership opportunity to shape and deliver the strategic direction of Fleet Maintenance across EMR’s depots and outstations.

You will set the vision, inspire our teams and maintenance partners, and drive a culture of engineering excellence, safety and continuous improvement. With accountability for fleet performance, availability, infrastructure and financial value, you will influence business-wide priorities, develop future talent and build the partnerships and capabilities needed to deliver a safe, reliable and high-performing fleet. As a key member of the senior leadership team, you will play a pivotal role in shaping the strategic direction of the wider business.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership – Set the strategic direction for Fleet Production, inspiring teams and maintenance partners to deliver excellence.
• Fleet Performance – Own fleet availability, maintenance delivery and depot performance, ensuring operational and business objectives are achieved.
• Engineering, Safety & Compliance – Lead engineering standards, technical capability, safety and regulatory compliance across the Fleet function.
• Commercial & Financial Management – Own budgets, resource planning and financial performance, driving efficiency and value for money.
• Stakeholder & Partnership Management – Build influential relationships with trade unions, suppliers, senior stakeholders and wider Group partners to deliver shared objectives.
• People, Facilities & Continuous Improvement – Develop organisational capability, oversee fleet facilities and champion innovation, sustainability and continuous improvement.

Who we are looking for

Leadership & People Management

• Proven senior-level experience leading large teams within a production, engineering or maintenance environment.
• Strong people leadership and employee relations experience within a unionised environment.
• An engaging communicator with the ability to inspire, influence and motivate diverse teams.

Strategic & Commercial Capability

• Strong commercial acumen and stakeholder management experience.
• Ability to analyse performance data, identify opportunities and drive meaningful improvements.
• Experience of strategic safety leadership and delivering safety improvement initiatives.

Qualifications & Professional Development

• Degree-level qualification in Engineering, Management or equivalent experience.
• Chartered status, or actively working towards professional chartership in Engineering or Management.
• Experience within railway rolling stock, rail operations or another complex engineering, manufacturing or asset-intensive environment.
• IOSH, NEBOSH or an equivalent health and safety qualification.

Why EMR?

Joining EMR means being part of a team that values every voice and recognises the unique contributions of everyone in engineering. We’re dedicated to your professional growth and ensuring that you have the resources and support to thrive in your career. If you’re ready to lead, innovate, and make a real difference, we encourage you to apply and bring your unique perspective to our team.

Ready to Make a Difference? We invite you to watch this video to learn more about what it's like to work at EMR.

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

• Free first-class duty travel on the EMR network
• Free first-class leisure travel on the EMR network and Train Operating Companies under Transport UK
• Friends and Family discounted tickets on the EMR network
• 75% discount on national leisure travel (inc partner and dependants)
• 32 days holiday per year increasing to 34 after 2 years
• …and many more!

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.

This role is also hybrid, we operate with “more time together than apart” usually this means 3 days in the office and 2 days at home but full time in the office is also available if preferred.

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.