Lead Support Engineer

hitachi; City of Edinburgh; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days holiday

Pension up to 9%

Private medical insurance

Personal Accident insurance

Group Income protection

Group Life Insurance

Employee Assistance Programme

Job summary

Hitachi Rail UK Limited in Edinburgh is seeking a technical leader to oversee fleet safety, reliability and performance. You will lead the local Support Engineering team, coordinate activities and drive investigations, reporting to the Engineering Manager.

The role requires balancing resource, conducting root-cause analyses, and implementing engineering changes. You will work with remote monitoring outputs and ensure compliance with industry standards for continuous improvement.

Qualifications

• HND/HNC or equivalent engineering qualification.
• Significant experience in rolling stock or complex assets is desirable.
• Experience leading technical teams and strong communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead, manage and develop the Shift Support Engineers at the TMC.
• Coordinate with other TMCs to balance resource and workload.
• Represent Hitachi at periodic customer meetings.
• Lead technical investigations into fleet performance, reliability and safety issues.
• Analyse output of remote condition monitoring to identify risks.
• Ensure statements of work are in place and prioritised for safety, reliability and performance.
• Own reliability performance reporting and identify improvements through reliability growth modelling.

Skills

Technical leadership

Team leadership

Safety management

Root cause analysis

Regulatory compliance

Education

HND/HNC or degree

Job description

Location:
Mountcastle Cres, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Job ID:
R0145531

Date Posted:
2026-10-15

Company Name:
Hitachi Rail UK Limited

Profession (Job Category):
Engineering & Science

Job Schedule:
Full time

Remote:
No

About Us

A career at Hitachi Rail will help create a legacy. With operations in every corner of the world, our work goes to the cutting-edge of digital transformation and technology. From the multi-cultural strength of our global organisation to the sustainable and innovative ways we work to bring people together, there's something for everyone to get stuck into. And that's where you come in.

Job Description

Your New Role

In this role you will be responsible for providing technical leadership for fleet safety, reliability and performance. You will also be leading the local Support Engineering team, coordinate engineering activities, drive investigations and continuous improvement programmes, and deputise for the Engineering Manager when required

What you'll be doing

• Lead, manage and develop the Shift Support Engineers at the TMC.
• Co-ordinate with Lead Support Engineers at other TMCs to balance shift engineering resource requirements and workload allocation.
• Represent Hitachi at Periodic Customer Meetings
• Act as an Engineering lead and focal point for TMC related engineering activity and support requirements.
• Lead technical investigations into fleet performance reliability and safety issues, driving root cause analysis, containment actions and permanent corrective actions.
• Analyse the output of remote condition monitoring systems to identify performance risks to the fleet.
• Ensure SoWs are in place and prioritised accordingly for safety, reliability and performance affecting defects.
• Ensure accurate and consistent root cause data is captured for KPI, availability and penalties.
• Assess, approve and manage concession requests.
• Own and monitor reliability performance & reporting and identify areas to improve reliability through reliability growth modelling.
• Produce and implement engineering fleet checks and engineering changes as required.
• Act as a competent peer reviewer to ensure Engineering change compliance with applicable industry standards
• Produce technical engineering reports for major faults.
• Maintain engineering documentation - including but not limited to, VMIs, VMPs, FFGs, defect handling guides and modification instructions.
• Identify and support optimisation work streams including opportunities to champion digital solutions and condition-based monitoring tools.
• Act as an SME for allocated system(s).
• Own engineering risk and safety performance - including SRDs and HRDs for allocated system(s)
• Deputise for Engineering Manager.
• Participate in engineering on-call roster and incident response.

About you

• HND/HNC, degree or equivalent engineering qualification.
• Significant rolling stock or complex asset engineering experience (desirable)
• Experience in rolling stock safety management, reliability improvement and technical investigation (desirable)
• Experience leading technical teams.
• Sound knowledge of, and compliance to, rules and regulations.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to represent Hitachi in a professional manner at all times.

What we offer

• Competitive salary
• 25 days holiday
• Potential opportunity for annual performance related bonus
• Pension scheme with contributions up to 9%
• Private medical insurance
• Personal Accident insurance
• Group Income protection
• Group Life Insurance
• Employee Assistance Programme

Closing date for applications is 1st November 2026.

At Hitachi Rail, there is a place for everyone. We welcome and value differences in background, age, gender, sexuality, family status, disability, race, nationality, ethnicity, religion, and world view. It is our commitment to create an inclusive environment - we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer.