Market Sector Manager

London Waterloo; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 74,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual Leave 25 days+

DC Pension Scheme: 15%

Industry networking opportunities

Job summary

DFTO is seeking an experienced commercial/marketing professional to support the GBR Revenue Growth Plan and annual business plans. You will coordinate initiatives at national, regional and local levels to drive sustainable revenue growth and a customer-first railway.

Join a complex environment with stakeholder engagement, market insight, and proposition development to enhance customer experiences and acquire and retain passengers.

Qualifications

• Experience within commercial and marketing roles in a complex commercial environment.
• Demonstrated product/proposition background in travel or retail with customer focus.
• Strong data-driven insights to inform recommendations and marketing activities.
• Ability to work in an agile, fluid environment with ambiguity and change.

Responsibilities

• Support development and refinement of market strategies using research and analysis.
• Project manage and implement activities to improve customer understanding and propositions.
• Drive customer acquisition and retention to increase passengers and revenue.
• Coordinate with national, regional and local stakeholders.
• Communicate clearly to diverse stakeholders and manage differing views.
• Utilise MS Office suite to present evidence-based recommendations.
• Help manage and drive change across teams and functions.
• Support the GBR Revenue Growth Plan and annual business plans.
• Collaborate in a complex commercial environment to deliver outcomes.

Skills

Stakeholder management

Market insight

Proposition development

Agile mindset

Cross-functional collaboration

Change management

Tools

MS Word

MS Excel

MS PowerPoint

Job description

About DFT Operator

Join Our Team at DFTO

DFTO is the government’s public sector rail owning group. Its purpose is to bring all currently privately-owned train operators into public ownership in advance of the creation of Great British Railways in 2027 - and deliver improvements in the here and now by unifying and integrating train operations under common public ownership.

DFTO has over 30,000 employees, runs over 11,000 services a day and delivers over 930 million customer journeys across its networks every year. 7,000 people joined the railway family in the last year

Major improvements are being delivered by DFTO train operators (TOCs) that are already under public ownership - these are LNER, Northern, TransPennine Express (TPE), southeastern, South Western Railway (SWR), c2c, Greater Anglia, WM Trains, GTR, and Chiltern.

We work closely with the DfT but operate independently with our own governance and leadership teams. Our priority is ensuring efficient, dependable rail services for everyone.

Primary Purpose of Job:

Do you want to help shape the future success of Great British Railways? We are looking for an experienced commercial or marketing professional to support the delivery of the GBR Revenue Growth Plan and assist in the development of annual business plans. This will set the platform for a sustainable and customer-first railway through developing and coordinating initiatives at a national, regional and local level.

This is a fantastic opportunity to use your experience in stakeholder management, market insight and proposition development to drive sustainable revenue growth. You will also need be adept at working in a complex commercial environment where change and ambiguity are constants.

You’ll support the development and refinement of specific market strategies, using research and analysis, and the project management and implementation of activities and initiatives, to improve our understanding of our customers, enhance our customer propositions and acquire and retain customers to deliver increased passengers and revenue growth.

Key Responsibilities:

• Experience within commercial and marketing roles in a complex commercial environment
• Demonstrable product/proposition background in travel or retail sector and relevant experience of working within a proposition creation and customer focused environment
• Sound understanding of using insight and data to proactively inform recommendations and marketing activities
• Experience of working within an agile, fluid work environment with the ability to cope with ambiguity and uncertainty
• Excellent stakeholder, communication and interpersonal skills, with a proven ability to explain complex or sensitive commercial issues clearly and manage differing views.
• Skilled in influencing decision making and building cross functional / cross company relationships.
• Advanced Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint skills, with the ability to analyse data and present clear, evidence-based recommendations.
• Proven ability to organise and coordinate with competing priorities from different team members.
• Experience of managing and driving change

Duration: Fixed Term up to 31st March 2028 contract/secondment Salary:up to £67,000
Closing date: 18th November 2026

DFTO Locations:

DFTO currently have office locations in London, Birmingham and Leeds and individuals can be based from any of the three locations. Whilst we do offer hybrid working there are sometimes demands to travel to the other office locations.

DFTO Benefits:

Annual Leave: Starting at 25 days and rising to an additional day per year of service completed within the first 5 completed years up to a maximum of 5 additional (30 days)

DC Pension Scheme: 10% Employer contribution, 5% Employee contribution

Opportunities to learn and network across the wider industry

Additional Information…

Disclaimer: Candidates applying for this position on a secondment basis must inform their line manager prior to submitting their application. This is to ensure transparency and facilitate any necessary discussions regarding workload and responsibilities.

About our people and the recruitment process - We're an inclusive employer of choice and we welcome applications from everyone! We encourage our colleagues to work flexibly, as we know traditional working patterns don't always fit. If you want to consider working flexibly, just let us know and we'll do our best to help and invest in your career with us, whilst you have a healthy work life balance.

Contact:

If you have any questions or reasonable adjustments, please contact [e-mail].