Wheel lathe - Team Leader

Hitachi Vantara Corporation; City Of London; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading engineering firm in London is seeking a Wheel Lathe Team Leader to oversee operations and maintenance for wheel lathe staff. The role includes ensuring safety practices, managing a shift team, and improving maintenance processes. Ideal candidates should have extensive experience in operational railway environments and strong leadership skills. Competitive salary and comprehensive benefits including bonuses and private medical insurance are offered.

Benefits

Annual performance bonus

25 days holiday

Pension scheme

Private medical insurance

Employee Assistance Programme

Qualifications

• Experience leading a wheel lathe team on a shift basis in a modern rolling stock maintenance depot.
• Strong people management and safety awareness skills.
• Extensive experience with modern maintenance management systems.

Responsibilities

• Responsible for operational processes for Hitachi rolling stock maintenance.
• Manage staffing and conduct annual staff appraisals.
• Ensure health and safety practices are followed on shift.

Skills

Network Rail Sentinel PTS

Experience in leading a wheel lathe team

Strong safety awareness

Extensive experience with maintenance management systems

People management skills

Education

M&E HNC or equivalent railway experience

Engineering-based NVQ level 3

Tools

Basic IT skills

Job description

Overview

Wheel lathe - Team Leader – Bounds Green, London. Permanent role with a salary of £55,176 plus 15% shift allowance and an additional £6,000 location allowance if required.

Responsible on a shift basis for the wheel lathe operatives, ensuring the safe operation of the underfloor wheel lathe and undertaking corrective and preventative wheel maintenance for Hitachi rolling stock.

Responsibilities

• Deployment of initial and ongoing depot operational processes and procedures relating to the maintenance and repair of Hitachi rolling stock assets.
• Write and deploy operational processes and procedures for the wheel lathe and associated equipment.
• Support the development of the SAP maintenance management system (MMS) and ensure shop floor requirements are captured and delivered.
• Create an atmosphere of continuous improvement within the team to improve maintenance processes.
• Identify wheel lathe workloads, required time, and staffing to enable work to be conducted on time.
• Conduct annual staff appraisals and develop plans for all wheel lathe team members.
• Manage probationary periods and regular reviews for new and existing staff on shift.
• Ensure health and safety practices, PPE usage, clear roadways/pits, incident investigations, and PICOT process management.
• Authorise/decline annual leave requests considering workload and training needs; monitor sickness and conduct return-to-work interviews as required.
• Liaise with Hitachi and external personnel as required; support the shift Team Leader and Maintenance Engineers.
• Support Service Delivery Manager to ensure corrective and preventative wheel lathe work maintains contractual reliability and availability.
• Plan proactive and corrective wheel lathe maintenance for Hitachi rolling stock assists; develop a preventative maintenance regime for wheel sets.
• Monitor the SAP MMS to ensure work is recorded; establish a wheel set database to capture history and record work as required.
• Ensure post turning requirements are completed to maintain correct ride height; oversee maintenance of specialist equipment and related checks and reporting of defects.
• Record and order materials through stores; ensure safe disposal of waste in accordance with procedures.
• Lead health and safety/housekeeping activities and ensure team adherence to practices at all times.
• Plan and implement shift rosters around lathe utilisation as required; act as main focal point for all wheel lathe work activities; conduct team briefings and attend manager meetings as needed.

As required

• Train commissioning and undertake initial training; travel and overnight stays may be required to support activities.
• Undertake duties of the wheel lathe technician when needed.

Required Skills/Knowledge

• Network Rail Sentinel PTS, Manual Handling, COSHH.
• Experience in direct and indirect assessment of wheel lathe staff on the shop floor.
• Experience leading a wheel lathe team on a shift basis in a modern rolling stock maintenance depot.
• Strong safety awareness in operational railway engineering environments.
• Extensive experience in preventative and corrective wheel lathe work on modern rolling stock.
• Experience with stores, spare parts logistics and material management at a railway maintenance depot.
• Extensive experience with modern maintenance management systems (MMS) and related processes; reliability and availability trend analysis.
• Strong people management skills and experience managing a team of wheel lathe engineers on shift.
• Experience with third-party lathe work and associated procedures.

Qualifications

• M&E HNC or served engineering apprenticeship or proven equivalent railway experience.
• Engineering-based NVQ level 3.

Behavioural

• Good knowledge of internal and external rules and regulations; ability to represent Hitachi professionally.
• Proven experienced team leader with strong leadership skills.
• Calm and diplomatic under pressure; excellent written and verbal communication.
• Able to interface effectively with all levels of personnel within and outside the company.
• Loyal, committed, confident and determined.

Desirable

• Intermediate IT skills (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook).
• Ability to read electrical, pneumatic, mechanical schematics and drawings.
• Train driving, Fire warden, First Aider, powered plant and tools experience.
• Depot protection; working at height, COSHH, manual handling, and AC/DC depot isolation.

What we offer

We value the importance of all of our employees. You could be entitled to:

• Competitive salary
• Annual performance bonus (discretionary)
• 25 days holiday
• Pension scheme with contributions up to 9%
• Private medical insurance
• Personal Accident insurance
• Group Income protection
• Group Life Insurance
• Employee Assistance Programme

Additional perks are available within a flexible plan to meet your needs.

Thank you for your interest in Hitachi Rail. If your application is of interest, we will be in contact. For more about us and our latest jobs, visit https://www.hitachirail.com/careers

At Hitachi Rail, there is a place for everyone. We value differences and are committed to being an equal opportunity employer.

We invite you to follow us at https://www.linkedin.com/company/hitachirail