Summary

Would you like a unique opportunity to work in the Department for Transport at the forefront of exciting change within the Rail industry?

Are you someone who has a natural approach to building positive working relationships to deliver results?

If so, we are looking for ambitious individuals who wish to gain commercial and project delivery experience whilst working in a high-profile area, and we would love to hear from you.

Job description

As Contract Manager you will be the key point of contact for train companies operating passenger rail services, and work closely and collaboratively with our internal and external partners to help ensure the best train services for all passengers.

The role is varied and fast paced and you will be responsible for ensuring delivery of benefits for passengers by working with the train operators and project teams , managing day-to-day issues as they arise e.g. monitoring train performance, drafting reports or Ministerial briefings and correspondence as well leading on the contract management of rail Franchise Agreements. You will also lead on project reporting and management of risk, whilst learning about delivering large scale infrastructure projects and how they delivered through rail franchising.

In this role you will gain extensive experience in stakeholder and supplier management as well building up to having strong contract management capability. As you learn to manage these high value, complex contracts, you will learn and develop the commercial awareness to support the Department for Transport to drive and deliver positive outcomes for rail passengers.

You will be encouraged to work flexibly and work closely with all our colleagues across Passenger Services offering variety and opportunities to develop.
 

Responsibilities

Your key responsibilities will include;
• Developing collaborative working relationships with internal experts and train operators to ensure that the interests of passengers and taxpayers are protected
• Building up to an expert knowledge of franchise agreements and relevant project management processes.
• Working in partnership with colleagues to manage contractual changes and ensuring accurate records are maintained.
• Leading on specific work streams on contract management excellence for rail franchises
• Organising contractual meetings with train operators, and produce or review accurate meeting minutes.

You may be required to travel to train operating companies within the uk.

About you

You will display excellent interpersonal skills to forge effective relationships with train operators, team members and across the Department. You will have excellent written and verbal communication skills, to confidently present recommendations and proposals professionally to key partners.

You have excellent planning and organisational skills, with a proactive approach to delivering results and adapting to changing demands. You are highly motivated, enjoy proactively taking the initiative and have the capability to work well under pressure to support large projects.

About us

Our mission at the Department for Transport is ‘connecting people and places’. Everything we do to achieve this is reinforced by our values:

- Confidence: to challenge, to take action, to innovate
- Excellence: in our professionalism, in our delivery, in our learning
- Teamwork: we are inclusive, we collaborate, we support each other

These values define the kind of organisation we want to be – delivering for today whilst being ambitious for tomorrow.

We embrace diversity and celebrate our differences. Everyone is involved in making DfT an inclusive and great place to work. We actively promote a flexible approach to working whilst giving our staff opportunities to maximise their skills and achieve their full potential.