Assistant Station Manager

Who are we?

GWR is the proud custodian of Brunel's railway - one of the most prestigious networks in the world. We have some of the newest trains in the country and exciting plans to extend our services. With more than one hundred million passenger journeys each year, we carry people to over 275 stations in the South West, from Cornwall and South Wales to London, passing through beautiful country and some of the UK's top tourist destinations.

We are transforming the way people think about train travel, empowering our team of over 6,000 people from all different backgrounds to make it a great experience for our customers. Together, we will revalue rail as a very special way to travel – relaxing, fast, efficient, friendly and fun.

About the team

The stations team delivers a wide range of services to our customers, from being the first and last point of contact in a customer's journey, selling and checking tickets, making sure our customers know where to go, helping them to board and alight services, providing information and help to make the customer experience one to remember. The team is responsible for providing a safe and secure environment, delivering the safe and efficient dispatch of trains and ensuring that all the services provided at the station deliver to the highest standards. Working in a busy and challenging environment, the stations team work tirelessly to ensure a great customer experience is delivered, even when things go wrong.

About the Job

The Assistant Station Manager is expected to lead and develop our frontline colleagues and deliver a high-profile management style, with significant parts of the day being spent out and about on the station monitoring standards, talking to customers and colleagues building relationships. Assistant Station Managers will undertake line management duties as well as supporting and deputising for the Station Manager at their location

Your main responsibilities will be:

• As an Assistant Station Manager you will cover the West Cornwall SM area and be based at Truro Station where your responsibilities will be to cover the multiple Stations in both areas. You will also work closely with other Station Managers in West, with an expectation to help in other areas as required to deliver exceptional results in all areas of station delivery.
• You will be responsible for leading and managing all aspects of the station operation.
• You will ensure all safety, service, performance, and financial targets are delivered.
• To lead, coach and direct a large team of colleagues across the area.
• To engage with local communities and stakeholders to support business development and enhance our reputation in our locality

You'll need to be:

• An experienced people manager and be able to quickly build effective working relationships with colleagues and stakeholders from across the business.
• You will need to be a proactive self-starter who can also work well within a team, but have the ability to take responsibility for your actions.
• Resilient and flexible, able to adapt to an ever-changing environment and respond to issues as they arise.
• Confident with decision making, a strong communicator and able to prioritise
• Able to work within guidelines and to deliver against all processes and procedures

As a minimum you will need to have:

• You will be set apart by your leadership and people management skills, and your ability to keep a complex operation running smoothly at optimum efficiency.
• Strong organisational, prioritisation, problem solving, negotiating and influencing skills are essential.
• Evidence of leadership within a team
• Ability to use a range of IT applications

About the location

West Cornwall covers a large geographical area, with 22 Stations. During the busy holiday periods due to the area's proximity to many popular tourist locations and venues, the stations will see large numbers visit this area

Working pattern

The role will predominately be office based, however you must be flexible. The role is extremely varied, and you will be expected to work as business demands require. An on-call responsibility for stations will be required, as will weekend and bank holiday working, covering of special events, shift working and potential out of hours requirements.

Additional information

Interviews will take place on 4th September 2026. Knowledge and experience of delivering railway policies, procedures and processes would be an advantage. The ability to undertake safety critical work, such as train dispatch is desirable. Must meet the railway safety critical medical standards. A Basic DBS is also required and full training is provided at our Training Centre in Swindon.

The Reward:

As well as a great team environment and comprehensive training, all GWR colleagues enjoy a range of benefits including on-going development, defined benefit pension scheme, free rail travel across the GWR network for you and your family, company-sponsored health care plan, discounted shopping and gym membership and an employee assistance programme.

We all belong at GWR. This is our vision for providing an inclusive environment for all our colleagues, ensuring all candidates have an equal opportunity to access meaningful employment.

We value our differences such as age, gender, LGBTQIA, ethnicity, religion and disability. We maintain zero tolerance towards any form of prejudice towards our colleagues, customers, and future talent.

We celebrate and encourage diversity of thought, progressive ways of working and seeing all our colleagues grow and thrive.

We review all roles and job descriptions to ensure they are accessible and, where possible, we support and provide flexible working options; we recommend that you refer to each vacancy description for further details.

If you require additional support to complete your application due to a disability or neurodivergent condition such as dyslexia, dyspraxia, or autism, please follow the links below. We encourage you to share any additional needs you may require so we can provide a fair and equal process for all who apply.

https://exceptionalindividuals.com/neurodiversity/

https://www.healthassured.org/blog/neurodiversity/