Rail & Transit Sector Lead Director

Company Description

Work with Us. Change the World.

At AECOM, we're delivering a better world. Whether improving your commute, keeping the lights on, providing access to clean water, or transforming skylines, our work helps people and communities thrive. We are the world's trusted infrastructure consulting firm, partnering with clients to solve the world’s most complex challenges and build legacies for future generations.

There has never been a better time to be at AECOM. With accelerating infrastructure investment worldwide, our services are in great demand. We invite you to bring your bold ideas and big dreams and become part of a global team of over 50,000 planners, designers, engineers, scientists, digital innovators, program and construction managers and other professionals delivering projects that create a positive and tangible impact around the world.

We're one global team driven by our common purpose to deliver a better world. Join us.

Job Description

You are a highly motivated, organized, and proactive leader with a proven track record in leading and growing infrastructure businesses, business development, bidding and delivering major projects and strategy implementation. Your in-depth understanding of the Rail market, coupled with your grasp of the social, political, and economic drivers that influence it, will be integral to our success. With extensive experience in leading diverse teams in a fast-paced environment, you have excelled in planning, designing, and delivering projects while implementing data-led performance improvements. As a champion of equity, diversity, and inclusion, you believe in creating a workplace that embraces and celebrates the unique talents and backgrounds of every individual.

Key Responsibilities:

Sector Strategy & Market Leadership

• Provide leadership and strategic direction for the Rail & Transit market

Define and lead the Rail & Transit sector strategy in alignment with AECOM’s UK and global Transportation objectives.

Monitor market trends, policy developments and investment programmes to identify growth opportunities across Rail & Transit.

Position AECOM as a market leader in rail and transit advisory, design and delivery.

Client & Relationship Leadership

• Serves as AECOM’s regional industry leader in Rail & Transit and collaborates with peers in other geographies to provide consistent market approaches, leverage technical expertise, ensure client satisfaction and implement best practices
• Own coordination of the forming of teams as part of bids and mobilization
• Work with the regional teams to analyse and understand long, medium- and short-term Rail & Transit opportunities to advise strategic planning and pursuit prioritization
• Build and maintain senior-level relationships with key rail and transit clients, devolved authorities and major contractors
• Act as an executive sponsor for priority client accounts, frameworks and alliances
• Lead strategic client engagement, ensuring AECOM is seen as a trusted, long-term partner
• Build and maintain C-suite relationships with key clients, moving from a service provider to a strategic partner
• Ensure rigorous account plans are in place for all tier-one clients to maximize cross-selling and long-term retention
• Own the integrity of sector data within Salesforceensuring opportunity pipelines are accurate and actionable.

Business Development & Work Winning

• Actively participate in the winning of work, developing the market with the key regional and global transport/transit leads to create the necessary pipeline of work to support continuing growth
• Builds relationships with key clients, funding sources, industry organizations, partners, and stakeholders to identify opportunities and grow the business.

Coordinates and collaborates across business lines to maximize cross-selling and to offer integrated services to regional clients

Drive work-winning strategy for major rail and transit opportunities, frameworks and commissions

Provide leadership on bids, tenders and pursuits, including client strategy, positioning and value proposition with a primary focus on bids exceeding $5m.

Collaborate with commercial and delivery teams to develop competitive and innovative commercial models.

Delivery & Performance Oversight

• Provide executive oversight of project delivery performance, ensuring quality, safety, programme and commercial outcomes are achieved with a primary focus on projects exceeding $5m.
• Support project directors and technical leads on complex or high-risk rail and transit programmes.
• Champion best practice in governance, risk management and assurance across the sector.

External Profile & Thought Leadership

• Represent AECOM at industry forums, conferences and client events, enhancing AECOM’s market profile
• Contribute to thought leadership, innovation and sustainability agendas within the rail and transit sector.
• Strengthen partnerships across the supply chain and with industry bodies.
• Builds relationships with key clients, funding sources, industry organizations, partners, and stakeholders to identify opportunities and grow the business.
• Develops key industry relationships, promotes technical practices, innovation, sharing, and knowledge management.

Operational Excellence & Bidding

• Drive bidding best practices, ensuring high-quality submissions that improve our % win rate and consistently grow the backlog.
• Work seamlessly across various technical disciplines to provide integrated solutions that meet complex client needs.

Provide visible leadership in Health, Safety & Wellbeing, specifically championing Safety in Design principles across all sector projects.

People & Talent Development

• Partner with National Disciplines to identify key recruitment needs and bridge capability gaps.
• Proactively manage the talent pipeline for the sector to ensure leadership continuity and technical excellence.

Qualifications

• BEng/BSc in Engineering, Transportation or a related field/ demonstrated equivalency of experience and/or education, including 6 years of leadership & large team management
• Member of a recognised professional body relative to core markets
• Understanding of the process and practices involved in the design and delivery of infrastructure projects
• Several years of progressive experience in the Rail Industry
• In-depth knowledge of rail safety, operations and compliance standards
• Financial acumen with proven ability to manage large budgets
• Excellent interpersonal and negotiation skills, with a proven ability to build and maintain long-term partner and customer relationships.
• Strategic thinker with a focus on continuous improvement and innovation
• Firm understanding of the Rail & Transit markets and the social, political and economic drivers what influence this across the region
• Significant experience of leading large, matrixed businesses.
• Experience of leading multi-year, complex business transformation.
• Material experience of leading high level client engagement.
• Proven ability to develop and execute strategy for a large business.
• Catalyst for innovation and solutions for our clients - particularly digital innovation.
• Experience of building diverse, inclusive and highly motivated teams.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Chartered Engineer
• Membership of a recognised professional body relative to our core market

Additional Information

• Demonstrate your dedication to driving our inclusion and wellbeing strategies by instilling a culture of respect and care within your team, role modelling behaviours aligned to these strategies.
• Build a diverse and inclusive workforce by recruiting and retaining the best talent and nurturing the next generation of leaders who will do the same.
• Lead with empathy, respect and understanding, actively seeking out diverse points of view and creating a psychologically safe environment where these points of view can thrive.
• Provide all employees the freedom they need to grow, develop, innovate and be their whole selves at work.

About AECOM

AECOM is the world’s trusted infrastructure consulting firm, delivering professional services throughout the project lifecycle – from advisory, planning, design and engineering to program and construction management. On projects spanning transportation, buildings, water, new energy and the environment, our public- and private-sector clients trust us to solve their most complex challenges. Our teams are driven by a common purpose to deliver a better world through our unrivaled technical and digital expertise, a culture of equity, diversity and inclusion, and a commitment to environmental, social and governance priorities. AECOM is a Fortune 500 firm and its Professional Services business had revenue of $16.1 billion in fiscal year 2025. See how we are delivering sustainable legacies for generations to come at aecom.com and @AECOM.

Freedom to Grow in a World of Opportunity

You will have the flexibility you need to do your best work with hybrid work options. Whether you’re working from an AECOM office, remote location or at a client site, you will be working in a dynamic environment where your integrity, entrepreneurial spirit and pioneering mindset are championed.

You will help us foster a safe and respectful workplace, where we invite everyone to bring their whole selves to work using their unique talents, backgrounds and expertise to create transformational outcomes for our clients.

AECOM provides a wide array of compensation, benefits and well-being programs to meet the diverse needs of our employees and their families. We’re the world’s trusted global infrastructure firm, and we’re in this together – your growth and success are ours too.

Join us, and you’ll get all the benefits of being a part of a global, publicly traded firm – access to industry-leading technology and thinking and transformational work with big impact and work flexibility. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we believe in each person’s potential, and we’ll help you reach yours.

We are a Disability Confident Employer and will offer an interview to applicants who have a disability or long-term condition, who meet the minimum/essential criteria for the role. Please let us know using this email address ReasonableAccommodations@aecom.com if you would like to apply through the Disability Confident Interview Scheme.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

ReqID:

J10147881

Business Line: Transportation

Business Group: DCS

Strategic Business Unit: Europe & India

Career Area: Business Management

Work Location Model: Hybrid