Route Director, North West
Company
Location
Manchester, England, United Kingdom
Posted At
9/11/2025
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Description
Location
Manchester, GB
Department Name
North West & Central Region
About Network Rail
Join Network Rail - Where People and Connections Matter.
As Route Director for the North West, you’ll play a pivotal role in leading one of the most high-profile and strategically important routes in Britain – home to the Northern Powerhouse cities of Manchester and Liverpool, the wider region of Greater Manchester and Lancashire, and the tourism destinations of Cumbria, the Lake District, and Blackpool.
With 2,500 miles of track, 347 stations, and over 5,500 daily services, the North West route is central to network Rail ambition of putting passengers first. We’re delivering some of the most exciting programmes in the industry all aimed at transforming performance, resilience, and customer experience.
Our brilliant route really is at the heart of the region’s economic growth and connectivity ambitions. The major strategic programmes we are delivering across the North West will deliver passenger and freight benefits, enhance economic growth, and bring lasting social value.
Brief Description
As Route Director for the North West, you will set the strategic direction for one of the busiest and most complex networks in the country. You will lead the development and delivery of the route strategy, ensuring that people and goods reach their destinations safely, sustainably, and on time.
You will be accountable for safety, asset reliability, financial performance, and customer satisfaction, balancing short-term operational delivery with long-term resilience and investment. Building trusted relationships with Train and Freight Operating Companies, regional stakeholders, and national partners, you will represent the North West route at the highest levels and ensure we keep our promises to passengers and freight users.
Reporting to the North West & Central Managing Director, you will lead a team of eleven while overseeing our managed stations, drive data-led performance strategies, and champion a strong safety culture. At the heart of your leadership will be collaboration, continuous improvement, and a commitment to delivering exceptional service for customers and stakeholders alike.
About The Role (External)
Key Accountabilities
To excel in this role, we require the following essential criteria:
Closing date: Tuesday 30th September - Late applications will not be accepted.
Click apply now to apply.
This role involves regular travel across the North West route and to other Network Rail locations nationwide, as required.
You can visit Evenbreaks Career Hive for advice on accessibility support if you're unsure of the options available. Should you require any reasonable adjustments/modifications, please add a note to your application.
Network Rail Benefits - To find out about what benefits we offer, click here
All offers of employment are conditional upon satisfactory completion of pre-employment checks. Click here for more information
Please be a ware this role holds a mandatory requirement for the incumbent to hold valid security vetting clearance. Any offer will be conditional on the successful candidate obtaining clearance prior to a start date being agreed. If you have lived outside of the UK in the last 3 years and have been invited to interview for this role , please notify us . For further information including residency eligibility, please contact your recruiter Deborah McDade for more details on [email protected]
At Network Rail, we're dedicated to keeping passengers and freight moving safely and efficiently across the country. When you join us, you're not just part of a team - you're part of something that matters to millions. We believe that our people are at the heart of what we do, and every role plays a vital part in building a better, more connected railway. Click here to learn more.
We're committed to creating a diverse, inclusive workplace that reflects the communities we serve. To discover more about our ED&I commitments click here. We value flexibility and understand the importance of a healthy work-life balance. As a Disability Confident Leader, we'll do everything we can to accommodate any needs throughout the recruitment process.
If you're ready to make a real difference, we'd love to hear from you!
Manchester, GB
Department Name
North West & Central Region
About Network Rail
Join Network Rail - Where People and Connections Matter.
As Route Director for the North West, you’ll play a pivotal role in leading one of the most high-profile and strategically important routes in Britain – home to the Northern Powerhouse cities of Manchester and Liverpool, the wider region of Greater Manchester and Lancashire, and the tourism destinations of Cumbria, the Lake District, and Blackpool.
With 2,500 miles of track, 347 stations, and over 5,500 daily services, the North West route is central to network Rail ambition of putting passengers first. We’re delivering some of the most exciting programmes in the industry all aimed at transforming performance, resilience, and customer experience.
Our brilliant route really is at the heart of the region’s economic growth and connectivity ambitions. The major strategic programmes we are delivering across the North West will deliver passenger and freight benefits, enhance economic growth, and bring lasting social value.
Brief Description
As Route Director for the North West, you will set the strategic direction for one of the busiest and most complex networks in the country. You will lead the development and delivery of the route strategy, ensuring that people and goods reach their destinations safely, sustainably, and on time.
You will be accountable for safety, asset reliability, financial performance, and customer satisfaction, balancing short-term operational delivery with long-term resilience and investment. Building trusted relationships with Train and Freight Operating Companies, regional stakeholders, and national partners, you will represent the North West route at the highest levels and ensure we keep our promises to passengers and freight users.
Reporting to the North West & Central Managing Director, you will lead a team of eleven while overseeing our managed stations, drive data-led performance strategies, and champion a strong safety culture. At the heart of your leadership will be collaboration, continuous improvement, and a commitment to delivering exceptional service for customers and stakeholders alike.
About The Role (External)
Key Accountabilities
- Lead, direct and inspire the route team to deliver a safe and efficient operational railway, identifying and setting key priorities to enable the route to meet customer and passenger expectations.
- Direct the development and implementation of safety, train performance, customer satisfaction, asset performance, reliability, productivity and efficiency initiatives, whilst providing exceptional customer service and delivering on commitments and improvements to the rail industry’s passengers.
- Liaise with the region’s Director Engineering & Asset Management so that sustainable levels of asset condition and performance are delivered and maintained and direct local activities to manage the route infrastructure assets so as to deliver agreed levels of performance and sustainability.
- Lead the relationship and interfaces with Network Rail (NR) Network, delivering on governance and assurance activities at a local level to support NR’s strategic objectives and responsibilities to all internal and external stakeholders. Provide input to policy, standards and network strategies.
- Direct the planning, control and implementation of the maintenance and minor renewals of the route’s assets to achieve agreed performance, sustainability, financial and customer objectives.
- Lead and direct the development of the route train performance strategy through accurate performance data capture, analysis and improvement programmes. Work collaboratively with TOCs/FOCs to maximise passenger experience, mutual profitability from existing contracts and to develop new opportunities and improvements to the route’s performance.
- Achieve financial, technical, safety and customer satisfaction targets and monitor business performance through periodic reviews.
- Provide leadership and direction for the management of the route’s managed stations portfolio to deliver a consistent quality service that meets the requirements of customer, passengers and other station users.
- Lead and direct the development and implementation of an Integrated Plan across all aspects of the route business to meet route targets and outputs and enable delivery of wider business requirements.
- Enhance safety culture and drive safety improvements across the delivery and operational processes; and manage the effective identification and management of all risks associated with route activities.
- Lead and inspire excellence in the quality of service provided to the routes customers and d irect the relationships with customers and stakeholders on the route to support delivery of business objectives and continuous improvement in customer satisfaction.
To excel in this role, we require the following essential criteria:
- In-depth understanding of the railway industry and its needs and interfaces
- Proven strong leadership skills, with the vision and ability to establish cross-functional relationships and drive cultural/ organisational improvement and change
- Full chartered membership of relevant professional body (e.g. Institute of Railway Operators) with demonstrable relevant post qualification experience
- Proven expertise in operational management in a Safety Critical Industry with considerable successful operational and maintenance delivery experience
- Demonstrable in-depth knowledge of health and safety management and compliance management processes
- Comprehensive experience and skills in leading a customer service orientated organisation/business
- Successful experience of managing business unit financials
- Demonstrable experience of leading and managing business assurance activity within a large complex/ matrix management organisation
- Proven ability to effectively lead, coach, mentor and motivate at all levels within the organisation
- Exceptional interpersonal skills, possessing the ability to interact and maintain credibility with people at all levels across the business and industry stakeholders
- Educated to degree level or relevant equivalent experience
Closing date: Tuesday 30th September - Late applications will not be accepted.
Click apply now to apply.
This role involves regular travel across the North West route and to other Network Rail locations nationwide, as required.
You can visit Evenbreaks Career Hive for advice on accessibility support if you're unsure of the options available. Should you require any reasonable adjustments/modifications, please add a note to your application.
Network Rail Benefits - To find out about what benefits we offer, click here
All offers of employment are conditional upon satisfactory completion of pre-employment checks. Click here for more information
Please be a ware this role holds a mandatory requirement for the incumbent to hold valid security vetting clearance. Any offer will be conditional on the successful candidate obtaining clearance prior to a start date being agreed. If you have lived outside of the UK in the last 3 years and have been invited to interview for this role , please notify us . For further information including residency eligibility, please contact your recruiter Deborah McDade for more details on [email protected]
At Network Rail, we're dedicated to keeping passengers and freight moving safely and efficiently across the country. When you join us, you're not just part of a team - you're part of something that matters to millions. We believe that our people are at the heart of what we do, and every role plays a vital part in building a better, more connected railway. Click here to learn more.
We're committed to creating a diverse, inclusive workplace that reflects the communities we serve. To discover more about our ED&I commitments click here. We value flexibility and understand the importance of a healthy work-life balance. As a Disability Confident Leader, we'll do everything we can to accommodate any needs throughout the recruitment process.
If you're ready to make a real difference, we'd love to hear from you!
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