Senior Public Affairs Manager

London, England, United Kingdom

5/26/2025

Location

London, GB

Department Name

SC Communications WCMLS (115617) G2

About Network Rail

Our Route

West Coast South Route & Our Region

The West Coast South route runs from south of Crewe to London Euston, carrying millions of passengers and up to 10% of the UK's freight annually. It includes the southern half of the UK's 1,000-mile West Coast Main Line with 64 stations, serving London, Glasgow, and Edinburgh, and connecting commuters across Hertfordshire, Northamptonshire, and Buckinghamshire. Electrified in the 1960s, it enabled faster services and led to the rebuild of London Euston—the first London station offering express routes to distant cities.

Our North West & Central region stretches from London to Gretna, serving major cities like Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Edinburgh, and Glasgow. As the busiest mixed-use railway in Europe, it supports 1.3 million passengers daily and moves 700,000 tonnes of freight weekly. With 571 stations, we represent a quarter of Britain's railway.

We're committed to delivering safe, reliable services while expanding capacity and focusing on customer experience. We value diversity and inclusion, encouraging flexible and hybrid work.

We're proud to be named one of the Times Top 50 Employers for Gender Equity—four years in a row! 🎉

Brief Description

Are you a strategic thinker with a passion for public affairs and stakeholder engagement? Network Rail is looking for a Public Affairs Lead to develop and deliver impactful strategies aligned with our corporate communications goals. You'll be at the forefront of influencing key political developments, managing national stakeholder relationships, and guiding a high-performing team.

This role is a 14 month secondment from early August 2025 – 13th November 2026 based out of London Eversholt Street.

About The Role (External)

• Analyse and manage the development and delivery of strategies and activities in the government / public affairs environment that enable the delivery of the objectives contained in Network Rail's corporate communications strategy.
• Lead activities in responding to key legislative proposals, government consultations, and other strategic political consultations and developments that impact upon the company.
• Provide a comprehensive contact programme for passenger representatives' bodies and other national stakeholder groups, and provide assistance as appropriate to senior Executives in their interactions with those groups.
• Provide direct management and development of a team including carrying out regular 121's, appraisals, objective setting and performance monitoring.
• Manage designated public affairs activities, including meetings, receptions and tours within agreed financial budgets.
• Analyse, plan and manage, public affairs activities which are fully co-ordinated and consistent with other communications strategies and activities.
• Establish an effective network of internal and external contacts as appropriate to carry out the public affairs function.
• Take part in on-call arrangements to deal with out-of-hours media requirements on behalf of the company.
• Implement the major incident communications plan as required.
  
  
  

In order to be successful in this role, we would like you to have/to be:

• Substantial experience in public affairs / lobbying / local government
• High standards of written and spoken communication
• The experience and personal credibility to work effectively with senior managers
• Strong influencing skills
• Proven ability to grasp, understand and promote complex and sensitive issues in a persuasive and sensible way
• Ability to develop and maintain a wide network of stakeholder contacts
• A proven understanding of all relevant political calendars and legislative assemblies
• Educated to degree level
  
  
  

We would also like, but it isn't crucial to have/to be:

• Experience in successfully dealing with the media/handling media enquiries
• Experience of producing digital content for a range of channels
• Evidence of good planning and financial skills, with the ability to deliver projects and activities on time and within budget
• Experience of directing and managing agency support
• Relevant professional qualifications
• Evidence of continuing professional development
  
  
  

How To Apply (External)

We are a Disability Confident Leader and want to make the most of the skills and talents disabled people bring to the workplace -skills and talents we need in our business Click here for more information

Closing date: Friday 30 th May 2025. Late applications will not be accepted.

Click ‘apply now' to apply

• Salary: £46,701- £53,589 per annum.
• Pro-rata annual leave entitlement (28 days)
• My benefits – our discounted online shopping site
• A range of discounted offers including, childcare vouchers, healthcare offers – cycle to work, healthcare club discounted membership and other benefits
• Subsidies of up to 75% on rail and underground season tickets
• 75% discount on leisure travel
• A choice of contributory pension schemes
• 2 weeks paid reserve leave for our Armed Forces community
  
  
  

Want to find out about what fantastic benefits we offer? Find out here

Network Rail adheres to a structured pay framework, any salary offered will be within the pay range advertised.

All offers of employment are conditional upon satisfactory completion of pre-employment checks. Click here for more information

Safe behaviour is a requirement of working for Network Rail. Applicants should be able to demonstrate their awareness of our safety vision

This role is a 14 month secondment from early August 2025 – 13th November 2026 based out of London Eversholt Street.