Network Rail
About Network Rail
Join Our Team at Network Rail! Are you ready to make a difference in people’s lives? At Network Rail, we connect passengers and freight customers, ensuring safe and efficient transportation across the country. We’re an organisation where people truly matter, and when you join us, you matter to us and millions of others. We’re dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive organisation that reflects the passengers we serve. To achieve this, we’re committed to becoming an open, diverse, and inclusive workplace, leveraging the skills and expertise of our talented workforce. Together, we strive to create a safe and accessible railway for everyone. Investing in our people is key to enhancing the safety, reliability, and efficiency of our railway system. If you’re passionate about making a meaningful impact, then this opportunity is for you!
About Our People and the Recruitment Process
We’re an inclusive employer of choice and we welcome applications from everyone! We encourage our colleagues to work flexibly, as we know traditional working patterns don’t always fit. If you want to consider working flexibly, just let us know and we’ll do our best to help and invest in your career with us, whilst you have a healthy work-life balance. We’re also a Disability Confident Leader employer and we’ll try our best to adapt the process and offer a reasonable alternative to help support people with disabilities access, apply and interview for roles.
About the Role
To manage the development of a constructive relationship between Network Rail, its Trade Unions and employees and act as a centre of expertise to the business on appropriate bargaining and consultation approaches and on the application of employment policy and legislation, to enable Network Rail’s objectives to be achieved.
Package
This role sits within Band 3C, Zone 1.
Location
The successful candidate can be based in London Waterloo, Milton Keynes or Manchester. As this is a role in a national team, regular travel across the country is required. Candidates should be comfortable with frequent travel to client sites, regional offices, or other business locations as needed. We reserve the right to close the vacancy early if a large volume of applications is received.
What’s in it for you
Here are a few of the benefits we have to offer:
- 28 days annual leave – with the opportunity to buy and/or sell up to 5 days
- Access to a range of contributory pension schemes
- The potential to top up your competitive salary with a bonus
- A subsidy of up to 75% on rail and underground season tickets if you travel to work on the train
- Privileged staff travel – Discretionary leisure travel discount of 75%
- We can offer you a season ticket loan, annual season tickets are discounted.
- A 35-hour-per-week contract with flexible working options available to help support your work-life balance
- Hybrid working where possible and enhanced family-friendly support
- Take advantage of healthcare offers (including discounted healthcare club membership), discounted cycle hire, and online shopping sites
- 5 days of paid volunteering leave
- 2 weeks paid reserve leave for the Armed Forces community
Your Experience and Skills
What you’ll be doing:
We are looking for an influential and commercially minded leader to shape and drive our industrial relations agenda, playing a critical role in delivering business efficiency while carefully managing risk. You will act as a trusted partner and change agent, building strong, constructive relationships, partnering with senior leaders, HR colleagues and trade union representatives to create the right environment for progress and collaboration. Leading at a national level, you will design and deliver effective bargaining and consultation strategies, modernise agreements to meet the needs of a changing organisation, and provide expert guidance on complex employee relations matters. With a deep understanding of both strategy and practice, you will help prevent and resolve disputes, protect the organisation’s interests, and provide specialist insight on legal and policy considerations. Through your leadership, you will shape and influence the wider ER and IR strategy, ensuring it supports long-term business goals while fostering positive, sustainable working relationships across the organisation.
What you’ll have:
- Significant ER and IR experience of a large multisite complex unionised organisation
- CIPD qualified or equivalent or relevant experience to demonstrate level of competence
- In depth knowledge of HR policies and procedures and employment legislation
- Demonstrates strong business/commercial approach and understanding of business needs.
- Ability to establish professional credibility quickly
- Ability to manage trade union negotiations on collective bargaining issues
- Broad experience of advising on the ER/IR implications of large scale complex organisational changes (eg TUPE, Organisation re-design, redundancy programmes etc)
- Change agent experience
- Passionate about customer service with the ability to deliver successfully against customer requirements
- Excellent communication skills and ability to negotiate and influence effectively at all levels in the organisation
- Proven track record of operating in a large complex unionised environment
Key Leadership Capabilities
- Influencing others
- Creating solutions
- Understanding others
- Making things happen
- Thinking flexibly
- Customer focus
We would also like but it isn’t crucial to have/to be:
- Experience in an HR generalist role
- Operating experience of employment law
- Employment law qualification
- Rail industry experience
