DFTO has over 30,000 employees, runs over 8,500 services a day and delivers over 640 million customer journeys across its networks every year. 7,000 people joined the railway family in the last year

Major improvements are being delivered by DFTO train operators (TOCs) that are already under public ownership – these are LNER, Northern, TransPennine Express (TPE), Southeastern, South Western Railway (SWR), c2c, Greater Anglia and WM Trains.

We work closely with the DfT but operate independently with our own governance and leadership teams. Our priority is ensuring efficient, dependable rail services for everyone.

Primary Purpose of Job:

Bring your analytical expertise to join us in the DfTO Rail Service Analysis (RSA) team. RSA is a friendly team of mixed-profession analysts with two G7s and two SEOs, undertaking high quality analysis that ensures Value for Money for taxpayers and farepayers on Britain’s railways. The team supports colleagues across the Department for Transport’s rail groups and is instrumental in informing decisions for an industry that delivers 1.5 billion passenger journeys a year with an expenditure of £25 billion.

Rail Services Analysis covers a number of areas including rolling stock, Train Operating Company annual business plans, open access operators, timetable changes, and the value of rail services. The wider Investment and Service Portfolio division includes teams responsible for passenger services Investment Portfolio and passenger service Portfolio Oversight. The successful candidates will work in DfTO’s Rail Service Analysis team. RSA colleagues are based across London and Leeds and the Grade 7 who will be line managing you in this role will be based in London.

This is one of a number of roles that recently transferring from DfT to DfT Operator Limited (DFTO), as part of the Great British Railways (GBR) programme. Roles that transfer from DFTO to GBR in the future are planned to do so via TUPE and maintain the same or substantially the same terms and conditions of employment.

We will discuss this with shortlisted candidates at interview, or if you have any immediate questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch and contact the post holder.

Key Deliverables:

• Passenger rail plays a vital role in the UK transport network, carrying over 1.5 billion journeys annually and supporting economic connectivity, regional growth, and environmental goals. In recent years, the net subsidy paid to passenger rail operators has exceeded £2 billion, and reducing this is a key government objective. The Rail Service Analysis team sits at the heart of this, providing the robust evidence and insight needed to shape business plans, ensure value for money, and inform strategic decisions about the future of the railway. Our work directly influences how services are delivered across the country and how taxpayer money is spent.
• As a Senior Analyst in RSA, you will use analysis, economics and modelling to provide advice and steer on major decisions that have significant impacts on the day-to-day running and the future shape of the rail network. You will be responsible for providing expert analytical advice to a range of audiences, including senior officials and Train Operating Companies. You will have a great variety within your role and opportunities to further develop a broad set of skills.
• In this role you will support the analysis of Annual Business Plan returns, working across multiple teams and disciplines to deliver outputs that directly influence multi-billion-pound spending decisions.  You will also lead analysis of open access rail applications, making use of a variety of specialist rail models and having the opportunity to develop your own modelling to enhance the process. This will require strong application of analytical best practices and your effective communication skills.

Key Responsibilities:

There are a number of key responsibilities for these roles:

• Responsibility for leading economic analysis, contributing to economic cases, feeding into board papers, and producing Value for Money and Analytical Assurance statements for senior boards.
• Building strong stakeholder relationships with policy teams, Train Operating Companies.
• (TOCs), Network Rail, Office of Rail and Road, Technical Advisers, and other organisations to deliver a range of rail projects.
• Advancing the use of data and analytical models in effective decision making, including:
  • supporting technical advisers to ensure analysis meets best practice guidance as set out in the Government’s Transport Analysis Guidance (TAG).
  • Working independently and autonomously, with scope to set deadlines and independently solve problems and find solutions.
  • Communicating results to a range of audiences, including leading presentations.
  • Supporting the development of the Rail Service Analysis team and playing a key corporate role in DfTO.

Knowledge, Skills, Experience & Technical Qualifications:

• These roles are suitable for an experienced analyst who is keen to develop expertise in transport economics, but no pre-existing transport experience is required.
• While we welcome applications from individuals eligible for a range of analytical professions within the UK government’s Government Analysis Function, the roles require strong quantitative analysis techniques.
• The role will require you to work independently, lead and manage projects, and confidently communicate analytical concepts and outputs for projects where you will be the primary analyst working with stakeholders.
• You will have experience of working in another economics or quantitative analytical role.
• You will come with experience of stakeholder management, developing and driving key relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• The role requires communication and organisation skills suitable to working in a fast-paced environment, where you will face competing demands and challenging deadlines.
• Existing rail specific technical modelling expertise is not necessary, but the role will require you to develop an understanding of various models.
• A knowledge of data science software such as R, Python or PowerBI is not necessary, but the role may present opportunities to develop skills in these.

DFTO Benefits:

Annual Leave: Starting at 25 days and rising to an additional day per year of service completed within the first 5 completed years up to a maximum of 5 additional (30 days)

DC Pension Scheme: 10% Employer contribution, 5% Employee contribution

Opportunities to learn and network across the wider industry

Additional Information:

Disclaimer: Candidates applying for this position on a secondment basis must inform their line manager prior to submitting their application. This is to ensure transparency and facilitate any necessary discussions regarding workload and responsibilities.

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.

Contact: If you have any questions or reasonable adjustments, please contact Amra.Hurley@dftoperator.co.uk.

Please do not email any CV’s to us, your application must be made by clicking the ‘Apply’ button.