Head of Northern Powerhouse Rail and High Speed

Are you an exceptional strategic leader who can shape one of the North’s most significant transport programmes?

We are looking for a Head of Northern Powerhouse Rail and High Speed to lead TfGM’s contribution to the strategic development of Northern Powerhouse Rail and associated high-speed rail priorities. This is a high-profile role at the intersection of transport, economic growth, devolution, government policy, and major public investment.

You will represent Greater Manchester’s interests with senior stakeholders across organisational boundaries and with ministers, build support for investment, and lead colleagues through a complex and evolving programme of work. This is a high-profile role, supporting a £45 billion commitment to rail investment in the North set out by the Government.

Your Role

You will provide strategic leadership for TfGM’s work on Northern Powerhouse Rail and high-speed connectivity, helping to develop an integrated approach across rail, road, bus, and tram. You will shape strategies, business cases, funding submissions, and delivery priorities, working closely with the Department for Transport, HM Treasury, local authorities, transport partners, and other government bodies. You will provide clear, authoritative advice to senior leaders and elected members, represent TfGM through formal scrutiny and committee processes (including Select Committees), and defend Greater Manchester’s position when required. As a collegiate leader, you will bring multidisciplinary teams and partners together around a clear direction and shared outcomes.

Who are we?

Transport for Greater Manchester works to improve transport and support sustainable growth, opportunity, and quality of life across Greater Manchester.

This role sits within the Plan and Develop Directorate and reports to the Transport Planning and Development Director. It works across TfGM and with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), Greater Manchester and neighbouring local authorities, the Department for Transport, HM Treasury, Transport for the North, Network Rail, National Highways, transport operators, and other public- and private-sector partners. The postholder will be responsible for connecting national investment and policy decisions with Greater Manchester’s ambitions for an integrated transport network, economic growth, and prosperity.

This is an opportunity to influence nationally significant transport policy while helping to shape long-term outcomes for Greater Manchester and the wider North.

What you’ll bring

What you do and how you do it is important whatever type of role you work in at TfGM and even small behaviours and actions can have a really big impact. At TfGM, our behaviours bring to life our values of Deliver, Care and Adapt.

You will bring substantial strategic leadership experience in a complex, politically sensitive environment, alongside strong knowledge of transport and public policy. You will have successfully developed transport solutions, business cases, funding propositions, and major programmes in partnership with public- and private-sector organisations. You will be credible with elected officials, government departments and Civil Service bodies, committees, and external stakeholders, with excellent judgement, negotiation, written communication, and presentation skills. You will Deliver through disciplined programme and financial leadership, Care by building trust and bringing people with you, and Adapt by navigating scrutiny, ambiguity, and changing political and policy priorities.

What we can offer you

This role offers the opportunity to lead TfGM’s contribution to a nationally significant programme, influence decisions at the highest levels, and make a lasting contribution to Greater Manchester and the North. You will work with senior leaders, elected members, government departments, and transport partners, while leading talented multidisciplinary teams across a high-profile and evolving portfolio as the remit of devolution continues to expand under the new Government administration. The role provides considerable scope to shape strategy, build collaborative partnerships, and develop your experience of major investment, government engagement, public scrutiny, and organisational leadership.

Our benefits include:

• 28 days holiday per annum (plus bank holidays)
• Flexible and hybrid working options to promote and support a good work/life balance
• Free bus travel within Greater Manchester and free Rail or Metrolink travel to and from work within the Greater Manchester boundary
• Local Government Defined Benefit Pension Scheme which includes life cover of 3x your salary and options to increase your pension contributions
• Commitment to learning and personal development and upskilling with reimbursement of professional fees, where essential to the role
• We promote good physical and mental health and can provide additional support to staff via our employee assistance programme when required

What’s next?

If you believe you have the skills and experience required, we’d really like to hear from you. To apply please submit your CV and provide a covering letter providing clear examples of how your experience meets the requirements of the attached role profile, all appointments will be based on merit. Our short-listing process is anonymised, so please do not include your name or contact details on either of these documents. If any personal details are included these will be visible to the hiring manager.

Your covering statement should be no longer than 1,250 words, setting out clear examples evidencing:

• Strategic leadership in a complex environment
• Leadership of transport strategy and programme delivery
• Managing business cases, funding, and financial leadership
• Political, government, and scrutiny exposure
• Collegiate stakeholder and people leadership

We embrace AI to enhance our operations and to innovate our services. However, we value human talent and are looking for passionate individuals to join our organisation. Please ensure you personally complete your application and read all the instructions carefully to maximise your chances of success. Applications that rely too heavily on AI may be rejected during shortlisting, however we understand that AI may be used as a reasonable adjustment, if using AI to support your application, please give a brief explanation why to help ensure fair selection process.

TfGM is proud to be an equal opportunities employer that encourages and celebrates diversity. We want to recruit and retain a workforce that reflects the communities we serve and welcome individuals from all backgrounds by committing to providing a fully inclusive and accessible recruitment process. We will offer support and reasonable adjustments if required and we also have a Guaranteed Assessment Scheme which you can find out more information on here.

For this opportunity, you must be able to prove you have the right to work in the UK - if in doubt please visit the following link Employers' right to work checklist - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Please note we are not a licensed sponsor.

Please note we may close the advert early if we receive a high volume of applications.

NOTE TO AGENCIES we will be accepting direct applications only for this role. No fee will be paid if a candidate is hired for this position as a result of an unsolicited agency or search firm referral CV.

Supporting Documents

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