Head of Rail & Maintenance Services

Freightliner; London; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job description

Freightliner is the UK's largest maritime intermodal logistics operator, transporting containers from all major deep-sea ports to our national network of inland terminals, as well as a leading operator in the UK Heavy Haul rail freight market. Freightliner has operations across Europe offering both Intermodal and Heavy Haul rail freight services seamlessly connecting European countries and the UK.

In the UK, the Freightliner Group operates under a number of legal entities including Freightliner Group Ltd, Freightliner Heavy Haul Ltd, Freightliner Ltd, Pentalver Transport Ltd, and Pentalver Cannock Ltd.

Freightliner was recently voted Rail Freight Company of the Year at the 2024 Multimodal Awards. We are proud to highlight the company’s commitment to increased diversity and a supportive work culture for all employees.

Role: Head of Rail & Maintenance Services

Within this role, you will drive market and product development for Freightliner in the Rail Services and Rolling Stock maintenance. The role is responsible for identifying and delivering new business wins with new customers, including leading our responses to tenders as well as leading account management within the relevant sector.

To further develop the strategic growth of the business, Freightliner needs to identify new markets and develop new products & services. The Head of Rail & Maintenance Services will support the Commercial Director’s efforts in:

• Market Research and Analysis
• Market Strategy
• Opportunity Identification
• Capture Management & Implementation
• Pricing strategy
• Account Management

Critical to the role will be the ability to work with colleagues from Finance, Operations & Engineering to analyse costs in a transparent manner such that commercial proposals can be both competitive and deliverable.

Main duties and responsibilities:

• To develop market strategy with the Commercial Management team including sectors and customers to target and related pricing and margin assumptions.
• To input into pipeline and qualification of new business opportunities throughout the process.
• To manage production of customer proposals and responses to tender exercises.
• To develop and manage pricing models for new business acting as a liaison to FDs and Operations.
• To assist the Commercial Director in managing the commercial sign-off process with Operations & Finance colleagues in order that P&L expectations for new business are understood.
• To lead and assist in contract negotiation and completion for new business wins in conjunction with the Development Director and other senior commercial management team.
• To work with Rail and Finance colleagues to establish customer and route profitability of sold work and agree action plans to address any shortfall in commercial performance.
• Lead a team of Account Managers for the relevant sector.
• Challenge existing business protocols with your own initiatives, pro-actively adding value to the business.
• Actively promote engagement, communication and dialogue within the team for the benefit of information flow, to embed best practice and to solidify management control and commercial and operational direction of the business.
• Ensure appropriate Designated Financial Authorities (‘DFAs’) are in place within your remit, and adhered to.
• Promote a mindset of “Safety First” and instil an ethos of continual safety improvement within your area of responsibility.
• Support and drive good governance and control (including Sarbanes Oxley (‘SOx’)) principles within your remit, identifying any potential deficiencies in controls and immediately remediate.
• Nurture and develop talent within the team, promote apprenticeships and development of junior talent, ensure capable management succession and ensure the team is appropriately motivated and developed so that they carry out their responsibilities to the required standard.
• In conjunction with your local Head of HR, ensure a robust recruitment, induction and ongoing development programme is in place for the team.
• Get involved in any ad hoc projects, including M&A activity, as may be required, from time to time.

Key job requirements:

Strong analytical skills with the ability to draw meaningful conclusions and actionable insight from business analytics. Strong understanding of the logistics sector, including cost levers, competition and operational constraints. Ability to build healthy working relationships with key business stakeholders while exhibiting independence and objectivity in thought and action. Ability to develop strong relationships with customers and industry partners. Ability to multi-task and work well under pressure, prioritising tasks and workload and managing conflicting demands. Initiative and ability to manage own time; responsive to tight deadlines. Excellent communication skills with all key stakeholders. Strong presentation skills. Excellent negotiation skills. Commercially astute, articulate, technically strong, dynamic, insightful and influential leader with the ability to operate at both a strategic and an operational level. Commercial bias with an understanding of financial management (comfortable with balance sheets and cash flow management) including business planning and forecasting. Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills - able to analyse data to evaluate options, use facts and data to implement solutions. Ability to initiate, sponsor and implement required organisational change to optimise business performance. Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to interact effectively with all levels of staff across the G&W UK/Europe region. Excellent communication skills both written and verbal. Ability to multitask and work well under pressure, prioritising tasks and workload and managing conflicting demands. Ability to navigate complex problems and ensure effective and sound decision making, systematically and under pressure. Ability to build healthy working relationships with business stakeholders while exhibiting independence and objectivity in thought and action. Effective management and delegation with the ability to build trust and motivate a team.

Our perks and benefits:

Our people are our most important asset. We strive to empower our employees, ensuring they are trained and competent, fit for work, always informed, and completely engaged in our culture that places safety and wellbeing firmly at the heart of everything we do.

We are looking for the most committed and reliable individuals who possess the knowledge, skills and experience needed for their roles. In return, we can offer considerable career progression, and a rewarding career in an award-winning team alongside:

• Competitive pay
• Fantastic final-salary pension scheme after an initial qualifying period
• Enhanced maternity & paternity pay
• Access to the company's life assurance scheme
• A range of benefits to make your own so you can get the most of your work and home life which will also help save you money and hassle. From reimbursement on health treatments, to savings on new cars.

This post is subject to standard pre-employment checks including employment references, medical & D&A screening, and successful DBS background checks.

Could it be time to start your career journey with us? Apply today!

Our commitment to you, once you join our team, is to foster growth and provide developmental opportunities to ensure you reach your utmost potential.