Programme Controls Manager

Scotland's Railway plays a critical role in connecting communities, supporting the economy and moving people and goods across the country. This role offers the opportunity to influence how the railway is planned, funded and developed, with the programme informing decisions that will extend well beyond the next five-year funding period.

You will join at a formative stage, giving you genuine scope to shape and embed the programme rather than simply administer an established system. Working alongside the Programme Manager, senior decision-makers and specialists from across the railway, you will gain broad exposure to strategic planning across infrastructure, train services, investment, finance, operations and government.

At Network Rail, you will be part of an organisation with a clear public purpose and a culture built around care, respect and teamwork. You will be supported to develop through personal development plans and wider opportunities including training and mentoring.

If you can bring structure to complexity, connect information across multiple work streams and take the initiative to turn insight into action, we would like to hear from you.

¿ Help shape the future of Scotland's Railway

We're looking for an experienced Programme Controls Manager to support the development of Scotland's Railway's Integrated Strategic Business Plan.

Sitting at the heart of the regulated funding process for Scotland's Railway, the plan will bring together infrastructure and train service planning and set out how the outcomes and outputs required by Scottish Ministers can be delivered within the funding available. It will provide the evidence and choices needed to inform decisions for the 2029-34 funding period, while taking a longer-term view where strategically important decisions extend beyond it.

This is a rare opportunity to help shape how Scotland's Railway plans for the future. Working across organisations and specialist work streams, you will help bring together infrastructure, train services, investment and delivery planning into one coherent, evidence-led plan.

Working alongside the Head of Business Planning and Strategy and Programme Manager, you will establish and maintain the controls needed to manage this complex programme effectively. You will create a clear and reliable view of progress across work streams, bringing together milestones, dependencies, risks, resources, decisions and major submissions. You will also oversee the production of high-quality programme artefacts, providing senior governance and decision-making forums with the evidence, insight and recommendations needed to act with confidence.

You will collaborate with the Programme Manager, Head of Business Planning and Strategy, Senior Responsible Owner, workstream owners and subject matter experts across Scotland's Railway. You will help teams plan consistently, identify gaps or conflicting assumptions and take the initiative to resolve issues before they affect the wider programme, ensuring that workstream outputs come together at the right time and to the required standard.

This is more than a programme reporting role. It is an opportunity to establish the controls and ways of working that will underpin a nationally important programme and contribute directly to the future of Scotland's Railway.

¿ What you'll lead

• Develop and maintain the integrated programme plan, bringing together workstream activities, milestones, dependencies and major submissions.
• Establish proportionate programme controls, reporting, assurance and change-control arrangements that provide a reliable view of progress and confidence.
• Coordinate programme‑level risks, issues, assumptions and dependencies, taking ownership of matters that cut across…