Safety Assurance Director - Rail

Safety Assurance Director – Rail

Safety Assurance Director – Rail in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is a senior role for an experienced systems safety leader with extensive rail operations experience. The incumbent will establish, govern, and continuously strengthen the rail safety assurance framework across complex infrastructure, rolling stock, signalling, operations, maintenance, and capital projects.

• Develop and maintain the rail safety assurance strategy, policies, standards, and management systems.
• Align safety assurance arrangements with Saudi Arabian regulations, international standards, and recognized industry practices.
• Define the safety governance framework for rail operations, maintenance, renewals, upgrades, and new developments.
• Establish clear assurance responsibilities, approval routes, accountabilities, and escalation procedures.
• Chair or participate in executive safety committees, technical assurance panels, and safety review boards.
• Provide regular assurance reports, risk summaries, performance trends, and strategic recommendations to executive leadership.
• Design and implement hazard identification, risk assessment, safety case, verification, validation, and change‑control processes.
• Ensure safety requirements are captured, allocated, traced, verified, and closed throughout the system lifecycle.
• Lead the preparation, review, maintenance, and approval of safety cases and supporting evidence.
• Oversee safety documentation for infrastructure, rolling stock, signalling, communications, control systems, depots, stations, and supporting assets.
• Ensure appropriate application of systems engineering and systems safety methodologies.
• Monitor compliance with relevant rail safety laws, technical standards, regulatory guidance, and internal policies.
• Act as the principal contact for safety regulators, accreditation bodies, independent assessors, and external assurance stakeholders.
• Coordinate regulatory submissions, certifications, licences, technical dossiers, and formal approvals.
• Lead the preparation and defence of safety cases during regulatory and independent reviews.
• Monitor regulatory and standards changes and assess their effect on operations, projects, systems, and procedures.
• Direct implementation of required changes arising from revised legislation or technical standards.
• Provide assurance that rail operations and maintenance activities follow approved safety controls.
• Oversee safety assessment of timetable changes, route changes, new services, and operational modifications.
• Review assurance arrangements for new or modified rolling stock, signalling systems, infrastructure, and station assets.
• Ensure operational changes undergo proportionate risk assessment, validation, and formal approval.
• Review and approve safety‑related operating procedures, technical rules, instructions, and control measures.
• Provide independent safety assurance for rail projects, major renewals, enhancements, and network expansions.
• Confirm that project safety risks are identified and managed from concept through entry into service.
• Ensure safety requirements are incorporated into design decisions, procurement packages, specifications, and contracts.
• Oversee safety verification and validation throughout design, construction, testing, and commissioning.
• Lead entry‑into‑service readiness reviews and confirm outstanding safety issues are controlled.
• Sponsor independent safety audits, technical reviews, peer assessments, and evaluations of safety‑critical systems.
• Monitor test evidence, assurance records, hazard closure, and certification readiness.
• Oversee investigations into significant incidents, near misses, technical failures, and safety‑related events.
• Ensure root causes, contributing factors, and systemic weaknesses are properly identified.
• Track corrective and preventive actions through verified closure.
• Capture lessons learned and incorporate them into policies, standards, procedures, training, and future designs.
• Establish a risk‑based safety audit and inspection program.
• Monitor audit findings, action owners, due dates, and evidence of completion.
• Drive continuous improvement in safety performance, assurance maturity,…