West Coast Partnership Development is the Shadow Operator for high speed and intercity services on the West Coast route corridor following the opening of HS2. Our purpose is to design, deliver and operate an integrated high-speed and intercity train service that meets the needs and expectations of passengers and maximises the benefits of significant public investment.

We are the customer champion and the future operator and have a mission to deliver more journeys, faster journeys, better journeys. We believe that High Speed services should be a great travel experience. One that is easy, reliable and comfortable. We’ll do this by keeping things simple, removing sources of stress and prioritising our customers.

The Programme of work to deliver this, and the ultimate benefits is significant and complex. The WCPD Programme Management Office (PMO) is the engine room behind the scenes, with a diverse team of multi-talented, multi skilled, proactive Project Portfolio Management (PPM) professionals with extensive background in PMO/Programme and Project delivery who enjoy thriving in the busy, complex and strategic Programme delivery environment supporting a diverse range of internal and external stakeholders.

Our work is helping to shape the future travel of GB, and we have a variety of exciting vacancies for the right PPM professionals to get involved and help deliver the HSS. Look at the roles below and if you think that you have what it takes, get in touch.

It is imperative that we at WCPD take our contractual and compliance commitments as the north star in demonstrating to our stakeholders that we are delivering what we said we would do, when we said we would do it, efficiently for the UK taxpayer. 

We are looking for an experienced Contracts and Compliance Manager to lead the relationship with DfT in this area, as a fixed term contract for six months (maternity cover), and enable us to continue to provide quality assurance in this area.

The purpose of the job to lead on franchise compliance and ensure the Shadow Operator aspects of the National Rail Contract (NRC) are managed and adhered to:

• Tracking and delivery of contractual obligations of the NRC, including assuring delivery of products to scope and business plan commitments.
• Assurance that all changes requested impacting key deliverables within the Accepted and Transitional Programme are managed and controlled from a contract perspective.
• Ensure Contract Management Systems represent an accurate and up to date repository for all WCPD franchise-related communications.
• Support and work with colleagues across the business to understand the NRC and collate evidence to support our compliance.
• Maintain relationships with DfT.  
• Champion of all compliance aspects for the Shadow Operator.

The key accountabilities for the role are:

*       Understand the National Rail Contract and become a champion of compliance for all Shadow Operator aspects and activities.

*       Accountable for ensuring WCPD delivers in compliance with the NRC: maintenance of compliance framework, tracking of core contract deliverables, assessment of Overarching Requirements framework and controls.

*       Work closely with the WCPD team to ensure understanding of the contract and consistency of compliance approach and processes; ensure key compliance milestones are built into Programme deliverables.

*       Check quality and compliance of documentation issued to third parties, including DfT and HS2 Ltd. Review WCPD documents and deliverables throughout the project lifecycle, identifying gaps opportunities for improvement in compliance.   

*       Management of Contract Changes, Variations and Derogations.

*       Lead on the use and continued embedding of the CoreStream Contract Management System (CMS) across the WCPD team.

*       Maintain WCPD input to Jaggaer, DfT preferred CMS platform. 

*       Take a proactive approach to risk management, tailoring reporting requirements for internal reporting (e.g. to WCPD Executive Team) and the DfT to provide comfort that WCPD is compliant with its contractual obligations.

*       Support on the production and maintenance of the of the Shadow Operator Handover Package, a suite of contractual and operational documents and submit to the DfT when required.

*       Support the business to ensure compliance against First Group controls and procedures, including finance, procurement, business ethics, GDPR.

*       Facilitate informal DfT Commercial meetings.

*       Support relationship management with DfT commercial team.

*       Ad hoc responsibilities at request of WCPD Finance and Contracts Director / Head of Finance and Commercial Management

*       ‘To ensure the safety of yourself, others and the railway are at the forefront of everything we do’ 

The role is based in London (338 Euston Road) and with the requirement for some travel on our network at times. The expectation will be a minimum of 3 days per week in the office. 

Salary:  competitive package with great benefits depending on skills and experience

West Coast Partnership Development

West Coast Partnership comprises two distinct parts – Avanti West Coast and West Coast Partnership Development. Avanti West Coast runs the InterCity West Coast train services from London to north England, north Wales and Scotland. 

Our work in WCPD is focused on developing plans for what the new high-speed services will look like (customer experience), how they will work (railway operations) and how we will start running new services and trains (mobilisation). Over the next 10 years we will develop and implement a programme (HS2 Ltd are building the new railway and associated infrastructure).

Your application

At WCPD, we value the differences that make each of us outstanding! We recognise the benefits of building a diverse workforce and employing people from diverse backgrounds, which includes their race, religion, age, gender, gender identity, disability and sexual orientation. 

Everyone who joins us becomes part of our close-knit team. We're committed to ensuring that we are expansive and a place where people are encouraged to be themselves, and not an edited version to fit in. A place where differences are encouraged, recognised, accepted and put to good use!