Duty Control Manager

 If you thrive in fast-paced operational environments and enjoy leading teams through complex challenges, this is an outstanding opportunity to make a real impact.

Joining a leading rail freight operation, you'll take on a pivotal leadership role within a busy, safety-critical control environment where no two days are the same. As Duty Control Manager, you'll oversee regional operations, support a team of Train Controllers, and lead responses to incidents and disruption across the network.

You'll be the key decision-maker when it matters most, maintaining the overall operational picture, balancing competing priorities, and ensuring services continue to run safely, efficiently and in line with customer expectations.

Working closely with planning, rostering, depot teams and senior operational leaders, you'll play a critical role in driving operational performance and coordinating effective service delivery. You'll also have the opportunity to help shape a newly established Service Delivery Centre, influencing standards, developing capability, and embedding a culture of operational excellence from day one.

Whether you're already working in rail or bring leadership experience from another safety-critical control environment, this role offers genuine responsibility, autonomy, and the opportunity to make a lasting impact within a growing and evolving operation.

Operational Oversight: Maintain full situational awareness across the South region, ensuring services are delivered safely, efficiently and in line with operational priorities.

Control Room Leadership: Lead and support Train Controllers, providing guidance, oversight and direction throughout every shift.

Decision Support: Assist controllers with complex operational issues, balancing safety, performance and customer impact to drive effective outcomes.

Major Incident Coordination: Lead the response to significant incidents and operational disruption, ensuring a structured, safe and consistent approach.

Stakeholder Communication: Ensure accurate, timely and professional communication with customers, depots, operational teams, industry partners and senior leadership.

Risk Management & Escalation: Identify operational risks and escalate issues appropriately where customer impact or operational performance requires intervention.

Standards Compliance: Maintain operational discipline, procedural compliance, accurate record keeping and high control room standards.

Cross-Functional Coordination: Work closely with planning, rostering and depot teams to ensure aligned decision-making and effective service delivery.

Incident Reporting: Ensure all control logs, reports and operational records are accurately maintained and completed.

Industry Representation: Represent the company at external operational meetings and stakeholder forums when required.

Experienced Leader: Proven experience leading teams within a fast-paced, safety-critical operational or control room environment.

Transferable Experience: Suitable backgrounds include rail operations, aviation operations management, emergency services control leadership, logistics control centres, utilities network operations and public transport operations.

Incident Management Expertise: Demonstrable experience coordinating responses to major operational incidents, disruption events or emergency situations.

Operationally Focused: Able to maintain a clear operational overview while managing competing priorities and delivering effective outcomes under pressure.

Excellent Communicator: Strong verbal and written communication skills with the ability to engage confidently with stakeholders at all levels.

Collaborative: Experienced in bringing cross-functional teams together to ensure disruption responses remain coordinated and effective.

Calm Under Pressure: Confident making informed decisions in high-pressure environments where safety and operational performance are critical.

People-Focused: Passionate about supporting, coaching and developing operational teams while promoting a culture of excellence and accountability.

Swindon (Full-time on-site due to the operational nature of the role).

Rotating shift patterns and flexible working arrangements are required.

Training Salary: £48,220.50

Qualified Salary: £64,294

Salary progression is dependent upon successful training completion and achievement of operational competency standards.

Ford & Stanley Talent Services Group are in the business of people and performance. Our mission is to create one million better workdays through facilitating great recruitment, leadership and occupational mental fitness. We support our clients in their most challenging business areas – recruiting, developing and retaining the best talent from shop floor to boardroom.

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Ford & Stanley Talent Services Group Ltd is a Disability Confident employer that is committed to a policy of equal opportunities for all opportunity seekers. We shall adhere to such a policy at all times and will review on an on-going basis all aspects of recruitment to avoid unlawful or undesirable discrimination. We will treat everyone equally irrespective sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, age, disability, colour, race, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief or political beliefs and we place an obligation upon all staff to respect and act in accordance with the policy.

Ref: Duty Control Manager