Continuous Improvement Manager Apprentice

For this apprenticeship, you will need to be aged 18+ years on the 1st September 2026.

Who are we?

South Western Railway (SWR) operates over 1,500 services each weekday across the network and employs more than 5,000 people. We provide easy and convenient mobility, connecting people and communities in South West London, southern counties of England, and the Isle of Wight.

Join our team and help us continue to bring people together to get the most out of life.

About the job

The purpose of this role is to facilitate continuous improvement within the Service Delivery (Control) function to facilitate and drive meaningful improvements within the Control space in order to achieve an aim of being able to provide a service our customers can rely on, particularly during disruptive events.

Responsibilities will include:

• Direct, develop and foster a culture of structured continuous improvement across the control.
• Facilitate structured continuous improvement utilising the agreed tools to solve problems and implement the solution.
• Engagement with stakeholders to deliver the organisation's structured continuous improvement strategy.
• Coach and mentor control team members on structured continuous improvement and techniques, providing coaching and support.
• Support a sustained culture of structured continuous improvement challenging existing processes, exploring new ways of working, benchmarking, observations, best practice, feedback and analysis presenting business cases for change and supporting proposals. Work with teams to identify and improve areas of poor performance.

Role Specific Responsibilities:

• To act as Subject Matter Expert for issues pertaining to Control processes, policies and decision support tools.
• To identify and lead on the delivery of Control performance improvement workstreams within their area of expertise, including the identification and adoption of industry good practice.
• To undertake incident learning reviews to identify both areas of good practice and areas for improvement.
• To act as custodian for the ROC Visualisation Boards, ensuring that they are accurate and are updated on a daily basis (via the agreed Vis Board process).
• Responsible for the production and maintenance of Control Standard Operating Procedures.
• To act as custodian and administrator of the SWR Train Service Recovery ‘Decision Support Tool', ensuring that the Base Plan is always accurate and up-to-date (in accordance with the agreed and published process).
• To help build strong and effective relationships between and across the SWR and NR Command & Control workstreams.
• To report relevant information and updates about the CI team activities back to the Head of CI.
• To resolve issues relevant to workstream deliverables and within their area of expertise.
• To identify and provide recommendations for procedural improvements.
• To obtain or provide approval for changes to rules, processes and policies.

You'll need:

• Predicted to or achieved Grade C/4 or above in English and Maths, or Level 2 Functional Skills.
• An appreciation of Lean/Continuous Improvement tools, techniques and methodologies
• Effective leadership qualities and excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• Committed to continued Continuous Improvement professional development.
• Strong operational focus and commercially astute.
• The ability to work independently or as part of a team and successfully adapt to changing priorities.

Working pattern

You will work an average of 37 hours per week, Monday - Friday.

The Reward

In return we offer a competitive salary and a variety of valuable benefits, including:

• Free duty and leisure travel on SWR services for employees
• Free leisure travel for spouse/partner and dependants (criteria dependent)
• 75% discount on many other train operating companies
• Full training and support with development
• Excellent pension scheme

We all belong at SWR. Our vision is to provide an inclusive environment for all colleagues, ensuring all candidates have an equal opportunity to access meaningful employment.

We value our differences such as age, gender, LGBTQIA+, ethnicity, religion, and disability. We maintain a zero tolerance towards any form of prejudice towards our colleagues, customers, and future talent.

We celebrate and encourage diversity of thought, progressive ways of working and seeing all our colleagues grow and thrive.

If you require additional support to complete your application due to a disability or neurodivergent condition, for example, dyslexia, dyspraxia, or autism, please follow the links below.  We encourage you to share any additional needs you may require so we can provide a fair and equal process for all who apply.

https://exceptionalindividuals.com/neurodiversity/

https://www.healthassured.org/blog/neurodiversity/