CX Fleet Design and Life Cycle Manager

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

This role is part of the Innovation team, reporting to the Design and Innovation Lead.  A primary focus of the role will be collaborating with the Engineering and Infrastructure Directorate, and other key stakeholders, leading the CX design and delivery of new and refurbished trains to a high standard - ensuring customer experience, functionality and accessibility. The remit of the role will also include, working with functions across the business to find and then implement, products or create standards / processes to improve the customer experience aligned to the Customer Priority Areas.

This role will identify the customer needs in a post covid and new Great British Railways world, using Research & Insight and the larger business objectives that a product or feature will fulfil, show what success looks like to a product and turn the vision into reality. They will engage with key stakeholders internally and externally to make sure that the product or process takes onboard key feedback and is therefore successful in its implementation before handing over the Customer Experience Team or other BAU team.

Your main responsibilities will be:

• Represent the customer groups (Commuter, Leisure, Business), across the business in all projects and meetings you attend. Ensuring you build effective relationships with stakeholders, from front line customer facing colleagues to specialist departments and board members
• Create a plan, aligned to our Fleet Strategy, that details when the CX interiors of each of our trains will need to be refreshed and identify the lifecycle and budgets required for CX product replacement onboard. For examples seat covers, carpets etc.  
• Working with a design expert, make use of data and information gathered by the Research and Insight team and industry research, to develop the design the CX interior  onboard. Addressing the challenges or gaps identified with onboard experience for our customers whilst considering cost and revenue generation.
• Conduct research into products or processes used in other TOCs or industries to seek out innovative products/processes or best practice that could work at SWR
• After identifying key processes or products to close the gap in customer experience, it will need to be understood how this product or process fits into the CX strategy or wider business strategy and plan how this can be turned from a vision into a reality.
• Work with the Fleet and Commercial team to write business cases that ensure the proposal is accurately costed and feasible, to gain buy in and approval from key stakeholders/groups internal and external such as DfT and DfTO
• Work closely with key stakeholders and specialist teams to determine the direction and desired outcomes from the initiatives. This could include leading workshops, chairing meetings, visiting suppliers.
• Forge cross functional relationships and work closely with key internal and external stakeholders to influence the delivery and outcomes of any investment, recommended process change, or project delivery, ensuring that valuable insight and input is gathered for relevant projects
• Working with project support, lead the delivery of any planned CX Fleet upgrades ensuring scope, time and budgets (in the region of £70M) are met to a high standard. Setting up appropriate governance structures and programme management meetings as required.
• Ensure appropriate evaluation measures are in place to determine the success of projects.
• Identify risks and opportunities to projects (including any anticipated resistance to change) and determine appropriate mitigation, ensuring that BAU performance levels are maintained throughout
• Keep abreast of innovation and products being developed and trialled elsewhere, both within and outside of rail, which may be applicable to SWR
• Measure projects and initiatives, updating at the Customer Steering Group, to track progress in delivery of our Strategy, alongside measures to assess performance against the standards you introduce.
• Provide expert support as required to other parts of the CX function
• Once projects are completed hand over to the Senior CX Team or other functions across the business to take on as BAU

You'll need to be:

• Customer first approach – the natural ability to, before all else, first see the world from the viewpoint of our customers
• Experience of working with rolling stock and/or in a Fleet environment
• Insight orientated – using insight to inform product design and innovation
• Natural focus on the needs/improvements that will bring the biggest benefit to our customers, and the sense of urgency and determination to make it happen at speed
• Significant experience of defining and developing innovative solutions, including both products and processes
• Change management gained within a large / complex operational business
• A strong commercial focus and is financially astute
• Ability to work independently or as part of a team and successfully adapt to changing priorities
• Outstanding communication, presentation and influencing skills are a must, including the ability to effectively communicate proposals to senior leaders across the business to drive innovation
• Technical knowledge applicable to the rail industry
• Experience of managing process change
• Project management qualification or experience in a relevant industry

Working pattern

You will work an average of 37 hours across 5 days per week, typically; Monday - Friday, office hours.

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/