Materials 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.

Interviews for this role will be held on Monday 2nd March at Eastleigh 

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

About the job

• Reporting to the Senior Materials Manager, this post will ensure that materials policies and procedures are in place and are operated and adhered to at all fleet production depots.
• Assist the Senior Materials Manager to establish and control of a comprehensive materials management strategy at all fleet production locations liaising with internal and external customers, agents, and suppliers to meet the planned and unplanned demands whilst ensuring the relevant ISO quality standards and financial budgets are adhered to.
• Assist the Senior Materials Manager to manage material budgetary constraints and ensure material budget is adhered to or make necessary arrangements with the Finance Department.
• Assist, manage and control the complete materials supply chain ensuring sustained availability at the least overall cost for SWR.
• Ensuring stock held is fully managed and is reflected accurately within the relevant computer-based stock systems and financial reports.
• Ensure Mat Pro policy is adhered to, regularly reviewed, and updated to ensure its relevance to latest ISO standards and SWR business requirements.
• This post is also responsible for the efficient management, storage, and dispatch of warranty material.
• Provide leadership and line management for teams and contractors at the locations within the scope of role, ensuring all activities are carried out safely, sustainably, and in compliance with all relevant SWR policies and procedures.
• Support the wider engineering team and business in delivering their plans where they are reliant upon the accountabilities of this role, ensuring safety is high priority and safety concerns are dealt with promptly.

Your main responsibilities will be:

• To communicate with SWR Directors and Manager's, Supervisors, Staff, Stores Personnel, Leasing Companies, Unipart Rail and other suppliers/agents or customers regarding all material and stock requirements
• Make sourcing decisions ensuring that order timing, quantity, quality, price and delivery are consistent with specification and relevant maintenance levels and customer due dates, Take action to secure delivery in the event of emergencies or poor performance.
• Initiate material plans for key materials in conjunction with customers, negotiating with suppliers to achieve materials flow, which minimises stock but supports sustained availability. Program regular plan reviews with both customers, agents and suppliers and manage change control.
• Ownership for the management materials budget in conjunction with Functional Managers considering the business plan and targets. Monitor budgetary performance and implement corrective actions.
• Introduce and maintain effective audit and monitoring arrangements which demonstrate efficient and effective management of materials and a continuous improvement cycle. This includes monitoring of Neptune across other depots.

• Lead, direct and develop stores personnel.
• Manage qualifications process for local supplies. Carry out audits of contractual performance and compliance as necessary.
• Agree timelines for C4, C6 and maintenance requirements with relevant managers to ensure material is delivered and available for the maintenance plans.
• Ensure that suppliers perform and supply goods as per contracted obligations.
• Carry out time with your manager, attendance management, communication briefings, poor performance, and disciplinary interviews as and when required.
• Liaise with SWR procurement and other materials managers, external and internal contractors and suppliers to obtain materials, when required to meet productivity targets and maintenance requirements.
• Manage material in accordance with Fleet Materials Procedure {Mat Pro).
• Authority to contract up to limit, of authority delegated to post holder. 
• Ensure all statutory legislation, company safety policies and procedures are rigorously applied, followed, and monitored.

• Ensure certification is maintained for ISO accreditation or any other relevant accreditation.
• Ensure all plant, machinery, equipment, facilities, and infrastructure are maintained to prescribed standards.
• Deliver objectives to align with the Business Plan and any other strategy in place.
• Perform initial investigations of performance and safety incidents (operational, occupational, technical) quickly and effectively, ensuring the outcome are recorded and reported as per procedure.
• Deliver at least four safety tours per year.
• Any other reasonable area/activity as notified from time to time.

What safety related activities does this role undertake?

• Take responsibility for the safety of yourself, colleagues, and anyone else who could be affected by what you do, or don't do.
• Follow the rules and procedures that are applicable to the role.
• Never walk by an unsafe condition or an unsafe act without either taking action or reporting it to somebody who can take action.
• Report ideas for improving safety performance.
• Always follow the environmental rules and procedures related to the role.
• Help improve environmental performance by making sure waste is minimised and resources are used efficiently (turning off PC's and monitors at the end of each day, using the recycling facilities provided etc).
• Never walk by something that could cause an environmental incident or lead to an inefficient use of resources.
• Report ideas for improving sustainability and environmental performance.

You'll need to have:

• Excellent communication, report writing, and negotiating skills are essential.
• Good analytical skills with attention to detail.
• Computer literate for production and developing of spread sheets.
• Knowledge of EAM and SAP software
• Working knowledge of MAT pro.
• Good knowledge of rolling stock and its operation
• 3·5 years material handling experience including auditing understanding of safety legislation and quality procedures

Desirable Knowledge/Skills/Experience?

• Strategic thinking and commercial awareness.
• Digital and data literacy
• Project management
• Change leadership
• Stakeholder and supplier management.

About the location

Salisbury Depot is home to South Western Railway's award winning Class 15X diesel fleet. The engineering team at the depot are responsible for all aspects of maintenance and repair of the trains, this includes; engines, transmissions, electrical control equipment, HVAC and the passenger environment amongst many other systems.

Serving the West of England, the SWR Class 15X are the long-standing reliability and performance leaders in their field across the UK due to the hard working team at Salisbury depot. Knowledge, pride and accountability among everyone at Salisbury helps make it a great environment to work, thrive and deliver the best possible journeys for our customers.  

Working pattern

Working an average of 37 hours per week over 5 days 

Mon to Fri, 07:15- 15:45.

There will be occasions to work outside of these hours due to people management requirements or business needs.

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/