About the job

Job summary

Transport Scotland is the national transport agency for Scotland and accountable to Parliament and the public through Scottish Ministers, with a budget of around £3.5 billion per year. Transport is a vital feature of the Scottish Government’s focus on increasing sustainable economic growth, and transport investments and policies have major impacts on the economy, people and the environment.

 

Transport Scotland is starting a period of transition, with the completion of a number of major infrastructure projects and a greater emphasis on the promotion of air quality, active travel, accessibility, and the development of the low carbon economy. This work is outlined within the National Transport Strategy (NTS2) which provides a robust assessment of Scotland’s transport needs and priorities for the next 20 years. The agency’s Corporate Plan set out a range of associated activities.

 

Reporting to the Head of Rail Projects &Technical Services, you will work closely with the rail and construction industries at a senior level, with particular responsibility for ensuring that the governance, commercial and contractual arrangements of rail projects are appropriate, and that delivery arrangements are effective, with emphasis on risk management.

Job description

• Responsibility for ensuring delivery, on time and in budget, of the current portfolio of major projects being taken forward by the Rail Directorate Project Sponsorship team, and of supporting the development and delivery of a portfolio of future rail investment projects for Control Periods 7 and 8.
• Ensuring that appropriate governance is in place and used to achieve a consistently robust approach to project delivery and risk management across the rail investment portfolio.
• Ensuring funders requirements are optimised to deliver Ministers’ objectives as cost effectively as possible.
• Working with third party promoters, Network Rail, Scottish Rail Holdings and Train Operating Companies to ensure that projects are developed and implemented within the scope agreed, on time and in budget, using the established Team Scotland approach to fully collaborative working.
• Lead a rail project sponsorship team, securing effective collaboration from critical support teams, including the wider Transport Scotland Rail Directorate. You will participate in various cross-cutting teams contributing to rail and wider Scottish Government objectives.

Competencies
People Management
Leading Others
Analysis and Use of Evidence
Financial Management

Person specification

Qualifications and Experience Required

Be a chartered Quantity Surveyor or Civil Engineer or, as a minimum be working towards membership of an appropriate professional institution and have previously worked in the railway supply chain for one of the following:

• Consultancy
• Contractor or Sub Contractor
• Directly for Network Rail

 

Essential Criteria
1. Extensive construction and rail industry experience across the delivery of a wide range of complex engineering projects with experience in the use of various types of procurement models and familiarity with the Scottish Public Finance Manual.
2. Experience in working as part of a senior management team including reporting to Directors and producing project reports which identify key issues relating to progress and cost using an effective early warning system.
3. Experience of leading multi-organisational work streams and building productive partnerships with senior internal and external stakeholders to deliver outcomes.
4. Applicants should possess strong oral and written communication skills, with an ability to critically analyse and evaluate a wide range of complex information, and communicate this succinctly to Ministers and/or senior leaders.

Minimum Time in Post
You will be expected to remain in post for a minimum of three years unless successful at gaining promotion to a higher Band or Grade. 
 
In the event that further posts are required, a reserve list of successful candidates will be kept for up to 12 months. 

Location
This post is based in Glasgow, with hybrid working in line with current Transport Scotland policies. You will be expected to be office based twice per week, pro rata.
The post is a full time role, but staff with different working patterns are invited to apply, and we will assess proposed working patterns against the business requirements for this post.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £71,967, Scottish Government contributes £19,431 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

Additional Information
To apply please fully complete the application and submit evidence based examples to demonstrate your knowledge/skills (300 words). Remember, your answers should be clear, concise and reflect what actions you undertook. You may want to use the STAR(R) approach to respond to each criterion.

 

Important Information regarding Interviews
Interviews may be conducted in a virtual/remote setting. All applicants must ensure that they have a suitable space to complete the virtual interview via MS Teams and ensure that Wi-Fi/Broadband capacity will be sufficient to carry both audio and video feeds to undertake the interview.

 

For information on this post please contact Hiring Manager, Hilary Cameron by email at

 

The Scottish Government is a diverse and inclusive workplace and we want to help you demonstrate your full potential whatever type of assessment is used. If you require any adjustments to our recruitment process, please let us know via scottishgovernmentrecruitment@gov.scot

 

As part of any recruitment process, Scottish Government and associated public bodies collects and processes personal data relating to job applicants and applicants for public appointments.

Personal information you provide in the recruitment process will be made available to Scottish Government and our additional data processors.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.