Head of Asset Management

Position Overview

The Head of Asset Management is responsible for leading the organization’s asset management function, strategy and governance across all infrastructure asset classes, including track and permanent way, signalling, telecommunications, civil infrastructure and yellow plant.

The role establishes and maintains the Asset Management Policy, Asset Management Strategy and Asset Management Plans in alignment with ISO 55000 principles, organizational objectives and operational requirements. The position ensures that asset-related decisions achieve the optimum balance between performance, safety, risk, reliability, availability and whole-life cost.

The Head of Asset Management provides strategic leadership for asset performance, lifecycle planning, investment prioritization, renewals, condition management and asset data governance, ensuring that infrastructure assets continue to support safe, reliable, efficient and sustainable railway operations.

Roles and Responsibility

• Lead the development, implementation and continuous improvement of the organization’s asset management function across track, signalling, telecommunications, civil infrastructure, yellow plant and other relevant asset classes.
• Establish and maintain an integrated asset management framework aligned with ISO 55000 principles, organizational strategy and operational objectives.
• Develop, own and maintain the Asset Management Policy, Asset Management Strategy and Asset Management Plans, translating business objectives into clear asset priorities and requirements.
• Provide strategic leadership and direction to asset management and engineering teams, embedding consistent risk-based and whole-life asset management principles across the organization. Contribute to and support the ‘digitalization of the network’ in relation to asset data and asset requirements, liaising with IT/Data teams
• Establish lifecycle strategies covering asset acquisition, operation, maintenance, enhancement, renewal, replacement and disposal.
• Ensure Asset Management Plans balance safety, performance, operational requirements, asset condition, risk and whole-life cost and are regularly updated as requirements evolve.
• Establish asset performance frameworks, KPIs and targets covering reliability, availability, maintainability, safety, condition and cost efficiency.
• Monitor portfolio and asset-class performance, lead performance reviews and ensure appropriate actions are implemented to address emerging risks, systemic issues and performance gaps.
• Provide senior management with clear visibility of asset health, reliability, risk, lifecycle status and future investment requirements.
• Drive continuous improvement in asset reliability, availability, maintainability, lifecycle performance and cost efficiency.
• Direct investment prioritization across the asset portfolio based on condition, performance, operational criticality, safety risk and whole-life cost.
• Establish governance and methodologies for prioritizing major maintenance, renewals, replacements, upgrades and asset enhancement programmes.
• Lead development of medium- and long-term asset renewal, lifecycle and investment plans, ensuring decisions are supported by technical evidence, asset data and risk analysis.
• Review and challenge asset investment proposals and support development of business cases for major renewals, upgrades and improvement programmes.
• Ensure lifecycle and investment decisions appropriately consider operational impact, maintainability, asset obsolescence, technology changes, capacity requirements and long-term sustainability.
• Establish a structured approach to identifying, assessing, managing and reporting asset-related risks across all asset classes.
• Maintain visibility of critical and high-risk assets, ensure appropriate mitigation plans are established and escalate significant asset risks where required.
• Oversee governance of asset registers, condition information, maintenance history and lifecycle records, establishing appropriate data standards, ownership and quality requirements.
• Drive improvement and integration of asset information systems, ensuring accurate and reliable asset, maintenance, performance and financial information supports decision-making.
• Oversee condition-monitoring strategies and promote the use of inspection, diagnostic, predictive and analytical technologies to understand asset condition and degradation.
• Develop organizational capability in predictive and risk-based maintenance, asset analytics, lifecycle modelling and data-driven renewal planning.
• Provide strategic asset-management oversight of engineering, maintenance, renewal and upgrade activities, ensuring alignment with Asset Management Plans and lifecycle objectives.
• Review significant asset failures, recurring reliability issues and systemic engineering risks, ensuring lessons learned are incorporated into maintenance, renewal and future asset strategies.
• Collaborate with Operations, Maintenance, Engineering, Projects, HSEQ, Finance, Procurement and senior leadership, and represent Asset Management in relevant governance committees, technical forums, business planning and investment reviews.
• Lead, develop and manage the Asset Management team, building capability across lifecycle planning, reliability, condition monitoring and asset analytics while promoting accountability, collaboration, technical excellence and continuous improvement.

Desirable qualifications, skills and experience

Academic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Asset Management or another relevant technical discipline.
• Professional engineering membership, Chartered Engineer status or equivalent professional accreditation is preferred.
• Recognised qualification or certification in asset management, reliability or lifecycle management would be advantageous.

Experience:

• 8+ years of experience in related field.
• Significant experience in asset management, engineering or infrastructure management within railway, metro, heavy rail or another complex asset-intensive industry.
• Demonstrated leadership experience managing asset management or engineering functions across multiple asset classes.
• Strong experience developing and implementing Asset Management Policies, Strategies and Asset Management Plans.
• Practical knowledge and application of ISO 55000 asset management principles.
• Experience managing infrastructure asset portfolios including track, signalling, telecommunications, civil assets and/or heavy engineering plant.
• Strong experience in asset performance, reliability, condition management and lifecycle planning.
• Experience developing long-term renewal, replacement and investment programmes.
• Demonstrated experience in risk-based investment prioritization and whole-life cost decision-making.
• Experience with asset data governance, asset information systems and condition-monitoring strategies.
• Strong understanding of railway maintenance, engineering assurance and safety-critical infrastructure.
• Experience managing multidisciplinary technical teams and senior stakeholders.
• Heavy-haul or high-utilisation railway infrastructure experience would be advantageous.

Other Skills:

• Strong analytical and technical problem-solving capability.
• High attention to detail and engineering accuracy.
• Safety-focused approach to technical decision-making.
• Ability to investigate complex technical failures systematically.
• Strong communication and technical-report-writing skills.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with Operations, Maintenance, Projects, Safety, contractors and system suppliers.
• Ability to manage multiple engineering priorities in an operational railway environment.
• Proactive approach to asset reliability, technical risk and continuous improvement.