Who Are We?

First Rail is one of the UK’s most experienced rail operators, carrying more than 345m passengers across four franchises (Great Western Railway, Avanti West Coast) and our open access operators (Hull Trains and Lumo). We operate all types of passenger railways - intercity, commuter, regional and sleeper services.

In addition to the train operating companies, First Rail includes:

• First Rail Holdings, a number of specialist teams such as Engineering, Finance, Legal, Property, IT and Human Resources – all of which provide expertise and support to the rail division;

• The First Customer Contact Centre in Sheffield, delivering support services for our customers including customer compensation claims and requests for travel assistance

• Evo Rail - supplying data connectivity solutions for the international rail market;

What is the role?

At First Rail, we are committed to building an inclusive and diverse workforce. Your role will be part of the team supporting the Group’s finance and related applications. The focus of the role will be on the SAP platforms used within our UK divisions, (S4 Rise for Rail and SAP S4 HANA for Bus and Group) but will also include support for

•           Financial Consolidation & Reporting (OneStream)

•           Engineering and Procurement interfaces (EAM, IFMS and Freeway)

•           Other interfaces (Bank, Concur Expenses, Payroll, Lennon)

Reporting to the Finance Application Support Lead, this role will provide first and second line support across alongside the internal application support teams and external support partners. This role is an opportunity to work in FirstGroup as part of a small team with a with a wide remit across the FirstGroup UK businesses. It provides an opportunity to gain valuable hands-on experience in systems support, as well as application knowledge through a series of structured SAP training courses and on-the-job training.

Key Responsibilities

Support and Analysis of SAP Applications (80% of time)

• Work alongside existing application support team to learn the existing set up and processes within First Group, to develop the following skills

• Triage and resolve issue where possible across FI, CO, MM, SD and user admin.

• Manage creation and removal of users, including the allocation of the correct roles

• Manage creation and update of Suppliers

• Daily system health checks and housekeeping

• Ensure all incidents are updated regularly in support portal

• Providing quality and timely support of SAP business applications in use across entire business.

• Escalate any issues requiring additional support both internally and externally.

• Perform system reviews and limit access to ensure that work is performed in accordance with the security policies

• Project and BAU support to include functional and integration testing

• Prepare and maintain end user training documentation

• Liaison between Business users and 3rd Party support suppliers to facilitate fix or development testing and implementation of changes.

Learning and Development (20% of time)

• Work with the application support team to develop understanding of First Group system set up and processes, to assist with role of systems support

• Work with the Applications Manager – Finance to identify relevant SAP training course (both online and classroom based) to develop skills and understanding to support the First Group systems

• Create / update documentation of all processes which will be used for both systems support and end-user training purposes

• Liaise with the Finance, Procurement and Applications teams to ensure all appropriate ideas for systems improvement and development are taken forward for further consideration

You Will Need:

• An analytical perception, a structured way of working and an ability to get things done

• A self-starter who is results-driven with high levels of self-motivation, energy and initiative

• Plenty of drive, curiosity and willingness to challenge and be challenged, appetite to continually develop skills

• Understanding of accounting and procurement processes would be an advantage

• Good general IT skills

• Must have GCSE pass for Mathematics and English

• S4Hana/BI/OneStream, Concur

• Excel, Word (essential)

What can we offer you?

• Salary of up to £24,785 per annum

• 25 days holiday plus national bank holidays

• Travel offers for Bus and Rail*

• Payroll Giving – donate directly from your pay to a charity of your choice

• Shopping discounts including discounts and cashback on electrical goods, your weekly shop, holidays, cinema trips, car insurance, upgrading your mobile and lots more

• All employee Share Schemes* 

• Buy as You Earn share scheme*

• Employee Assistance Helpline – free, confidential employee support service provided by an independent provider

*After 6 months employment

 FirstGroup plc welcomes applications from a diverse range of candidates regardless of background, gender, race, religious beliefs, disability, sexual orientation or age. We aspire to be a diverse and inclusive organisation because we believe that diversity brings benefits for our customers, communities and our people. Valuing our differences and drawing on our collective knowledge and experience helps us develop new services, open up new markets and broaden our customer base.