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 improve quality of life, by bringing people together to get the most out of life.

SWR is part of FirstGroup, the largest rail operator in the UK and second largest bus operator in the UK outside London. FirstGroup operates services throughout the UK and Ireland, with over 30,000 employees providing services that make travel smoother and life easier.  FirstGroup works hard to reduce its impact on the environment, introducing cleaner and more environmentally responsible methods of transport.

About the job

We are recruiting a Commercial Insights Manager to join with Revenue team within the Commercial department at South Western Railway. You will liaise and work with key stakeholders within the businesses to develop our understanding of our customers and markets. You will be responsible for identifying, developing and communicating insightful analysis, leading to actionable initiatives to drive revenue growth or mitigate risk. This is a challenging role for an experienced Commercial Analyst looking for their next challenge. You will be given exposure to a wide range of experiences within the Commercial Team with the ability to influence the success of the SWR business.

Your main responsibilities will be:

• Responsible for leading the delivery of commercial insights analysis in support of the business' objectives.
• Responsible for providing analysis to support the development of robust and accurate revenue demand forecasts for budgeting.
• Responsible for leading the provision of in depth analysis of SWR markets to understand: customers; drivers of passenger demand; trends within SWR and the wider industry; competition both rail and non-rail; products; risks and opportunities.
• Responsible for conducting analysis that results in an in-depth understanding of revenue performance against forecast, with the aim of highlighting risks and opportunities, and developing recommendations for actionable initiatives to improve revenue or mitigate risks.
• Work effectively with internal and external stakeholders to deliver insights that influence key business decisions and business cases, and monitors the impact of initiatives.
• Responsible for supporting, leading and coaching the Analysts within the Revenue team.
• Lead approach to use of data within the team to support the revenue analysis strategy.
• Effectively engage stakeholders across the business that are responsible for driving revenue growth.
• Represent SWR interests at relevant industry groups.
• Deputise for the Senior Revenue Manager as required.

You'll need:

• Analytical experience within the commercial area of the rail industry is required.
• Excellent analytical and numerical skills with an ability to define opportunities and problems, collect and analyse data, establish facts and make evidence-based conclusions.
• Ability to formulate recommendations, combined with excellent verbal and written communication skills to effectively convey key information to a variety of audiences.
• Be able to build relationships with people throughout the SWR business and wider industry Stakeholders.
• Commercially aware, and be able to challenge your own and other's thinking.
• Have a high attention to detail, completing work to a high level of accuracy, maintaining focus, energy and effort when under pressure.
• Ability to support, lead and coach other analysts within the team, as well as working independently.
• Customer focus: understanding the needs of internal and external customers and respond promptly, with the ability to prioritize workloads and work to challenging deadlines.
• Drive for continuous improvement.
• Experience in data analytics and experience using BI Tools e.g. PowerBI (preferred) or Tableau, and SQL (desirable) or Python/R.
• Expert user of Excel for modelling and analysis essential
• Knowledge of SWR network and passenger markets desirable.
• Knowledge of rail commercial systems (e.g. Lennon MOIRA, ORCATS) desirable.
• Numerical or scientific degree and A-levels or equivalent essential.

Please note applicants who require a visa, must have at least 6 months remaining at the time of their appointment. 

We offer a working environment that rewards staff for the enormous contribution they make. We offer colleagues the chance to develop, and provide them with the training and development resources to achieve their career goals.

About the location

South Western Railways HQ is based on the 4th Floor at South Bank Central, a stone's throw from the River Thames and a 10 minute walk from our busiest station, Waterloo. It is local to many well-known attractions, restaurants and retail facilities and is easily accessible by public transport. 

Working pattern

Working an average of 37 hours over 5 days per week, 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
• Large range of exclusive retail offers
• Excellent pension scheme

We all belong at SWR. FirstGroup's vision is to provide an inclusive environment for all colleagues, across its group of businesses, 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.

We review all roles and job descriptions to ensure they are accessible and, where possible, we support and provide flexible working options; we recommend that you refer to each vacancy description for further details.

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/