Who are we?

GWR is the proud custodian of Brunel's railway, transforming the way people think about train travel and empowering our team of over 6,000 people to make it a great experience for our customers.

As one of the leading and biggest train operating companies in the UK, GWR is on a journey of significant change.  As we look towards a future of rail industry change, we face a unique, exciting, and challenging opportunity, to compete for business (new and old) and build a customer-centric, growth-oriented business. 

About the role

As Senior Commercial Manager, your role will sit within the Sales & Marketing directorate but will work across the business playing a crucial part in developing, implementing and driving sustainable growth for GWR through short-, medium- and long-term revenue optimisation and analysis. 

Leading GWR's team of Commercial Insights Analysts, you will facilitate free flow of data and insights into decision-making across the business, as well as supporting the various reporting, forecasting and budgeting activities.  Your role will focus on influencing and supporting our commercial activities over a rolling 5-year horizon – from consolidating and growing existing income, to identifying new revenue streams.  You will drive revenue growth through the development of our business across all commercial areas, considering diverse aspects including timetable improvements, proposition enhancements, marketing efficiency, yield management and fares structures.

In this senior role, we are seeking a forward-thinking individual who embraces change and continuously seeks innovative ways to enhance commercial performance across the business.  Success in this position requires a strong understanding of various business functions, with particular emphasis on the key drivers of revenue growth.  As the successful candidate, you will bring a blend of curiosity and passion for business development, along with a sharp instinct for identifying strategic opportunities that drive sustainable growth and commercial success.

Part of the Revenue Management team, you will work closely with many of GWR's internal teams (including the Executive team), the owning group, Department for Transport, Rail Delivery Group, Great British Railways and other high-level stakeholders: therefore the confidence to represent GWR in these forums is essential.

Your main responsibilities will be to: 

• Provide strategic and tactical commercial insight, building and maintaining strong stakeholder relationships (internal and external) to influence decision making to optimise commercial performance.
• Work closely with all teams within Sales & Marketing, as well as wider business areas such as the Train Planning teams, to maximise profitability from all of our business activities and drive revenue growth.
• Work across the business to identify commercial activities and promote growth-focused behaviours. Building, assessing and refining business cases to advocate action to positively influence revenue, and respond to changing customer needs.
• Identify new income opportunities for GWR, working with the Sales & Marketing team to grow best prospect targets and new customers, developing products and packages to maximise market and revenue potential.
• Lead, manage and develop the Commercial Insights and Analysis team. Ensure the assessment and analysis produced by the team is socialised and acted on appropriately.  Coordinate the reporting, forecasting and budgeting processes, and support where necessary with Annual Business Planning.
• Represent GWR on relevant industry bodies and forums and enable an open channel of communication and understanding between GWR and other industry parties to enhance understanding of market trends.
• Deputise for the Head of Revenue where necessary.

About you

You will be educated to degree level or equivalent experience, with knowledge and experience in railway commercials and other railway systems and tools.

You will have knowledge on:

• Railway operations and passenger demand, including drivers of demand changes.
• Pricing and revenue management approaches, including understanding of revenue protection issues.
• Customer behaviours and needs, and ways a business can cater to these.
• Railway commercial issues.
• A range of analytical tools and approaches employed in a commercial setting.

You will have:

• Strong interpersonal skills, including high level influencing skills.
• The ability to deliver results under time pressure.
• Proven high levels of numeracy with strong analytical and questioning skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication and presentation skills using the English language. You will be articulate and able to communicate at all levels.
• Strong decision-making skills, based on evidence.

Previous experience required:

• Detailed practical experience of commercial analysis and strategic service development, working within a business to develop solutions to emerging issues and opportunities.
• Experience assessing the drivers of customer demand and the actions of other operators on a transport business.
• Experience managing reporting processes for senior management.
• Experience leading and managing a team, delivering ‘big-picture' outcomes from detail-oriented analysts. 

About the location

This position can be based at Paddington, London or Swindon, with occasional travel required across the network. The role follows a standard Monday to Friday, 37-hour workweek. Flexible working arrangements are also available.

The Reward:

As well as a great team environment and comprehensive training, all GWR colleagues enjoy a range of benefits including:

• on-going development,
• defined benefit pension scheme with the Railways Pension Scheme,
• free rail travel across the GWR network for you and your family,
• discounted travel with other Train Operating Companies,
• company-sponsored health care plan,
• discounted shopping and gym membership
• employee assistance programme and much more. 

We all belong at GWR. This is our vision for providing an inclusive environment for all our 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 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 such as 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/

INGWR