Lead Technical Assurance Manager (System Assurance) | High Speed Two

High Speed Two Ltd | System Assurance | Level 2 (Programme) & Level 3 (Enterprise)

Salary:               £90 – 100,000 + 12 % Pen + health + 25 days

Progression     Head of System Assurance       c£120 + pkg

Scope:               Programme and Portfolio / Enterprise Level System Assurance

Programme:    High Speed Two, Longterm programme until 2037 - 2039

Lead System Assurance Across the HS2 Programme

Are you an experienced engineering, assurance or programme professional who understands how complex systems are assured across their full lifecycle?

Do you have experience working at programme or enterprise level, looking across multiple projects, contracts and engineering disciplines to provide confidence that systems will integrate and deliver the required operational outcome?

High Speed Two Ltd is looking for a Lead Technical Assurance Manager to play a key role in assuring the future high speed railway.

This is a senior programme level position within HS2, responsible for the correct and consistent application of System Assurance processes and the collation of evidence across multiple workstreams and groups of contracts.

You will not be carrying out detailed assurance on individual projects or contracts. That work is undertaken within the delivery organisations and feeds upwards to you. Your role is to take that information, understand what it says about the wider system and provide confidence at programme and portfolio / enterprise level.

The Opportunity

HS2 is being delivered through multiple major civils, stations and rail systems contracts, all of which ultimately need to integrate into one functioning railway.

Your role will be to look across those interfaces and ensure the programme is progressively building the evidence needed to demonstrate that systems, integration activities and operational functionality are being properly assured.

HS2 operates as the Primary System Integrator, alongside appointed lead integrators, making this a particularly important role in understanding how assurance from individual projects and contracts combines into overall system confidence.

You will work with senior engineering, systems, commissioning, handover, programme and delivery professionals to identify gaps, challenge assumptions and ensure the right assurance evidence is available at the right point in the lifecycle.

What You Will Do

• Lead System Assurance activities at programme and portfolio / enterprise level.
• Ensure assurance processes are consistently applied across multiple workstreams and groups of contracts.
• Review and interpret assurance information and evidence generated by projects and delivery organisations.
• Provide programme level confidence that systems, interfaces and integration activities are being progressively assured.
• Ensure evidence provides a clear line of sight from requirements through design, verification, validation, integration, testing and operational readiness.
• Identify assurance gaps, systemic risks and areas requiring further evidence or verification.
• Work with engineering, systems, commissioning, handover and programme teams to resolve assurance issues.
• Support assurance of system integration activities undertaken by HS2 and appointed lead integrators.
• Develop and improve programme level assurance processes, governance and reporting.
• Analyse assurance information to identify trends, risks and areas of concern across the programme.
• Provide senior assurance advice to engineering and programme leadership.

About You

We are open to people from a range of senior engineering, delivery and programme backgrounds.

You might have developed your experience through engineering management, systems engineering, senior commissioning and handover, programme management or a technical assurance environment.

What matters is that you have operated at system level assurance on a complex programme, understanding how evidence from individual projects and contracts comes together to provide confidence in the wider system.

You will understand the Systems Engineering lifecycle and how requirements are progressively verified, validated, integrated and demonstrated through to an operational asset.

You will also have experience working in a complex, regulated or highly controlled environment where multiple organisations, systems and technical disciplines need to work together.

Essential Experience

• Significant experience working on complex engineering or infrastructure programmes.
• Experience of system level assurance at programme and/or portfolio / enterprise level.
• Strong understanding of Systems Engineering principles and the end to end V lifecycle.
• Experience bringing together assurance information from multiple projects, contracts or delivery organisations.
• Understanding of requirements, verification, validation, configuration and systems integration.
• Ability to assess assurance evidence, identify gaps and provide clear programme level insight.
• Strong stakeholder management skills and the credibility to influence senior engineering and delivery teams.
• Experience working across multiple disciplines, organisations and system boundaries.
• Desirable Experience
• Major rail, high speed rail or railway systems experience.
• Experience within a Primary System Integrator or Lead Integrator environment.
• Senior commissioning, handover or operational readiness experience.
• Experience developing assurance strategies, governance, processes or reporting at programme level.
• Background in another highly regulated environment such as utilities, water, airports, nuclear, defence or major infrastructure.

Why This Role?

This is not a project level Technical Assurance position.

You will operate above the individual project and contract level, using information generated across HS2 to understand whether the programme is progressively building sufficient confidence in the integrated railway.

It is a whole system role, working across multiple contracts, engineering disciplines and delivery organisations and providing assurance insight to senior programme leadership.

For someone with strong system assurance experience who wants to operate at programme and enterprise level, this is an opportunity to apply that experience to one of Europe's largest infrastructure programmes.

A Long Term Career in System Assurance

High Speed Two is a long term programme, providing the opportunity to build significant experience in programme level system integration, assurance and delivery.

You will work alongside senior engineering, systems, commissioning and programme professionals and gain exposure to some of the most complex integration challenges within the programme.

If you have worked at system level on a major complex programme and understand how assurance evidence from multiple projects combines to demonstrate a functioning operational system, this is an opportunity to take that experience into a senior programme assurance role with High Speed Two.