Engineering Facilities Manager

BUSINESS FUNCTION: Engineering

GRADE: Management

SALARY: £52,000 per annum

ROLE TYPE: On site - Based in Manchester (Newton Heath) with travel across the North West

HOURS: 37 hours per week

Northern is transforming. We’re investing in our assets, modernising our facilities, and mobilising service providers to deliver better for our sites and our colleagues. It’s an exciting time to join our Infrastructure, Facilities, and Digital team; and we need a Facilities Manager who can make that change happen.

As Facilities Manager you’ll take ownership of engineering locations across the North West, making sure every site is safe, compliant, and ready to support the teams who keep our fleet moving. This is a role with real responsibility and visibility, you’ll be the person who makes sure our facilities and service providers deliver what our colleagues need.

You’ll manage relationships with key FM service providers – covering everything from building maintenance to security, and make sure standards are met without compromise. Alongside this, you’ll lead a small, skilled team who act like an in-house service provider, supporting specialist kit and plant at our Train Care Centres.

But this role isn’t just about managing services and assets– it’s about insight and influence. You’ll be comfortable with data, spotting trends, and building compelling narratives that drive decisions. What you know and how you communicate it matters. You’ll be as confident talking performance with directors as you are engaging with front‑line colleagues. This is a platform role: variety, exposure, and the chance to make a massive difference.

If you bring the attitude, energy and know what good FM means, we’ll equip you with the knowledge to succeed.

• You’ll be at the heart of a transformation programme that’s improving safety, reliability, and consistency across our train care centres.
• You’ll shape how service providers work with us; driving accountability and better outcomes for our people.
• You’ll have variety, visibility, and the chance to make a real impact every day.

• Acting as the ‘go to’ person for depot facilities, compliance, and service delivery across your locations.
• Managing FM service providers for hard and soft services, including building maintenance, security, cleaning, and waste.
• Leading a small internal team (including a Technical Team Leader) who support railway specialist plant and facilities.
• Building strong relationships with contractors, suppliers, train care centre leaders, and colleagues in specialist support areas like energy and environment.
• Using data and insight to track performance, spot risks early, and tell the story behind the numbers.
• Managing budgets for facilities and maintenance work, and shaping investment plans where improvements are needed.
• Acting as the bridge between central asset management and regional teams – making sure everyone understands our standards.
• Leading by example on safety – creating an environment where people feel confident to speak up and do the right thing.

You start the morning reviewing performance data and spot a trend that needs attention. A quick call with a service provider follows, where you agree a clear plan to improve standards.

Mid‑morning, your facilities supervisor calls from a satellite site: a critical piece of plant has failed, and without it, trains won’t be serviced tonight. You act fast, coordinating your internal team and Network Rail to put a safe temporary fix in place while the replacement part is delivered.

Later, you call into the plant office and walk the depot with your Team Leader, checking housekeeping and making sure compliance records are up to date. You pass the contractor carrying out LOLER inspections and confirm they’ll finish by Wednesday – but they’re struggling to access one area because a train is being serviced. You speak to production colleagues to find a solution.

In the afternoon, you join Health & Safety colleagues to discuss the recent fire risk assessment and how actions are being closed down. Then you meet the Energy & Environment business partner to shape an…