Title:  General Manager Engineering - Rail

About John Holland

At John Holland, our purpose is simple – we transform lives with everything we do.  We’ve always known that infrastructure is about people — our customers, our employees, and the communities in which we work every day. That’s our difference. Deep experience and capability with a genuine care about creating better lives for people along the way. Be part of the team that’s up for the challenge of transforming lives for good.

About the role

As the General Manager Engineering, Rail, you will provide strategic leadership across our engineering and design management teams within the Rail Business Unit. Working closely with the Chief Engineer’s Office, you’ll shape capability, champion best practice, and ensure our people and processes are positioned for technical excellence.

A key part of the role is partnering with pre‑contracts teams to anticipate market trends, support tender development, and ensure strong engineering input from bid through to project launch. Your leadership will bring together high‑performing technical teams, helping strengthen John Holland’s reputation as a market leader in the design and delivery of major rail and transport projects.

Responsibilities of the role

Strategy & Pre‑Contracts

• Provide strategic engineering leadership to support work‑winning and bid excellence across the Rail portfolio.
• Shape win strategies, contribute to tender development, and oversee technical inputs during project conversion.
• Build strong relationships with design partners and ensure the right technical resources are deployed.

Project Delivery

• Oversee the development of safe, buildable, high‑quality designs that meet client and project requirements.
• Ensure compliance with standards, briefs, and John Holland’s design and quality expectations.

Financial & Commercial

• Drive value through innovative and cost‑effective design solutions.
• Support accurate project reporting and ensure strong commercial outcomes in collaboration with partners.

Risk & Assurance

• Ensure robust design risk management, quality assurance, and alignment with GMR requirements.
• Champion health, safety, and design integrity across all engineering activities.

Leadership & People Development

• Lead, mentor, and grow high‑performing Engineering and Design Management teams.
• Support capability development, succession planning, and a culture of continuous improvement.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Build trusted relationships with clients, partners, and internal stakeholders to drive aligned, successful project outcomes.
• Support strong consultant performance and consistent technical delivery standards.

Innovation

• Foster a culture of innovation, digital adoption, and sustainability in design and engineering practices.
• Continuously improve systems, processes, and ways of working

What we are looking for?

You are an experienced engineering leader with a strong background in delivering major, multidisciplinary rail projects. With tertiary qualifications in engineering or construction (and ideally Chartered status), you bring 10–15 years of senior technical management experience and a reputation for excellence in engineering leadership.

You have a proven track record in design and construction for complex, large‑scale projects, including successful management of engineering for projects valued at over $500M. Your expertise spans design frameworks, legislative compliance, risk management, and commercial understanding across head contracts, consultancy agreements, and subcontract arrangements.

An influential and collaborative leader, you excel at guiding multidisciplinary teams through tenders and project delivery, establishing best‑practice methodologies, and developing high‑performing engineering and design professionals. You build strong relationships with major design partners, navigate stakeholder environments confidently, and bring an industry‑recognised depth of engineering management capability.

You’re proficient with relevant engineering and design tools and bring strong time, cost, and risk management skills—ensuring design solutions are safe, buildable, and commercially sound. Above all, you are known for your strategic mindset, technical leadership, and commitment to delivering outstanding outcomes for clients and the business.

As part of the team, you can help transform lives

Your success is reflected in ours, so we’re committed to being an employer of choice. We pride ourselves on having a diverse and inclusive workplace, as we understand that different perspectives and ideas are critical to our long-term success.

We want you to be with us for the long term, so providing you with rich career experiences and ongoing development is our priority.

What's in it for you?

We’re about connecting your sense of purpose to ours. We understand that your career is one of the biggest ways to have an impact on the world. We also believe in supporting you as a whole person, not just an employee.

We reward and support our people in so many ways. This starts with being flexible about how different people like to work. From generous leave policies to wellbeing and relationship support, your needs sit at the heart of our employee benefits.

We offer:

Competitive remuneration with salary continuance, and salary sacrifice options.

Great leave benefits including 18 weeks paid parental leave with super and up to an extra 18 weeks of super paid on further periods of unpaid parental leave, multicultural leave exchange and two extra days to prioritise your wellbeing.

Career progression underpinned by our exciting pipeline of work means you’ll have the opportunity to work on iconic projects that are shaping cities and communities.

Learning and development opportunities where you’ll have access to emerging talent programs, building your career through clear career pathways, plus technical and leadership training and development opportunities.

Inclusion, diversity and equity is part of how we work. We want everyone at John Holland to feel that they belong – that’s why we’re working hard every day to foster a more inclusive culture, backed by a business-wide inclusion strategy to bring about meaningful change. We’ve also got active employee resource groups that support our commitments including those around gender equality and reconciliation.

Flexibility means different things to different people. Whether it’s flexi-hours, flexi-parenting, flexi-leave, flexi-shifts or flexi-work, we’re committed to helping our people work flexibly.