The Department for Transport is offering a salary of up to £173,000 a year for is next director general for major rail projects, who will have oversight for the delivery of the High Speed Two line and Northern Powerhouse Rail.
According to its recruitment campaign for the role – which is currently held by Alan Over – DfT is also offering performance-related pay worth up to £25,000 a year to the successful candidate.
Over has been major rail projects DG since April last year. Before that he worked at HS2 Ltd for six years. According to DfT’s annual report and accounts for 2024-25, Over’s salary for the year was bracketed at £140,000-£145,000, with a bonus payment indicated in the range of £0-£5,000.
The advertisement for the next Major Rail Projects Group DG says that the successful candidate will report directly to DfT permanent secretary Jo Shanmugalingam, and be supported by a team of around 160 staff, including five director-led teams.
They will be responsible for “sponsoring the reset and delivery of HS2 between Euston and Birmingham”, as well as the development and design of Northern Powerhouse Rail to improve connectivity between the biggest cities in the north of England.
Spiralling costs and changes of plan have dogged HS2 in recent years, prompting then-prime minister Rishi Sunak to cancel the planned extension of the line from the West Midlands to Manchester in October 2023. Proposals for a spur of the line to run from the West Midlands to Leeds had already been axed by that point.
Earlier this year, members of parliament’s Public Accounts Committe predicted that the cost of the under-construction London to Birmingham line could eventually be close to £80bn. They said it was “unacceptable” that there was still not an indication of a final cost for the scheme, confirmation of its final scope, or a completion date.
In March, then-DfT perm sec Dame Bernadette Kelly warned the panel that a revised business case for the pared-back project would not be available until 2026. Originally, HS2 services between London's Euston Station and Birmingham were expected to commence in 2026. Now a more limited service between Old Oak Common in west London and Birmingham is not expected to start until after 2033.
DfT’s advertisement for its next major rail projects DG says that sponsorship of HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail means “translating political direction and funding into delivery and benefits”.
It adds: “The role holder will need to excel in working both within government (to build and sustain support and realise benefits) and in supporting and challenging HS2 Ltd and Network Rail and their supply chains (to deliver on the ground against their agreed funding and schedule targets).”
The advert says the DG role will “appeal to an experienced and inspirational leader, who thrives working in a highly complex and challenging environment”. It adds that the successful candidate must be “an individual with proven experience of orchestrating very large-scale projects”.
Writing in the candidate pack for the role, DfT perm sec Shanmugalingam said the successful candidate would be one of the civil service’s most senior project leaders, who would shape the development of the profession with the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority.
She added that having senior responsibility for the reset and delivery of HS2, which is the nation’s largest infrastructure project, would require working with the board of HS2 Ltd to “ensure that the programme is then delivered effectively and provides value for money for taxpayers”.
According to the advertisement, the senior civil service Pay Band 3 role can be based in London, Leeds or Birmingham.
It is open to applications until 15 September through recruitment consultants Korn Ferry.