Trainee Train Driver

BUSINESS FUNCTION: Operations

GRADE: Driver

SALARY: £ 23,445 per annum during training - approx. 12 months, rising to £49,912 in Year 1, rising to £54,500 when fully qualified.

ROLE TYPE: On Site

HOURS: 35 per week

Are you ready to make the journey of a Train Driver ‘Your Thing’?

We are looking for enthusiastic individuals to join our Trainee Train Driver Apprenticeship, where you’ll receive immersive training and hands-on experience to become a fully qualified Train Driver.

At Northern, we play a vital role connecting millions of people to work, leisure and education opportunities.

We operate 2,500 services a day to more than 500 stations across the North of England. But our vision is about more than just train travel. It’s about setting a new standard for customer experiences. And that means building a different kind of workplace. One that values individuality and celebrates differences. Somewhere we can work together, have fun, and get stuck in to making our customers’ lives easier. A place that goes out of its way to create incredible opportunities for everyone to grow and be the best we can be every single day.

So, if you’re smart, forward thinking, passionate and full of fresh ideas like we are, you could play your part in making it happen.

About the role:

As a Trainee Train Driver, you’ll learn everything you need to know about Trains to transport customers safely and efficiently across the northern network. You might drive the train on your own, but you’ll be part of a big team here at Northern. Working on the frontline, you’ll collaboratively work alongside Train Conductors, Station Dispatch, and Control colleagues – together ensuring our customers enjoy a true Northern experience onboard our trains.

To start off your career, you’ll join our 2-year Level 3 Train Driver Apprenticeship, which offers you a virtual, immersive, and augmented reality training programme. For the first 4 months, you’ll be in the classroom with our world-class Trainers, then you will spend you remaining time at the depot with your Driver Train Manager and Driver Minder – whilst also obtaining invaluable time with Apprenticeship Development Coaches across the entire 2-year period.

You’ll gain the essential skills, knowledge, and a functional skills qualification, to become a Qualified Train Driver – from learning how to drive trains efficiently and safely, to understand industry rules and regulations, as well as all of the traction and route knowledge for each passenger journey you take. We are committed to providing you with all the tools and resources to excel in a Train Driving career with Northern.

If this sounds like your thing, we’d love to hear from you.

Key responsibilities:

As a Train Driver, you can expect a role that is diverse, exciting and offers a few challenges along the way. Here’s a glimpse into the range of duties and activities you might encounter on a daily basis:

Learn more about being a Train Driver here.

About you:

You don’t need any previous work experience to become a Trainee Train Driver with Northern, but we are looking for exceptional individuals to join us.

You’ll be self-disciplined and able to work within rules and regulations. You'll have the ability to work calmly under pressure and remain focused and vigilant in a high-pressured environment. With your excellent time management skills, you’ll turn up for work on time, so your train departs as scheduled. You'll also show a willingness and ability to learn new skills and gain knowledge, not just in the classroom but throughout your Train Driving career. As well as having a friendly demeanour and good ability to work effectively in a team and on your own.

Because this is an apprenticeship, you’ll also need a good level of numeracy, literacy and ICT, so ideally you will hold GCSE grace C or about in Maths, English and ICT (or equivalent). Don't worry if you haven't got any previous qualifications, as part of the apprenticeship, you'll sit a functional skills test to achieve a level 2 in Maths, English or ICT before you take the end-point assessments at the end of your apprenticeship.

The role is safety critical, so there are some essential requirements for you to meet:

** We have our own Psychometric Assessment Centre, to enable you to take the Train Driver Psychometric Assessment - providing you have not previously failed them on two occasions or taken them within the last 6 months.

Our Benefits:

Because we value our people and reward hard work, we’ve created a benefits package that we think you’ll love. So, you’ll be able to make the most of:

You can find out more here.

Please note that Northern reserves the right to close recruitment for this role before the published closing date, if high volumes of applications are received.

However, if you miss the application window for this particular role, please keep checking back for other opportunities. We are always on the lookout for great people to join the Northern Team!

We’re an equal opportunities employer and a promoter of diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We encourage and welcome applications from candidates from all backgrounds, regardless of gender, sex, ethnicity, race, religion, education, socioeconomic background, disability, or sexual orientation.

We also have Disability Confident status, which means we’re committed to making the most of the talents that disabled people can bring to the workplace.