High Speed Rail Infrastructure Maintenance Expert (Rail/ Metro)

About the Role
The company is seeking an experienced High-Speed Rail Infrastructure Maintenance Expert to support the Etihad Rail High-Speed Rail project. This role will provide senior technical leadership across the development, assurance, and delivery of the railway infrastructure maintenance strategy. The successful candidate will act as the Infrastructure Maintenance Subject Matter Expert, ensuring that maintainability, asset management, maintenance facilities, resources, systems, procedures, and readiness requirements are integrated throughout all project phases—from design through construction, testing, commissioning, trial operations, to revenue service. This position is focused on the future Abu Dhabi–Dubai passenger service, ensuring that the infrastructure can be safely, reliably, and efficiently maintained throughout its lifecycle.

What You'll Be Doing

• Act as the Subject Matter Expert for high-speed rail infrastructure maintenance throughout all project phases, from design and procurement through construction, testing and commissioning, trial operations, and revenue service.
• Develop and assure the infrastructure maintenance strategy, maintenance concept, asset management framework, and lifecycle plans for track, civil works, structures, stations, depots, power, signalling, telecommunications, and associated systems.
• Define maintenance philosophies, inspection regimes, preventive and predictive maintenance requirements, intervention standards, work instructions, and acceptance criteria consistent with high-speed rail operating conditions.
• Establish and assure Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Safety (RAMS) targets, asset performance indicators, maintenance service levels, and whole-life cost objectives.
• Review designs, specifications, technical submissions, and contractor deliverables for maintainability, accessibility, safety, standardization, spares, tooling, and lifecycle resilience.
• Ensure infrastructure maintenance requirements are integrated with the operating concept, timetable, engineering access strategy, possessions planning, traffic management, and emergency arrangements.
• Define requirements for maintenance depots, access points, inspection and maintenance vehicles, plant, tools, test equipment, warehousing, spare parts, and computerized maintenance management systems.
• Support the development of asset registers, maintenance task analysis, failure mode analysis, maintenance schedules, resource plans, competency frameworks, and technical training requirements.
• Provide infrastructure maintenance input to hazard identification, risk assessment, safety assurance, configuration management, and change control activities.
• Lead reviews of maintenance-related testing, commissioning, asset handover, documentation, warranties, defects management, and readiness evidence before trial operations and revenue service.
• Assess the maintenance organization, staffing levels, competencies, mobilization plans, procedures, and performance-management arrangements of the future infrastructure manager or maintenance contractor.
• Support procurement of infrastructure maintenance services, including scope development, technical specifications, performance requirements, evaluation criteria, and tender clarification.
• Coordinate with designers, contractors, systems suppliers, operators, maintainers, regulators, and client stakeholders to manage interfaces and resolve maintenance-related risks and issues.
• Benchmark international high-speed rail maintenance practices and identify opportunities to apply condition monitoring, remote diagnostics, data analytics, automation, and other emerging technologies.
• Develop and maintain effective client relationships, provide clear technical advice, and prepare concise reports, recommendations, and presentations for senior stakeholders.
• Promote engineering excellence and compliance with the company's quality, safety, and project management procedures.

What Required Skills You'll Bring

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited university in civil engineering, railway engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, or a closely related discipline.
• Minimum 15 years of relevant railway infrastructure maintenance experience, including at least 10 years on high-speed rail or comparable complex mainline passenger rail systems.
• Demonstrated experience developing and implementing infrastructure maintenance strategies, asset management plans, maintenance regimes, and operational readiness programs.
• Strong technical knowledge of permanent way, civil works, structures, stations, depots, traction power, signalling, telecommunications, and their maintenance interfaces.
• Proven ability to review designs and technical submissions for maintainability, reliability, safe access, engineering possessions, and whole-life performance.
• Practical knowledge of RAMS, lifecycle costing, failure mode analysis, condition-based maintenance, predictive maintenance, and asset performance management.
• Experience with maintenance management systems, asset registers, maintenance planning, work orders, spares management, inspection records, and performance reporting.
• Knowledge of high-speed rail safety requirements, engineering standards, maintenance rules, isolation procedures, permit-to-work arrangements, and infrastructure manager interfaces.
• Experience supporting testing and commissioning, asset handover, trial operations, maintenance mobilization, and transition to revenue service.
• Excellent technical writing, communication, leadership, and stakeholder management skills.

Desired Qualifications

• Chartered or professional engineer status, or a recognized qualification in asset management or maintenance engineering.
• Senior maintenance or infrastructure management experience with an established high-speed rail operator, infrastructure manager, or major rail delivery organization.
• Experience with international railway standards and good practice, including ISO 55001 asset management principles and applicable infrastructure maintenance standards.
• Experience specifying or deploying condition-monitoring systems, remote diagnostics, maintenance analytics, digital twins, or automated inspection technologies.
• Ability to lead multidisciplinary teams and influence designers, contractors, operators, and maintainers who do not report directly to the post holder.
• Strong commercial judgment, with the ability to balance safety, availability, maintainability, operational performance, risk, and whole-life value.
• Demonstrable interpersonal, negotiation, and influencing skills across senior internal and external stakeholders in a multicultural project environment.
• Innovative and practical approach to problem solving, continuous improvement, and adoption of proven maintenance technologies and practices.
• Availability to attend meetings, site activities, or critical maintenance-readiness events outside normal working hours when required.