TfL, GLA or OPDC
Bus Performance Lead (Bus Operations)
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Key Information
- Job title: Bus Performance Lead (Bus Operations)
- Salary: Circa £90K (Depending on experience)
- Grade: Band 4
- Contract type: TFL
- Reference: 5105
- Team: Bus Performance Management
- Directorate: Business Operations
- Contract details: Permanent
- Location: Palestra (Southwark) - London /Hybrid*
- Application closing date: Sunday 16/08/2026 at 23:59
*Hybrid working within this role enables a balance of 50 per cent of time split between the office and home over a 4-week period. Hybrid working arrangements can evolve subject to business requirements.
Overview of project/role
TfL’s Bus Operations team is responsible for service delivery on London’s extensive bus network consisting of nearly 9000 buses operating across over 650 routes across London. More than five million passengers use our services every day, and the performance of our network is critical to providing those customers with the journey experience they expect.
This senior leadership opportunity within the TfL Bus Operations is responsible for driving high-quality service performance across one of the world's largest and most complex public transport operations. The role leads the performance management and evaluation of our contracted bus operators through the analysis of operational data, development of network-wide improvement initiatives, stakeholder engagement, policy development, and the effective management of bus operator relationships.
The successful candidate will be responsible for shaping and delivering strategies to improve network performance, managing service disruption planning, and ensuring operators comply with contractual obligations, including mileage declarations, statutory driver hours, and other regulatory requirements. Working closely with senior internal and external stakeholders, the role plays a key part in maintaining reliable, customer-focused services while delivering value for money and operational excellence.
With accountability for performance improvement initiatives exceeding £1 million, oversight of annual operator incentive payments of approximately £40 million, and responsibility for a schedule optimisation platform delivering around £1.5 million in annual savings, this position has significant commercial and financial impact. The role also supports consultancy activities by providing specialist bus network expertise and operational insight to generate additional revenue opportunities.
Reporting to the Head of Bus Performance Delivery, the postholder will regularly engage with senior leaders across the organisation, including Directors, senior managers and TfL Board members, as well as key external stakeholders such as bus operator Managing Directors and CEOs, elected representatives, local authorities, disability advocacy groups, and passenger bodies. This is a highly visible role requiring strong strategic thinking, commercial acumen, stakeholder management skills, and a passion for delivering continuous improvement across London's bus network.
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Key Accountabilities
Performance Leadership & Operator Management
- Lead the strategic management of bus operator performance across the network, establishing KPIs, monitoring contractual delivery, and negotiating performance improvement plans to achieve customer, operational, and commercial objectives.
Contract Compliance & Regulatory Assurance
- Ensure bus operators comply with contractual obligations, including mileage declarations, statutory driver hours regulations, and network operating standards.
Service Reliability, Network Optimisation & Stakeholder Engagement
- Lead strategies to improve service reliability, minimise disruption, maximise operational efficiency, and work collaboratively with internal and external stakeholders to remove barriers to performance and mitigate the impact of wider transport initiatives.
Network Development & Infrastructure Delivery
- Lead the planning and delivery of network changes and infrastructure improvements, including route assessments, operational readiness, risk management, and the provision of modern passenger and driver facilities.
Skills, Knowledge & Experience
Skills
- Commercial Acumen (essential)
Strong commercial awareness with the ability to develop commercial strategies and negotiate value-for-money outcomes with external organisations and partners. - Customer Focus (essential)
Strong customer service ethos with the ability to balance, prioritise, and deliver against a diverse range of customer and stakeholder needs. - Negotiation & Communication (essential)
Excellent negotiation, influencing, and communication skills with the ability to progress policy initiatives and translate them into measurable performance improvements. - Leadership & People Management (essential)
Proven people management and leadership skills, with the ability to work collaboratively across multidisciplinary teams and with a broad range of internal and external stakeholders to achieve results. - Analytical Thinking (essential)
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to interpret complex data, think logically, and develop effective performance improvement strategies. - Presentation Skills (essential)
Excellent presentation and reporting skills with the ability to communicate clearly and credibly to audiences at all levels, including senior leadership and Board members. - Transport Sector Expertise (desirable)
Thorough understanding of transport operations, performance management, and operational delivery within a large-scale transport environment. - Professional Qualification (desirable)
Qualified Transport Manager or equivalent professional transport qualification.
Knowledge
- Thorough knowledge of how transport planning systems in particular related London Bus network work and the contracting model used in London
- Thorough understanding of how to interpret Transport network data and analyse business performance at a strategic level to develop strategies for improvement and mitigation of risk and disruption
- An in-depth understanding of London Buses service planning criteria and cost benefit analysis
- Knowledge of passenger needs across London
- Knowledge of political landscape across London
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Experience
- Budgetary responsibility for performance initiatives of over £1 million, within a wider bus network costing £2.7 billion and employing 25,000 bus drivers
- Annual incentive payments of circa £40 million
- Management of schedule optimisation platform with c£1.5million savings per annum as part of business plan
- Support TfL consulting as appropriate with bus related insight and consulting to derive further revenue for the business
Application Process
As part of your application, please submit an up-to-date CV along with a cover letter of no more than one page outlining how your skills, knowledge, and experience meet the requirements of the role. PDF format preferred and do not include any photographs or images
Interviews – Interviews are expected to take place in-person towards w/c 21st or 28th Sept
Equality, diversity and inclusion
We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and aim to reflect the diverse communities we serve. We believe that a diverse workforce enables us to deliver better services and outcomes. Our goal is to make our recruitment as inclusive as possible. As a Disability Confident Leader, we actively encourage applications from disabled people. As part of the Disability Confident scheme, we aim to offer an assessment or interview to candidates who apply via the scheme where the minimum essential criteria for skills, knowledge and experience has been met. In some circumstances, it may not be practical to offer an interview or assessment to every candidate who applies through the scheme and meet the minimum essential criteria; in these situations, we select candidates who best meet the minimum criteria for the job rather than interviewing all who meet them. Across all recruitment activity, we recognise that selection methods may vary depending on the nature and scale of the campaign and will be applied fairly, consistently and proportionately in line with our Disability Confident commitments.
Benefits
In return for your commitment and expertise, you will enjoy excellent benefits and scope to grow. Rewards vary according to the level of role but mostly include the below:
- Final salary pension scheme
- Free travel for you on the TfL network
- Reimbursement of 75% of the cost of a standard class Ticket for National Rail travel from home or 75% reimbursement on a 28-day flexi ticket
- 30 days annual leave plus public and bank holidays
- TfL is committed to work-life balance, operating a hybrid working approach where business and role requirements allow
- Private healthcare discounted scheme (optional)
- Tax-efficient cycle-to-work programme
- Retail, health, leisure and travel offers
- Discounted Eurostar travel
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