Technical Programme Manager, Core Tech

About the role

We are champions of rail, inspired to build a greener, more sustainable future of travel. Trainline enables millions of travellers to find and book the best value tickets across carriers, fares, and journey options through our highly rated mobile app, website, and B2B partner channels. Great journeys start with Trainline, and today we stand as Europe's number 1 downloaded rail app, with over 135 million monthly visits and £6.3 billion in annual ticket sales. We collaborate with 270+ rail and coach companies in over 40 countries, and our mission is to make rail and coach travel simpler and more accessible for millions of people. Behind every seamless customer experience sits Core Tech, the teams that keep our engineers productive, our platforms secure, and our operations running at pace. This role is hands-on, focused on leading people over process, earning influence by getting into the detail with engineers and stakeholders, and unblocking work directly rather than relying on status reports alone.

Key facts

What you'll do

Work as the primary program lead for cyber security and coordinate delivery of the Core Tech cross-departmental programme, including the roadmap, milestones, cross-team dependencies, risks, and the reporting that gives leadership a clear and honest view of progress.

Act as the connective tissue between Workplace IT, Cyber Security, Production Operations, and Developer Experience, running cadences and supporting artefacts, and nurturing working relationships that bring separate backlogs into a coordinated programme.

Plan and coordinate complex, cross-functional technical programmes, translating strategy into clear milestones, owners, and timelines that different teams can execute against.

Run the operating rhythm of stand-ups, planning sessions, reviews, and retrospectives, keeping agile teams focused, aligned, and moving efficiently.

Get into the technical detail with teams to understand trade-offs, pressure-test plans, and support informed decisions without needing to write code yourself.

Build strong, trust-based relationships across engineering, security, operations, and leadership, using those connections to unblock work quickly and escalate issues early when necessary.

Communicate clearly and consistently, surfacing status, risks, and decisions to both engineers and senior stakeholders while tailoring the message to the audience for maximum clarity and impact.

Contribute to continuous improvement in how Core Tech teams plan and deliver, maintaining lightweight programme artefacts such as roadmaps, RAID logs, and dependency maps that teams genuinely find useful and actionable.

Coordinate dependencies and sequencing across Workplace IT, Cyber Security, Production Operations, and Developer Experience to ensure shared initiatives advance in step.

Analyse emerging risks and issues, maintain transparent logs, and drive mitigation actions so that leadership always has an accurate view of health and delivery outlook.

Adapt plans in response to new information, shifting priorities, or technical constraints while keeping teams aligned and stakeholders informed.

Support the delivery of secure, reliable, and high-performance production operations by coordinating efforts that balance speed, quality, and compliance.

Requirements

Bring a technical programme or project management background, with proven experience contributing to the delivery of complex programmes in a software or technology organisation.

Possess a good technical background that allows you to hold your own in engineering, infrastructure, or security conversations and reason about technical trade-offs with confidence.

Have hands-on experience with programme and project management across multiple teams and stakeholders simultaneously, managing schedules, dependencies, and deliverables.

Demonstrate strong communication skills, both verbally and in writing, with the ability to move fluidly between engineers and senior leaders while maintaining clarity and precision.

Show an ability to build networks and drive meaningful working relationships to get things done, even in environments where you hold no formal authority and must rely on influence.

Exhibit a genuine comfort with agile ways of working, and the confidence to act with a bias toward action on incomplete information.

Ideally, bring experience across one or more of Workplace IT, Cyber Security, Production Operations, or Developer Experience and platform engineering, and familiarity with tools such as Jira and Confluence.

It would be helpful if you have a background in a fast-scaling consumer or e-commerce technology business, along with relevant certifications such as PMP, Scrum, or SAFe, though hands-on delivery always matters more than credentials.

Practical notes

Enjoy fantastic perks, a 4 day working week, and a competitive benefits package https://www.trainline.co.uk/terms-conditions/employment-terms-and-conditions-perks-benefits.

We are committed to diversity and inclusion and are proud to be an equal opportunities employer. We welcome applications from all and we will consider reasonable adjustments to support your needs.

If you have a right to work in the UK, we will support you with any sponsorship or immigration requirements for this role where possible, subject to business needs and eligibility. We will only proceed to interview candidates who meet the eligibility to work in the UK as outlined in the UK Visas and Immigration rules.

This role is based in our London office. We will cover relocation costs for the right candidate.