Graduate Safety & Approvals Engineer

A Graduate Safety & Approvals Engineer role at Hitachi Rail, focused on ensuring trains meet safety and regulatory standards.

Your New Role

Are you a recent Engineering Graduate or early-career Junior Engineer ready to make an impact? At Hitachi Rail, we’re excited to offer you the opportunity to join our Rolling Stock Homologation team as a Graduate Safety & Approvals Engineer. This is your chance to play a vital role in ensuring the safety and approval of pioneering rolling stock projects across the UK and around the world.

In this role, you’ll be right at the heart of the action—supporting safety and approvals work on cutting-edge rail vehicles and gaining exposure to the full lifecycle of major national and international projects.

You’ll be supported by a team of experienced Safety & Approvals Engineers who will guide your development and help you build strong foundations in this highly specialised and sought-after engineering field.

If you’re curious, motivated, and ready to launch your career with a global leader in rail technology—this is the perfect role to accelerate your journey.

What you’ll be doing

• Join key conversations on train authorisation and system compatibility with major industry stakeholders.

• Help drive our authorisation strategy, ensuring our projects meet essential safety, legislative, and technical standards.

• Support technical submissions for third‑party assessment bodies, working closely with experts across the business.

• Get hands‑on experience across a wide range of projects, giving you a strong foundation in rolling stock safety and approvals.

• Contribute to the delivery and approval of new railway projects alongside experienced Safety & Approvals Engineers.

• Support in‑service fleets, helping maintain safety and compliance standards.

• Play a part in new bids, shaping the safety and approvals input for future opportunities.

About you

Essential Requirements

• Interest in rolling stock and railway engineering, ideally with some relevant industry exposure.

• Curiosity about rolling stock design and engineering safety management (e.g., CSM‑REA, EN50126/28/29/657).

• Strong team-working skills with a logical, proactive approach to problem‑solving.

• Confident with Excel and Microsoft Office.

• Highly motivated, with great communication and time‑management skills.

• Able to stay organised, methodical, and effective under pressure.

• Flexible, eager to learn, and comfortable travelling when needed.

• A true team player who thrives in a diverse working environment.

• Understanding of basic health & safety practices in an engineering setting.

Qualifications

• An Engineering degree in a relevant discipline (or a similar subject related to the railway industry).

Desirable

• Japanese or European language skills.

What we offer

We value the importance of all of our employees, if you would like to join our fantastic organisation you could be entitled to:

• Competitive salary

• 25 days holiday

• Potential opportunity for annual performance related bonus

• Pension scheme with contributions up to 9%

• Private medical insurance

• Personal Accident insurance

• Group Income protection

• Group Life Insurance

• Employee Assistance Programme