Main mission of the successful candidate
Reporting to the Rail System Department, the Senior Advisor will be in charge of the Working Groups “Brake Systems” and Labelling/Certification.
This role ensures state-of-the-art expertise in braking technologies, safety, conformity assessment, labelling and certification. The role supports innovation, standardisation, interoperability and regulatory compliance while providing strategic technical guidance to internal and external stakeholders.
In this role, your main responsibilities will include:
- Coordinating the Rail System Forum (RSF) Working Groups relating to brake systems and supporting the Rail System Department (RSD) in International Technical Committees and expert groups.
- Support the Rolling Stock sector experts for the brake system areas.
- Support the management and development of UIC label and certificates.
- Support the Rolling Stock Research Projects funded by UIC Members or other Stakeholders
- Support the Interfaces and Interactions between Rolling Stock and the other Rail System areas of activity and other UIC departments.
- Support RSD for the technical assessments of braking system design, performance, safety and reliability.
- Support RSD in the development, validation and approval of innovative brake technologies.
- Contribute to the expertise in certification, conformity assessment and product approval processes.
- Contribute to the interpretation and application of European and international railway regulations, standards and technical specifications.
- Contribute to the development of technical standards within international standardisation and regulatory bodies (UIC, CEN/CENELEC, ISO, IEC, ERA and other relevant organisations).
- Contribute to and support technical investigations and support root cause analyses related to braking performance.
- Support the development of technical guidance, best practices and training material.
- Contribute to mentoring engineers and contribute to organisational knowledge development.
- Establish collaborative work with other sectors and UIC departments.
- Assist in the UIC activities through the regional structures.
- Contribute to the development of the Railway System Department: preparation of new project proposals, definition of priorities, strategies, objectives, organisations, planning of schedules, tasks and deliverables, elaboration, and follow-up of production of UIC documents.
Technical areas of action:
Project management. Rolling Stock, mechanical and electrical sub-systems and components, maintenance techniques, policies and procedures, maintenance/operation strategies (including predictive maintenance and asset management).
Profile sought
You hold an engineering degree or a master’s degree in mechanical, electrical or Railway or equivalent
You have 5 to 8 years of experience in the rail system area, and an experience in safety-critical systems and multidisciplinary engineering teams.
Required Technical Skills
- Comprehensive knowledge of railway braking systems for passenger, freight and high-speed rolling stock.
- Pneumatic, electro-pneumatic and electronically controlled braking systems.
- Brake control units, brake blending, anti-slip systems (WSP) and emergency braking.
- Brake performance calculations and stopping distance assessment.
- Braking safety principles and system reliability.
- Functional Safety principles and lifecycle (e.g. IEC 61508, EN 50126, EN 50128, EN 50129).
- Rolling stock interoperability requirements (TSIs).
- European railway regulatory framework and ERA authorisation processes.
- Product certification, conformity assessment and independent verification.
- Product labelling, technical documentation and compliance management.
- Risk assessment methodologies (CSM-RA and equivalent approaches).
- Verification, validation, testing and type approval.
- Failure analysis, reliability engineering (RAMS) and lifecycle management.
- Knowledge of international standards and standardisation processes.
- Systems engineering applied to railway rolling stock.
Required soft skills
- Good level of autonomy and responsibility.
- Good level of communication skills.
- High level of teamwork.
- Work cross-departmentally with related Departments.
- Recognised technical leadership, expertise and credibility.
- Analytical and problem-solving capability.
- Communication and presentation skills.
- Ability to explain technical concepts to different audiences.
- Stakeholder management in international and multicultural environments.
- Negotiation and consensus-building skills.
- Ability to influence technical decisions.
- Results orientation with strong attention to detail.
- Adaptability and continuous learning mindset.
- Professional integrity and sound engineering judgement.
Languages
- Fluency in English is essential; French or German is an asset.
Job details
- Contract: permanent contract – CDI
- Location: Paris, UIC headquarters, 16 rue Jean Rey, 75015 Paris
- Start date: November 2026
- International travel
Why join us?
- Join an international professional association and a multicultural, dynamic and close-knit team
- Contribute to high-impact projects in the rail transport sector
- Work in a stimulating environment with a wide variety of assignments
Benefits
- 213.5 working days
- Possibility of partial remote working, subject to manager approval
- Company health insurance and provident scheme
- Subsidised staff restaurant
- Works council/staff representative benefits (CSE)
How to apply
Interested candidates should send their CV and cover letter electronically to:
Adriano SCAPATI, Director of Railway System