Arriva is a leading European passenger transport partner, operating in 11 countries across the UK and Europe. We employ around 35,000 people and deliver more than 1.5 billion passenger journeys each year, connecting people and communities safely, reliably and sustainably.
With strong roots dating back to 1938, Arriva has an ambitious growth and sustainability agenda. In 2024, the business was acquired by I Squared Capital, a global infrastructure investment fund manager, supporting Arriva’s next phase of development.
We are looking for a Concessions Development Manager to join our team on a 12‑month fixed‑term contract (maternity cover). This is a key role within Arriva’s concessionary travel activity, focused on maximising revenue from UK Bus concessionary schemes through detailed performance analysis and review of scheme parameters.
Working closely with operating companies, Regional Managing Directors and the Head of Concessions Development, you will provide clear commercial insight to support negotiations with local authorities and national bodies. You will also help shape and improve strategies, methodologies, forecasting and reporting to ensure Arriva is fairly reimbursed and well positioned for sustainable growth.
Key Responsibilities
- Analyse the performance of proposed and existing concessionary schemes, producing alternative reimbursement parameters to ensure Arriva is not financially disadvantaged.
- Produce detailed financial workings and summaries to support effective concessionary negotiations conducted by operating companies and the Head of Concessions Development.
- Review and critique annual DfT concessionary reimbursement guidance and toolkits, identifying items that may materially impact divisional financial performance.
- Take an active role in concessionary scheme negotiations, with training and development to support progression towards lead negotiator responsibilities.
- Monitor reimbursement and patronage performance across concessionary schemes, working with local operating companies to ensure alignment with agreed terms.
- Review scheme assumptions year‑on‑year to support interpretation, scenario analysis and future negotiations.
- Support the definition and agreement of revenue targets for National Concessionary Travel Schemes with Regional Managing Directors and operating companies.
- Deputise for the Head of Pricing & Concessions as required on concessionary matters.
- Support the development and continuous improvement of reimbursement techniques, methodologies and best practice.
- Build and maintain forecasting models to improve accuracy of concession reporting across forecast, budget and medium‑term planning cycles.
- Monitor passenger recording trends, identifying under‑recording, manual or potentially fraudulent activity and supporting corrective actions with local teams.
- Undertake general duties within the scope of the role as directed by senior management, aligned to the wider business strategy.
What we’d like from you
We welcome applications from individuals who enjoy working with complex financial data, influencing commercial outcomes and supporting negotiations in a regulated or public‑sector‑facing environment. You will be comfortable working with multiple stakeholders and motivated by adding value through insight, challenge and continuous improvement.
Candidates will preferably:
- Have strong commercial and financial analysis experience, ideally within transport, regulated or concessionary environments.
- Be experienced in building, reviewing and explaining complex financial models and assumptions.
- Have experience supporting or influencing commercial negotiations through robust financial insight.
- Demonstrate strong stakeholder management skills, with the confidence to work with operational leaders and senior management.
- Be highly organised, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and deliver to deadlines in a fast‑paced environment.
It would also be beneficial if candidates:
- Have experience interpreting external policy or guidance and assessing financial impact.
- Have worked closely with operational businesses to monitor performance and drive corrective actions.
- Have experience supporting forecasting, budgeting and medium‑term planning processes.
- Have a strong interest in continuous improvement, governance and best‑practice development.
Finally, we’re looking for candidates who align with Arriva’s values and are motivated by supporting sustainable growth, strong commercial decision‑making and positive outcomes for the communities we serve.
The closing date for applications is Wednesday 27 May 2026. Arriva Group reserves the right to close this vacancy early.
- Responsible for interpreting and analyzing the performance of all proposed concessionary schemes with the focus on then producing alternative reimbursement parameters to ensure that Arriva is not” worse off” for any scheme.
- Produce detailed workings & summaries to support effective concessionary negotiations undertaken by the operating companies and the Head of Concessions Development.
- Review and Critique the annual published DfT concessionary reimbursement guidance & reimbursement toolkits highlighting items that will materially impact the financial performance of the division.
- Take an active part in the concessionary scheme negotiations & undertake training to enable progression to become the lead negotiator in due course.
- Monitor the reimbursement & patronage performance of each scheme working with the local operating companies to ensure that the scheme reimbursement is in line with the agreements held.
- Review individual scheme performance to ensure that the assumptions used as part of the negotiations for the prior year as still correct to inform the interpretation & scenario analysis of the scheme during the next scheme year.
- Support the definition of the revenue targets for National Concessionary Travel Schemes with agreement from Regional Managing Directors and supporting operating companies in securing maximum value
- Deputize for the Head of Pricing & Concessions as required reference concessionary matters.
- Support the development of techniques and methodologies for calculating reimbursements, developing best practice and applying continuous improvement in the approach to provide modelling for each local authority claim.
- Build and develop forecasting models to improve accuracy of concession reporting and targeting as part of the forecast, budget & MTP process.
- Monitor the passenger recording trends across each scheme with the focus on highlighting high levels of manual, under & fraudulent recording & flagging this to the relevant local teams and ongoing review to ensure that corrective actions are driving increased volumes.
- Undertake general duties as required within area of responsibility as directed by senior management in line with the overall business strategy.
