Modern Apprenticeship opportunities at LothianApplications open for Modern Apprentice roles across our business

Lothian bus on Princes Street in front of Edinburgh Castle.
Lothian bus on Princes Street in front of Edinburgh Castle.

Lothian has launched its search for four new Modern Apprentices to join the award-winning business.

With a successful Apprentice Engineering programme now well established at Lothian, the company is creating new opportunities across a range of disciplines including Human Resources, Data Analysis, Commercial and Engineering.

There are four Modern Apprenticeships currently available at Lothian. Details of these roles, including job descriptions,  skills and qualifications required, can be found below.

Overall Focus and Purpose of Role

As Edinburgh’s principal transport provider Lothian has been providing the city with a first-class public transport service for over a century.  In more recent years we have expanded to provide the same great services within Midlothian, East Lothian and West Lothian.

We operate over 70 services, through a fleet of over 700 vehicles and employs over 2,500 employees which includes over 1,800 drivers.

Working to support both the Network and Product functions, the Commercial Assistant Modern Apprentice performs a variety of day-to-day tasks to ensure commercial processes run smoothly and help inform and support decisions made by the department. The role is a vital part of the organisation and a valuable asset to the team.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

  • Data extraction for statistical analysis and reporting (including Power BI)
  • Census work and driver/customer engagement
  • Assist in the administration of service change preparation (both network and product)
  • Undertaking and logging detailed ticketing equipment and software user acceptance testing
  • Preparation and reporting on key product metrics around revenue protection
  • Preparation and reporting on key product metrics around ticketing equipment fault diagnosis and resolution
  • Assist in the administration of commercial equipment fault and repair cycles
  • Undertake administrative tasks within the department

Skills, Qualifications and Experience

  • Communication skills
  • Working with others
  • Numeracy
  • Information and Communication Technology
  • Problem Solving
  • A friendly and positive attitude
  • A passion for, and frequent user of, public transport

Overall Focus and Purpose of Role

As Edinburgh’s principal transport provider Lothian has been providing the city with a first-class public transport service for over a century. In more recent years we have expanded to provide the same great services within Midlothian, East Lothian and West Lothian.

Engineering plays a critical part in helping us to provide a safe and reliable bus service for our customers. Our dedicated and highly skilled team of engineers ensures our vehicles are maintained to the highest standards and are regularly checked by DVSA and other regulatory bodies. We are proud to carry out all of our own maintenance and repairs onsite at our main garages across the city.

 Our Fleet Admin Apprentice will work as part of the Head Office Engineering team to provide assistance to Engineering Management completing all essential administrative tasks, as well as a wide range of reporting and data entry duties.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

  • Assist with maintaining vehicle records and updating software system with fleet information
  • Assist with all aspects of fleet administration including MOTs, vehicle taxation, issue of Operator’s licence discs, notification of vehicle alterations
  • Provide admin support for engineering department training and development as required
  • Provide support to depot admin teams as required
  • Collating and storing data on various Microsoft programs
  • Generating reports as requested and providing any additional support required by depot administration and management teams
  • All other general administration and ad hoc duties as required by the Engineering Management Team

 Skills, Qualifications and Experience

  • Strong communication skills, both written and verbal
  • Ability to work independently, with minimal instruction
  • Confident team player who can build relationships at all levels
  • High level of accuracy and attention to detail
  • Excellent organisation and time-management skills
  • Competent MS Office user, specifically Excel, Outlook, Word and PowerPoint
  • Ability to drive or travel to all Lothian Group sites

Overall Focus and Purpose of Role

As Edinburgh’s principal transport provider Lothian has been providing the city with a first-class public transport service for over a century.  In more recent years we have expanded to provide the same great services within Midlothian, East Lothian and West Lothian.

We operate over 70 services, through a fleet of over 700 vehicles and employs over 2,500 employees which includes over 1800 drivers.

The Business Administration Modern Apprentice manages day-to-day tasks to ensure all departmental administrative processes run smoothly. The role is a vital part of the organisation and a valuable asset to the team.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

  • Updating and maintaining relevant training databases and trackers e.g., Training Matrix, Shine etc.
  • Supporting the HR Business Partners with all transactional L&D activities and projects, such as coordinating training events, sending reminders, updating Microsoft calendars for delegates, coordinating arrangements for meetings.
  • Supporting the HR Assistant with the administration associated with starters, leavers and transfers. Ensuring all administrative processes are carried out in an appropriate timeframe.
  • Supporting the HR Administrator with the coordination of medical appointments.
  • Issuing reference requests and other letters using agreed letter templates.
  • Updating and maintaining employee data on relevant trackers and systems e.g. OpenPeople, Occupational Health Dashboard etc.
  • Providing office support to colleagues, including answering calls and taking messages.
  • Conducting research and contributing to reports.
  • Giving feedback and suggesting improvements.
  • Preparing documents through editing, printing and binding.
  • Any other ad hoc duties as and when required.

Skills, Qualifications and Experience

  • Communication skills
  • Working with others
  • Numeracy
  • Information and Communication Technology
  • Problem Solving
  • A friendly and positive attitude

APPLY NOW!

Lothian operates over 80 routes 24/7 throughout Edinburgh and the Lothians, carrying 110 million passengers in 2023. Data is at the heart of what Lothian does and helps us to understand the needs of our customers and the city we operate in.

As part of a Modern Apprenticeship in Data Analytics you will learn how to collect, properly store, analyse and report on data, identifying the most important pieces of information and presenting them in a way that makes sense to a variety of audiences.

If you’re good with numbers, have good IT skills and like problem solving, this is the apprenticeship for you.

During your apprenticeship, you will learn:  

  • How to work with large and evolving datasets and apply them to a fast-paced business setting
  • Design and create databases to store data in the most efficient way
  • Aggregate and apply various collections of data to different reporting methods including Microsoft Power BI, Microsoft Excel and various staff and transport-management tools
  • Understand the importance of reporting KPIs and other key information as part of our legal responsibilities as a transport operator
  • How to provide managers with the data tools they need to do their jobs in running busy bus garages throughout our operating area
  • Work with other departments throughout the business to discover new ways to provide the data they need
  • Carry out best health and safety practices
  • Develop your own data knowledge

The apprenticeship can teach you the following core skills:  

  • Teamwork
  • Numeracy
  • Communication
  • Time-management
  • Problem-solving

You will have the following skills before starting your apprenticeship:

  • Write and understand formulas in Microsoft Excel
  • Be able to use pivot tables and other complex data sorting tools in Microsoft Excel
  • Have an understanding of Business Intelligence products, with a focus on Microsoft Power BI
  • Have an understanding of Microsoft Access and SQL databases
  • A good knowledge of all Microsoft Office products

Tasks you will carry out as part of the role:

  • Import data from various sources to produce a daily situation report to Garage Managers
  • Export and store data from various systems on a daily and weekly basis to allow our reporting tools to update
  • Provide HR, Payroll, Finance and Insurance departments with weekly data exports and reports
  • Work with other Operations Support team members to design, update and deploy Microsoft Power BI dashboards and reports
  • Prepare data packs for all new drivers to allow them to access key systems on commencement of employment

APPLY NOW!