Paul Barlow

International Transport/Infrastructure CFO

London, England, United Kingdom

About

International transport/infrastructure CFO with intimate knowledge of ‘track and train’ and infrastructure projects across the UK and Europe. Experience in market-leader FTSEs, regulated public sector, private equity, SME and start up. Has lived and operated in Spain and Germany speaking both languages fluently. Familiar with the entire corporate growth cycle: from launch to award winning blue chip, and from exponential growth and international M&A, to distress, strategic cost reduction and daily working capital and liquidity control.

Experience

  • Southeastern Railway (4 yrs 4 mos)
    • Finance and Business Services Director S.E.R.
      Jun 2025 - Present · 1 yr 1 mo

      SER (South Eastern Railway) is the name given to Southeastern Trains and Network Rail’s Kent Route operating under a single integrated leadership team. This is the first alliance of track and train in the Government’s Great British Railways (GBR) plans.

    • Finance Director Southeastern Trains
      Mar 2022 - Jun 2025 · 3 yrs 4 mos

      Southeastern provides train services to destinations in London, East Sussex and Kent including services on High Speed 1, the UK’s only operational High-Speed Rail line. After a high profile event in October 2021, Southeastern Trains was taken off the private sector and brought into the government’s ‘Operator of Last Resort’. I joined in March 2022 as part of the rebuild team. Reporting to the MD I lead the Finance function and back-office including Business Planning, Procurement, IT, Legal, Internal Audit and the PMO.

  • Audit & Risk Committee at South Western Railway
    Sep 2025 - Present · 10 mos

  • Audit & Risk Committee at London North Eastern Railway
    Apr 2024 - Sep 2025 · 1 yr 6 mos

  • Advisor at LINEARIS Beratungs-GmbH
    Sep 2020 - Mar 2022 · 1 yr 7 mos

    Linearis is an international transport consultancy providing strategic and organisational advisory services to the public and private sectors.

  • FD UK & Germany at National Express Group Plc
    Sep 2018 - Aug 2020 · 2 yrs

    The Coach business was the market leader for long haul coach travel in the UK, while the Bus business was the market leader for urban transport in the largest market outside London. The German business ran two 15 year rail franchises in the North Rhine-Westphalia region of Germany Reported to the MD UK & Germany. Led the finances of the Bus and Coach businesses in the UK and the Rail business in Germany, as well as Payroll & Pensions, the Shared Service Centre, Business Intelligence, Process Improvement, Project Management and GDPR