1. Faculty of Environment
  2. Institute for Transport Studies
  3. Masters
  4. Careers and employability

Careers and employability

All our courses are designed by research leaders in collaboration with industry to ensure they prepare you for an exciting and rewarding career in transport. As part of an industry-inspired, multi-disciplinary team, you will experience what it is like to tackle real world challenges. 

Careers support

You’ll have access to the wide variety of support available to Masters students, both within the Institute for Transport Studies and the University's award-winning Careers Centre - who offer a range of services including:

  • Careers appointments
  • CV guidance
  • Interview advice and practise
  • Careers fairs and employer presentations
  • Access to local and international job vacancies
  • Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) careers fair.

Employer visits

The Institute for Transport Studies works closely with a number of organisations, with many employers visiting us each year to interview our students for graduate schemes and other vacancies.

The visits provide a unique chance to gain invaluable experience with recruitment processes and interviews with transport employers before graduating. Companies who have previously attended the employer visits include:

In an effort to attract more high quality graduates to the transport sector, all the companies involved with the employer visits make a financial contribution to the Transport Masters Employer scholarship. You can find out more about our scholarships here.

Get career advice from an alumni mentor

Our mentoring scheme links up Masters students with a mentor who can assist in developing career ideas, confidence and employer awareness.

Mentors are often graduates of the Institute for Transport Studies, and so they relate to your journey from studying transport in Leeds to securing a role in the industry.

They can help you with job applications, develop your employability skills and give you constructive feedback.

For more information on getting involved with our alumni mentor scheme, please contact Becky Winwood: R.Winwood@leeds.ac.uk.

Four-month placement scheme

*Note: The video above refers to “tier 4 visas” rather than “student visas”, which was correct at the time of production. 

You will have the opportunity to gain four months industry experience in the UK with companies such as Network Rail and AECOM at the end of your Masters course. After a competitive application process, paid placements are offered from September to December at the end of your studies.

During the piloting of the scheme in the 2018/19 academic year, seven placements and one permanent job were offered to students after an interview process. We aim to have more employers on board and have more placements available as the project develops in the future.

Employers and the job titles of the placement students that participated in the pilot scheme are listed below:

  • AECOM (Graduate Transport Engineer)
  • Network Rail (Strategic Planning Assistant, Timetable Development Assistant, Junior Strategic Planner)
  • Fore Consulting (Transport Consultant)
  • Stantec (Transport Consultant)

The scheme is open to all Masters students, including those on a student visa, within the Institute for Transport Studies. Placements aren’t guaranteed.Transport integrated project

All our courses include the industry-inspired Transport Integrated Project module. You’ll work as part of an inter-disciplinary team to undertake a specific transport project as suggested by a client, and gain an understanding of how different roles in the development of transport sector projects work together.

For more information on modules, visit our course pages.

Graduate destinations

We ensure our graduates are equipped with specialist and transferable skills to prepare them for their future career. You’ll gain a deep understanding of the multi-disciplinary nature of transport with a focus on the needs of the industry.

Our graduates often secure employment in areas including transport consultancy, government, academia, operators, logistics companies, not-for-profit organisations and international agencies.

Recent graduates have secured positions including:

Visit our course pages for course specific career destinations.