Josef Doppelbauer has more than 30 years experience in key aspects of railway technology, including signalling and control command systems. The Doctor of Physics held management positions at the rail equipment supplier Bombardier Transportation, which has since merged with Alstom. From 2012 to 2014, he was chairman of the European Rail Research Advisory Committee (ERRAC), the European technology platform of the rail sector. From 2011 to 2014, he was the chairman of the Steering Committee of the Joint Technology Initiative Shift2Rail.

From 2015 until 2024 Josef Doppelbauer led the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) to a new era as a European authority, where EU-wide vehicle authorisation, safety certification, and ERTMS trackside approval are granted. While at the helm of ERA, he not only has initiated the digital agenda of the Agency but was committed to a forward-looking approach and to making the railway system work better for society, while promoting the Agency, a respected authority, as the engine for change, driving the Single European Railway Area.