At Thames Water, we provide life’s essential service to 16 million customers, supplying 2.6 billion litres of water every day through 32,000 km of pipes. As the UK’s largest water company, we’re working towards a new world of water - tackling today’s challenges while protecting the environment for the future.

We’re looking for an Environmental Permitting Specialist to join our Environmental Permitting team. In this role, you’ll ensure the appropriate environmental permits are in place to support our operations while helping us meet our environmental regulation obligations.

What you’ll be doing as an Environmental Permitting Specialist

You’ll work across a diverse portfolio of water discharge permitting activities, supporting operational teams and capital programmes to ensure regulatory compliance and strong environmental performance. Working within an experienced team, you’ll contribute to high-impact permitting projects and help maintain strong relationships with our regulators.

Your responsibilities include:

  • Managing environmental permits relating to water discharge activities, including coordinating applications, drafting submissions and maintaining permit records.
  • Preparing and submitting new permit applications and permit variations, ensuring they meet regulatory requirements.
  • Providing technical advice on permitting and compliance to operational teams and engineering partners.
  • Supporting capital delivery and environmental improvement programmes by ensuring assets comply with their environmental permits.
  • Engaging with the Environment Agency on permit applications and changes, including negotiating technical permitting matters where required.
  • Working collaboratively across the business to improve compliance with environmental permit conditions.
  • Coordinating timely and accurate responses to regulatory information requests.

Base location: Hybrid - based at your nearest Thames Water offices or STW site.

Working pattern or hours: 36 hours per week, Monday to Friday

What you should bring to the role

Essential

  • Experience in environmental permitting, environmental regulation, or a related technical discipline, or the ability to develop expertise in this area.
  • Strong communication and stakeholder engagement skills.
  • Ability to produce clear, structured technical documentation.
  • Good organisational and planning skills.

Desirable

  • Experience within the water industry or another regulated sector.
  • Degree in Environmental Science, Environmental Management or a related field.
  • Understanding of Environment Agency permitting guidance.
  • Strong analytical skills and good IT literacy (e.g. Excel or Power BI).

What’s in it for you?

  • Competitive salary up to £55,000 per annum, depending on experience
  • Annual Leave - 26 days holiday per year increasing to 30 with the length of service (plus bank holidays)
  • Performance-related pay plan directly linked to company performance measures and targets
  • Generous Pension Scheme through AON
  • Access to lots of benefits to help you take care of you and your family’s health and wellbeing, and your finances – from annual health MOTs and access to physiotherapy and counselling, to Cycle to Work schemes, shopping vouchers and life assurance.

Find out more about our benefits and perks (Please note different T&Cs apply if on secondment)

Who are we?

We’re the UK’s largest water and wastewater company, with more than 16 million customers relying on us every day to supply water for their taps and toilets. We want to build a better future for all, helping our customers, communities, people, and the planet to thrive. It’s a big job and we’ve got a long way to go, so we need help from passionate and skilled people, committed to making a difference and getting us to where we want to be in the years and decades to come.

Learn more about our purpose and values

Working at Thames Water

Thames Water is a unique, rewarding, and diverse place to work, where every day you can make a difference, yet no day is the same. As part of our family, you’ll enjoy meaningful career opportunities, flexible working arrangements and excellent benefits.

If you’re looking for a sustainable and successful career where you can make a daily difference to millions of people’s lives while helping to protect the world of water for future generations, we’ll be here to support you every step of the way. Together, we can build a better future for our customers, our region, and our planet.

Real purpose, real support, real opportunities. Come and join the Thames Water family. Why choose us? Learn more.

We’re committed to being a great, diverse, and inclusive place to work. We welcome applications from everyone and want to ensure you feel supported throughout the recruitment process. If you need any adjustments, whether that’s extra time, accessible formats, or anything else just let us know, we’re here to help and support.

When a crisis happens, we all rally around to support our customers. As part of Team Thames, you’ll have the opportunity to sign up to support our customers on the frontline as an ambassador. Full training will be given for what is undoubtedly an incredibly rewarding experience. It’s also a great opportunity to learn more about our business and meet colleagues.

Disclaimer: due to the high volume of applications we receive, we may close the advert earlier than the advertised date, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.