Lead major digital transformation programmes, delivering data-driven change that improves resilience, efficiency, and customer impact across the UK’s largest water company.

This role offers end-to-end ownership of large-scale digital transformation, with exposure to senior stakeholders, budgets up to £10m, and responsibility for governance, delivery, and team leadership—combining strong commercial, delivery, and strategic influence.

What you’ll be doing as a Programme Manager

  • Define and baseline the programme’s scope, plan and budget that will successfully deliver the business outcomes/objectives
  • Identify, engage and manage direct and indirect stakeholders appropriately in the context of their role within the programme, up to and including Executive Director level.
  • Identify and manage RAID items within the programme and escalate where appropriate.
  • Attend project initiation workshops and creation of any associated material to instigate a new project.
  • Identify and forecast resource needs including internal and external partner resource requirements.
  • Support commercial and procurement activities for any third-party supplier including RFI/RFQ processes and contract negotiations.
  • Support supplier management performance processes, including monthly reporting of supplier time, cost and quality metrics.
  • Actively support non-programme delivery activities related to improvement of Digital processes and ways of working, including transition to Product Management ways of working, defining and implementing delivery process efficiencies and insourcing/developing Digital skills and capabilities within our delivery teams to meet future business and technology needs.

Base location – Hybrid – Clearwater Court, Reading RG1 8DB

Working pattern – 36 hours Monday to Friday 

What you should bring to the role

To thrive in this role, the essential criteria you’ll need are:

  • Extensive experience of Digital / IT programme management delivery role
  • Experience of financial management up to £10m per annum
  • Experience of Agile and/or Product Management delivery methodologies
  • Line management experience of up to 10 direct reports
  • Management of suppliers across the entire delivery life cycle
  • Management of a large team
  • Customer-centric delivery experience
  • PRINCE 2 Practitioner or equivalent

 

Extra qualities that would be a great fit for our team:

  • ITIL v3/v4 or equivalent
  • Water industry experience
  • Information Technology or similar qualification to Bachelor's degree or equivalent level
  • Certification/experience of SaaS and/or cloud-based application management
  • Experience of DevOps tools, processes and methodology

What’s in it for you?

  • Competitive salary from £75,000 to £100,000 per annum depending on experience
  • Annual Leave - 26 days holiday per year increasing to 30 with the length of service (plus bank holidays)
  • Car Allowance - £5800
  • Performance-related pay plan directly linked to company performance measures and targets
  • Generous Pension Scheme through AON
  • Private Medical Health Care
  • 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.