About the role:
We are seeking a motivated individual to lead and develop a team of 11 technicians. You will drive their performance and create a positive team culture, ensuring that employee engagement is consistently high. You will need to adhere to HR policies, processes and guidelines in doing this. There will be a strict health and safety and customer focus in this role, and high standards are expected in this regard.
The role is based in the North East London Water Production area, specifically around the New River. The New River is an exciting area to manage. It is dynamic, and comes with seasonal challenges. Its assets are essential in ensuring that raw water storage levels remain healthy. The role requires extensive engagement and collaboration with other departments such as the Customer Centre, the Groundwater team, and the Reservoir Safety team. As such, there is scope to learn a great deal about the business and develop both personally and professionally.
This role involves:
- Performance Management – You will be responsible for the overall performance of the New River Team. This is inclusive of maintenance plan completion, the resolution of customer issues, and the maintenance of the New River in accordance with Reservoir Safety standards. Note that this list is in no way exhaustive. The team must be managed as a collective, but also on an individual level to ensure that an adequate support framework is in place such that the team can develop and continually improve.
- Health and Safety – You will be responsible for enhancing a health and safety culture that is already embedded within the team. You will manage your sites in accordance with the Health and Safety Management System, so as to ensure that all visitors to site, whether Thames Water Employees, contractors or members of the public, are all safe.
- Process Management – Ensuring that flow rates down the New River are optimised, such that abstraction is the highest it can be within regulatory and customer context. The river is also supplemented by a number of borehole sites, for which asset availability must remain healthy at all times. Fundamental within process management is an understanding of water quality, and this must be considered the top priority in all abstraction strategy.
- Financial Management –owning and managing the New River cost centre, inclusive of tracking expenditure relative to budget throughout the year on timescales less than a monthly basis. The identification of risk and opportunities is essential, as is efficient operation.
- Customer & Stakeholder Management - The New River stretches 23 miles, and is a huge customer interface. You must understand the importance of prompt and effective resolution of customer issues, and take ownership of this. A good working relationship with our Customer Centres is essential in contributing to this.
To be successful you will have the following skills and experience:
- Knowledge and experience in water production processes is essential.
- Previous experience in managing operational staff is required, but what is essential is an appreciation of the importance of employee engagement and team structure in enabling performance.
- A strong focus on, and a good working knowledge of, health and safety is essential.
- Experience managing the operational budget with a structured and proactive approach.
- An ability to prioritise, and organise workload is required.
- The successful candidate will be expected to consider operational strategy beyond just the day-to-day, and will plan ahead.
- An ability to work in a team and develop relationships across departments.
- Due to the nature of this role, full valid UK driving licence is needed.
What’s in it for you:
No one day is the same for our Performance Managers and this is a fantastic opportunity to apply your skills and attributes to a front line management role in Operations.
This is a challenging role and gives the successful person a great chance to make improvements and also make a name for them self.
The sites you will be managing are placed in scenic locations and you must be willing to travel. In return, you will enjoy a balance of office and field work.
Our competitive salary package includes an excellent contributory pension, a generous holiday allowance (which increases to 30 days with length of service), and a wider benefits scheme. This includes an annual pay review, season ticket loans, voucher scheme giving you money off in major retail outlets, loyalty awards for continuous service plus much more, including our refer-a-friend bonus, where you can receive up to £1,000 for helping someone get a permanent position within the company.
We’re also proud to be here for our local community, offering all of our teams two days paid volunteer leave a year, as well as proudly supporting a lot of local events and charities.
Click here to view our full list of Rewards and Benefits
About us:
Thames Water is the largest water and waste-water services company in the UK. We provide the essential service at the heart of daily life, health and enjoyment to 15 million customers across London and the Thames Valley and we are going through a period of exciting change. On a typical day we supply 2.6 billion litres of top quality drinking water and our 350 sewage treatment works treat more than 4.2bn litres of waste-water. Our 85,000 miles of water mains and sewers would wrap around the world three-and-a-half times.
We are focusing like never before on delivering brilliant services and providing our customers with a great experience. We are in the process of transforming our business in order to achieve this. To help us succeed, we need a range of new skills and capabilities and will be recruiting for these in the coming months. We are on the lookout for talented people across our entire region who are interested in helping us to become the best water and waste-water company in the UK.
Thames Water is an equal opportunity employer, Stonewall Diversity Champion and Disability Confident Leader, welcoming applications from all walks of life to join our diverse team. We’re also leading the way with our award-winning mental health and wellbeing strategy.