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Who are we?

Thames Water is the UK’s largest water and wastewater company. We make a daily difference to millions of customers by supplying 2.7 billion litres of world-class water to around 10 million homes. We are an essential service and have operated throughout the Covid19 pandemic. 

At Thames Water, every one of our actions, big and small, matters every day. Water is essential to daily life, and that means our business is always open.

What you will be doing

We have multiple opportunities at differing levels of responsibility, working in the Catchment Projects Team within Scientific and Environmental Assurance. You will be responsible for undertaking catchment management activities, including delivering Thames Water's Catchment Fund and other projects.  The aim is to reduce diffuse pollution of water, improve raw water quality and ensure compliance with drinking water standards in the Thames region.

Working in a collaborative team, key areas of accountability will include:

  • Delivery of Thames Water’s water quality investigations and schemes in the Water Industry National Environment Programme, regulated by the Environment Agency. These focus on diffuse pollution of surface water from pesticides and groundwater from nitrate. The schemes include awareness-raising activity and the implementation of Thames Water’s Catchment Fund
  • Catchment management activity to support investigations or mitigation required of Thames Water by the Drinking Water Inspectorate
  • Working with third party agricultural specialists who are engaging with farmers on behalf of Thames Water to encourage them to take part in our initiatives to protect water, including defining the scope of work and keeping track of progress
  • Understanding how agriculture impacts the quality of drinking water sources, analysing and interpreting large water quality datasets, communicating findings to stakeholders, and producing internal and external reports, including regulatory reports
  • Providing technical support to the business such as gathering information during pollution events
  • Supporting strategic drinking water research needs
  • Taking water samples from rivers as part of Thames Water’s pesticide monitoring programme

We’re looking for you to:

  • Be educated to degree level or equivalent in environmental sciences or agricultural studies
  • Apply your knowledge and use your communication skills to effectively influence a range of stakeholders involved in the agricultural industry
  • Understand how pesticides and nitrate can impact river and groundwater quality
  • Be knowledgeable in agriculture or catchment management
  • Track work being delivered by third parties in regard to the quality of outputs and meeting deadlines
  • Be confident in working autonomously and taking ownership
  • Have excellent organisational, communication and interpersonal skills, as you will be liaising with internal and external stakeholders on a day-to-day basis
  • Have a full driving licence as some of the work will be field based within the Thames Water catchment area

What’s in it for you?

This is a great opportunity to combine knowledge of diffuse pollution and how catchment activities can impact water quality; applying that knowledge to propose sustainable solutions that protect drinking water sources and ensure the quality of drinking water supplies.

The role is varied, combining scientific elements (e.g., interpreting water quality data, understanding land management in the catchment), opportunities for project management working with third party project partners and engaging with internal stakeholders in other parts of the business and external stakeholders such as farmers, agronomists, catchment groups, other water companies and the Environment Agency.

Our competitive salary package includes an excellent contributory pension, 26 days holiday per year increasing to 30 with the length of service and a wider benefits scheme.

We’re proud of the positive ways of working we have adopted during the pandemic. We want to create a more flexible and dynamic environment so all our colleagues can thrive. For our office-based roles, we are moving to a hybrid approach where we will provide options around working from our offices, our operational sites and home dependent on role/team/individual. This will be discussed during the assessment process.

Thames Water is a unique, rewarding, and diverse place to work. If you join our team, you’ll enjoy fast-tracked career opportunities, flexible working arrangements and unparalleled benefits. We’re also proud to be an equal opportunity employer, Stonewall Diversity Champion and Disability Confident Leader and we are a Times Top 50 Employer for Women.

You can find out more in our working for us section of our website.