Who are we?
Thames Water is the UK’s largest water and wastewater company. We make a daily difference to our 15 million customers by supplying 2.6 billion litres of water through 32,000 km of pipes, keeping taps flowing and toilets flushing.
At Thames Water, every one of our actions, big and small, matters every day. Water is essential to life, so our business is always open.
What is the purpose of this role?
As part of our Asset Strategy and Planning team within our Engineering & Asset function, the purpose of this role is to identify and develop long-term plans to support our asset strategies and drive the delivery of investment for key asset cohorts across our water and wastewater functions. This role will involve working with Operational and Engineering teams to understand Asset Health across the business, identify priority cohorts for investment, understand future performance required from the assets, and set out long-term replacement plans for our assets. These plans will drive foundational improvement in the existing asset base, getting assets operating reliably, to design and exploiting their full potential to support long-term asset health and system resilience.
What will this role involve?
- Develop an understanding of the underlying health of several asset cohorts and systems and use this insight to set out the activities needed to balance cost, performance, and risk
- Demonstrating a culture of excellence and asset stewardship through collaboration with other functional teams across Thames Water such as Operations, Engineering, Delivery Partners, Strategy and Regulation, and Health and Safety
- Develop and produce reports that will be used to demonstrate the rate of asset deterioration and how planned activities are managing or offsetting the effects of age and use
- Understand how asset health can improve asset and system resilience
- Define and implement asset health metrics and risk assessment frameworks that inform long-term plans and proactive capital maintenance programs
- Assist in the production of strategies for each asset cohort
- Establish a sustainable and robust strategic planning approach that proactively improves the health of our assets
- Input into the investment plans for the Periodic Price Reviews, ensuring the appropriate level of investment to offset deterioration and improve performance
- Draw insight from asset information and liaise with System Planners, Engineering, Operational, and Maintenance teams to inform decisions
- Provide strategic direction to System Planners to embed the foundations of asset health into their regions
- Adopting best practice frameworks (consistent with ISO 55000 standards) as part of our overarching Asset Management System
- Monitoring, assurance, and regular review of asset health plans to ensure they are embedded, deliverable and sustainable for the long-term management of risk
We’re looking for you to:
- Act as a subject matter expert for your asset cohorts to ensure we have the right balance of long- and short-term investment choices
- Engage and liaise across the business and wider industry to understand and apply best practices and emerging technologies for assessing and maintaining healthy assets
- Interpret complex data and make recommendations by using your strong communication, influencing, negotiation, and analytical skills
- Have a robust knowledge of asset management principles and techniques and an understanding of the regulatory landscape in which we operate
- Summarise and concisely communicate complex technical issues and drive continuous improvement
- Ideally have a full driving license and access to your car as travel across our operational area will be required
- Have relevant experience or professional qualifications that set a strong foundation for success in this role
What are the essential skills?
- A background in Asset Management or Engineering (Degree or extensive experience)
- An understanding of the regulatory landscape in which we operate
- Logical thinker with excellent communication and collaboration skills
- Previous experience and knowledge of the UK water industry and management systems are desirable
What’s in it for you?
This a great opportunity for strategic thinkers who enjoy translating strategy into action within a technically diverse team, where you will have flexibility and autonomy to influence a varied and evolving work schedule that delivers improved asset health, reliability, and performance.
You will be delivering an essential part of our long-term strategy that underpins our investment plans, regulatory price reviews, and great service for our customers and the environment.
Gaining exposure to all levels within the business, including the opportunity to interact with key internal and external stakeholders, you will be instrumental in assuring compliance with our management systems and processes to improve the health of our assets, drive performance, improve resilience and manage risk effectively.
We’re proud of the positive ways of working we’ve adopted during the pandemic, creating a more flexible and dynamic environment so all our colleagues can thrive. For our office-based roles, we’re moving to a hybrid approach with various options for working from the home, office, and our sites.
Our competitive salary and package includes an excellent contributory pension, and 26 days of holiday per year increasing to 30 with a length of service.
Thames Water is a dynamic, rewarding, and diverse place to work, with opportunities around every corner. If you join our team, you’ll enjoy a fulfilling career, flexible working arrangements a wider benefits scheme including our benefits hub, which is packed full of offers and information to save you money and support your well-being.
We’re also proud to embrace and promote diversity and believe that creating a workforce that reflects the communities we serve will help us to thrive. We encourage applications from everyone and offer extra support for those who need it throughout the recruitment process.
Find out more about working at Thames Water.
We deliver life's essential service to our customers, communities, and the environment can thrive. This means, that 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, meet colleagues, and earn some extra money along the way.
Disclaimer: due to the high volume of applications we receive, we may close a vacancy earlier than the advertised date. This is so we can manage all the applications properly and give candidates a positive experience. Once closed, we can’t consider any further applications, so please submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.