Head of Environmental Performance

In this role, you’ll be responsible for driving a fundamental shift in how Waste Operations enhance environmental performance. You will focus on reducing flooding and pollution, improving river health, and driving sustainable wastewater solutions.

You’ll play a key role in shaping strategies that deliver critical environmental performance improvement across wastewater while ensuring compliance with environmental regulations.

Additionally, you’ll oversee the pollution reporting process, managing key interactions with the Environment Agency and ensuring smooth day-to-day operations. This is a fantastic opportunity to make a tangible difference in water quality and environmental sustainability.

What you’ll be doing as a Head of Environmental Performance

As Head of Environmental Performance, you'll be responsible for the development and delivery of TW’s flooding and pollution incident reduction plans including focusing on tactical improvements driven through our turnaround capability.

• Develop and implement a robust governance framework for pollution and flooding, driving performance with leading indicators and providing clear actionable insights to leaders in Waste.
• Ensure clarity and consistency in tracking and reporting key environmental metrics, particularly around pollution incidents, driving clear and concise understanding for decision-makers.
• Input into Strategic Planning decisions such as the preparation of business plans on environmental issues to ensure a balanced, prioritised and deliverable plan aligned to our river health strategy.
• Steer the future focus of Smart Waste, and new digital tools, through prioritising delivery plans, building on the solid foundations achieved to date.

This is a hybrid role based out of Clearwater Court, Reading (base is negotiable) with travel throughout the Thames Water Region. There is a requirement for 2-3 days per week at the Thames Water site to ensure engagement with the team and wider internal/external stakeholders.

What you should bring to the role

• Effective leadership with demonstrable ability to engage and influence teams across organisational boundaries.
• Ability to proactively engage and influence stakeholders both internally and externally and develop sustainable, long-lasting relationships both with our business and our regulators.
• Ideally, you will have some water industry experience or experience in a similar type of role
• You will have experience with large project & programme delivery.
• An understanding of change management and proven ability to transition teams from reactive to proactive modes of operation.
• Effective insights-driven decision-making skills with a robust understanding of data analytics and its role in operational efficiency.

What’s in it for you?

• Competitive salary from £85,000 to £95,000 per annum depending on experience.
• Annual Leave entitlement of 26 days holiday per year increasing to 30 with the length of service. (plus bank holidays)
• Car Allowance.
• Annual Bonus.
• Generous Pension Scheme through AON.
• Private Medical Health Care.
• Access to lots of benefits to help you take care of your and your family’s health and well-being, 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

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 fast-tracked career opportunities, flexible working arrangements and excellent benefits.
Whether you’re interested in a role in one of our call centres or science labs, we’re looking for people like you with real passion and a burning desire to make things better.

So, 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.

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

Our overarching aim is to ensure that Thames Water is a great, diverse and inclusive place to work. We welcome applications from everyone and offer extra support for those who need it throughout the recruitment process. We aim to remove any real or perceived barriers to success, so if you need assistance, we’re here to help and support you.

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 the advert earlier than the advertised date, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.