Continuous Water Quality Monitoring Lead

Public interest in the health of the nation’s rivers and the quality of the water that flows in them has never been higher. At Thames Water, we care deeply about our rivers and are committed to reducing our impact on them and working with others to further improve them. A key step towards this is understanding the quality of the river water and how our discharges may affect them.

We are looking for a highly capable individual to make a difference by leading and managing the team responsible for the Continuous Water Quality Monitoring programme (CWQM) at Thames Water. The CWQM team will be responsible for the delivery, management, data collection, interpretation, visualisation, and communication of data insight related to CWQM.

What you’ll be doing as a Continuous Water Quality Monitoring Lead
Following the Environment Act 2021, the Government required water and sewerage companies to continuously monitor river water quality upstream and downstream of all sewage treatment works and storm overflow discharges. The insight from this monitoring is intended to help inform their storm overflow discharge reduction plan, future asset investment, and provide transparency to regulators and the public around the operation and impact of discharges on the receiving waterbodies.

This data will be pivotal in providing accurate information that can drive the prioritisation of improvements to reduce environmental harm from our wastewater discharges. In addition to the regulatory requirements, CWQM can provide valuable insight to support many other business objectives.  

Key responsibilities for this role include:

• Managing the team delivering the programme, including the installation, maintenance, interpretation, and reporting of CWQM data.
• Oversee data management, data interpretation, contractor management, regulatory reporting, and stakeholder engagement.
• Work closely with teams within Thames Water to integrate the data into the business and assist with the development of our River Health Tool.  
• Work alongside the Waste Operational Control Centre to ensure we have clear triggers and appropriate operational responses. 
• Represent Thames Water at external working groups regarding CWQM related topics, for example, monitoring of bathing/recreational areas, estuarine investigations, public CWQM data sharing platform.
• Promote the CWQM programme internally and ensure the data can be easily understood and communicated. 
• Work with our environmental regulators to agree on appropriate operational responses triggered by the water quality data. 
• Attend industry and supplier events related to CWQM and keep informed about new technologies that could benefit the business.

Base location: Hybrid - Clearwater Court - RG1 8DB, minimum two days a week and frequent site visits as you will be working with contractors to install and maintain the CWQM monitors.
Working hours: 36 hours
Necessary requirements for the role: you must have a valid UK driving license.
 
What you should bring to the role

• A degree in Science, Engineering, or a related field.
• Technical background in environmental monitoring and data management, ideally relating to water quality.
• Extensive stakeholder engagement experience.
• Management and team building experience, leading a team of at least 5 people.
• Experience in managing multi- million-pound budgets.
• Expertise in continuous water quality monitoring technologies, data analysis and communicating complex data to a range of internal and external stakeholders.
• Regulatory experience related to river water quality and pollution incidents.
• Experience in developing and managing large-scale (>1,000 sensors) environmental monitoring systems is desirable.
• Leadership/ management qualification is desirable.
• Asset management qualification is desirable.

What’s in it for you?

• Competitive salary from £52,000 to £65,000 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
• Annual Bonus
• 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

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.

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 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. Our aim is to remove any real or perceived barriers to success, so if you need assistance, 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.