Closing Date
2025-08-14
Job Title: Water Quality & Public Health Manager
Location: Hybrid (Worthing office 1 day/week + remote working)
Salary: Salary to be discussed at the screening stage – Car Allowance included
Are you ready to lead, inspire, and make a vital difference in public health and water quality?
At Southern Water, we’re on a mission to deliver safe, clean water every day — and we’re looking for a confident, knowledgeable
Water Quality & Public Health Manager to step up and drive our Water Quality Compliance team through exciting challenges and transformation.
You’ll be joining a small, elite pool of professionals driving change in a company that’s transforming the water industry. This isn’t just a job — it’s a leadership challenge with significant public impact, where your expertise will directly protect communities and improve water quality across our region.
If you’re ready to bring your skills, passion, and leadership to a role that values you — and your life outside work —
we want to hear from you!
Responsibilities Will Include
- Manage a dedicated team of 10 direct reports — including specialists focused on Water Quality Events investigations, compliance breach reporting, and auditing
- Be the primary point of contact with the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI), including direct reporting, managing notices and Final Enforcement Orders (FEO)
- Lead monthly liaison meetings with DWI, chair discussions, and show DWI teams across sites — ensuring transparency and trust
- Oversee second line checking on all water quality matters, making sure we’re doing the right things when breaches happen and providing general expert advice
- Ensure the business is aligned with policies and compliance — checking that “what we are doing is what we say we are doing
About You
- A resilient, upbeat leader with strong technical knowledge in water treatment, water quality, and process science
- Chartered professional with at least 10 years of experience working within water supply, distribution, and regulation — ideally with experience on both regulatory and operational sides
- Passionate about driving improvements, shaping policy, and making a real public impact in a company under the spotlight for transformation
- Comfortable leading in a high-pressure environment, navigating Final Enforcement Orders (FEO) and regulatory scrutiny with confidence and grace
Package
This role will be full time Monday to Friday 37 hours a week.
Southern Water operate a hybrid approach to working between our Durrington office and home.
- Company and performance-related bonus
- Generous pension up to 11% company contribution
- 25 days annual leave
- Life assurance equal to 4x salary
- Salary sacrifice electric car scheme (after 6 months service)
- Health Cash Plan
- Fully funded eye tests
- Two paid volunteering days a year
- Occupational health service
- Discounts with over 800 popular retailers
- Digital GP service
- Study support may be available for job-related qualifications
- Competitive maternity leave and flexible return to work options
- Cycle to work scheme
Does this opportunity excite you but you’re not 100% sure if you meet all the requirements for the role? Or are you concerned that ‘normal’ office hours aren’t possible given your personal circumstances? Whilst we can’t accommodate every flexible working request, we’ll try to find a practical solution. So why not engage with us and find out more about this role?
Our customers are at the heart of everything we do, because delivering water for life is our core purpose. To achieve this, we need 24/7 support in place to resolve incidents quickly and efficiently. All our employees understand the importance of out-of-hours incident support – because when problems appear, fixing them is our top priority. That’s why our people join together and support when and however needed to make sure our customers get the service they deserve. Joining the Southern Water family means you’ll become part of our incident support team. During your interview, your manager will speak to you about any incident support rotas that apply to your position.
Privacy Statement
Please note: If you are an existing Southern Water employee, you will need to confirm within your application that your Manager is aware of your application.
All applicants must be eligible to live and work in the UK. You will need to provide evidence of eligibility (e.g. a passport or long birth certificate and proof of NI) and current proof of address (dated within the last 3 months), will be required as part of the recruitment process. If you do not meet these criteria, your application will not be considered.
