Design Estimator

This is an exciting opportunity for a Design Estimator to join Thames Water and be part of the UK’s largest water and sewerage company, serving 15 million customers across London and the Thames Valley.

Our developer services department play a vital role in enabling growth throughout the region allowing new customers access to life’s essential service for generations to come. They manage everything from connecting supplies for a new development to adopting or building over a sewer.

The design team oversee more than 15,000 connections every year, working with household customers, small builders and major developers.

What you will be doing as a Design Estimator
You’ll be responsible for designing and producing cost effective quotes for new clean water connections that result in safe and robust connections into our existing network. This role will require you to learn in-depth technical information about providing new water services to our customers.

You’ll need to make sure we provide first-class customer service to our customers, keeping them up to date with their projects throughout the life cycle of work. That means you’ll be involved from the receipt of their application form through to acceptance and payment of their connection quote and beyond.

Working collaboratively within an established team and across the business, you’ll work with a wide variety of stakeholders.

Key areas of accountability will include:

• Prepare Designs and quotes for new water connections when required.
• Deal with customer enquiries and always liaise with areas of the business in the effective delivery of new connections while protecting Thames Water’s assets.
• Develop excellent relationships with internal and externa stakeholders to ensure customers receive an exceptional experience.
• Carry out accurate work complying with company processes and regulatory requirements to agreed operational performance targets.
• Identify opportunities to change processes to improve the customer journey.
• Ensuring compliance with CDM and the relevant Health and Safety Legislation.

What you should bring to the role:

• You should be someone with outstanding customer service skills, who can be flexible and positive to ever changing customer and business needs. Strong communication skills are essential, as well as the ability to develop and maintain good working relationships to deliver exceptional customer service.
• Preferably educated to diploma/degree level (or equivalent) in engineering or other STEM discipline.
• You must be able to demonstrate strong written and verbal communication skills and the ability to build and maintain effective relationships. Previous experience of dealing with customer complaints, both written and verbal, is advantageous.
• The ideal candidate will have the ability to learn quickly and build knowledge of company processes and policies. Attention to detail will be vital, as you’ll be responsible for ensuring that all work is correct and compliant.
• You’ll have exceptional organisation ability and have good problem-solving skills. You’ll be a team player who’s able to work in a pressurised environment and meet demanding targets. You must be IT literate and understand internal systems and processes. Knowledge of water network operational processes is desirable but not essential.
• Applicants with experience of HSE in construction and/or CDM will be viewed favourably.

This role is 36 hours a week, Monday to Friday, between 8am and 4pm or 9am to 5pm.
This role is based at Clearwater Court, Reading.

What’s in it for you?

• A Competitive salary starting at £26,320 per annum
• Annual Leave: 25 days holiday (Plus bank holidays)
• Contributory pension – Defined Contribution - Maximum of 12% -2x employee contribution
• Personal Medical Assessments – Open to all once a year
• Wider benefits scheme including our benefits hub, which is packed full of offers and information to save you money and support your wellbeing

Who are we? 
At Thames Water, our purpose is crystal clear - to deliver life’s essential service so our customers, communities and planet can thrive.  

Water is life’s great leveller. Every living thing needs it, every single day. From people to plants, birds to bees, farms to factories, we all need it to thrive, and we’re committed to taking care of it for us all.  

But keeping water flowing is becoming harder. From scorching summers to wetter winters, extreme weather affects everything from our pipes to our local rivers. We must keep millions more kettles boiling, public services operating, washing machines spinning, showers running and more, so every drop is more precious than ever. Are you ready to play your part?  

Working at Thames Water  
At Thames Water, we recognise that people are at the heart of our business. To help us succeed in providing life's essential service, we need a range of skills and capabilities, representative of society throughout our business.  

We seek to attract and retain a cultural mix of people who can offer different but complementary attitudes, values, talents, and knowledge. We understand the importance of appreciating and harnessing the unique skills, experiences, backgrounds, and differences that each individual brings.  

Our over-arching diversity and inclusion aim is to ensure Thames Water is a diverse and inclusive great place to work. 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.  

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.