Waste Treatment Planning & Scheduling Manager

We’re looking for a Waste Treatment Planning & Scheduling Manager to lead the delivery of maintenance and reactive activities across Thames Water’s Wastewater Treatment works. In this key leadership role, you’ll ensure over 150 field technicians are effectively deployed across 5,000 sites to complete more than 1 million jobs annually. Working closely with Field Operations, Waste Control, and other stakeholders, you’ll drive performance improvements and ensure compliance with service level agreements.

What you’ll be doing as a Waste Treatment Planning & Scheduling Manager

As a Waste Treatment Planning & Scheduling Manager, you’ll lead a team of planners, schedulers, and resource administrators to deliver business-as-usual operations and drive continuous improvement. You’ll be accountable for planning efficiency, resource utilisation, and performance management across your region.

Your key responsibilities will include:

• Leading and developing a team of up to 10 planners/schedulers and 10 resource & demand administrators.
• Ensuring effective scheduling of planned and reactive work to meet service levels and reduce asset downtime.
• Driving continuous improvement across planning and scheduling processes.
• Identifying risks to maintenance plan delivery and developing mitigation strategies.
• Prioritising mandatory and critical maintenance to reduce pollution.
• Collaborating with Waste Control and Field Operations to ensure efficient delivery.
• Supporting AMP change plans for Wastewater Treatment.
• Auditing quality assurance and ensuring compliance with design processes.
• Coaching and developing your team through SMART objectives and PDRs.

Location: This is a hybrid role with Tuesdays and Wednesdays based at Kemble Court, Reading, RG2 6AD. Some travel to treatment sites will be expected once or twice a month.

What you should bring to the role
We’re looking for someone with strong leadership in planning operations, a background in continuous improvement, and a passion for delivering value through effective scheduling.

To be successful, you’ll need:

• Experience leading large planning operations across complex sites and geographies.
• Operational experience within the water industry is essential; technical above-ground knowledge is desirable.
• Understanding of asset management systems, such as SAP.
• Proven track record of change management, driving transformation and embedding continuous improvement.
• Strong stakeholder and relationship management skills.
• Experience in team development and performance management.
• High resilience and ability to manage ambiguity and overcome challenges.
• Operational experience within the water industry is essential; technical above-ground knowledge is desirable.

What’s in it for you?

• Competitive salary up to £50,000 per annum, depending on skills and experience.
• 26 days holiday per year, increasing to 30 with the length of service. (plus bank holidays)
• Performance-related pay plan is directly linked to company performance measures and targets.
• Generous Pension Scheme through AON.
• Access to lots of benefits to help you take care of yourself 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's 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 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. 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.