Drought Resilience Lead

Are you passionate about making a difference in water resources and building resilience for the future? We’re looking for a Drought Resilience Lead to join our Strategic Water Resources team, helping Thames Water prepare for and respond to drought events. This is a new leadership role, offering the chance to shape our approach and make a real impact across the business and for our customers.

What you’ll be doing as a Drought Resilience Lead

As our Drought Resilience Lead, you’ll be responsible for:

• Leading the development and ongoing review of the Company Drought Management Plan.
• Acting as ‘Drought Manager’ during drought events, reporting to the Drought Director.
• Managing and driving our drought response, mobilising key resources, and securing budgets.
• Providing regular reporting to the Executive team and external stakeholders on drought risk and Thames Water’s response.
• Building relationships with internal teams (Operations, Asset Planning, Capital Delivery, Water Resources, Stakeholder & Comms, Legal) and external partners. (EA, Natural England, Defra, National Drought Group)
• Overseeing the operational drought response budget.
• Leading the operational drought response team, including consultants and contractors.
• Facilitating communication and coordination during drought events.
• Leading lessons learned reviews and ensuring continuous improvement.

Base location: Hybrid role based out of Clearwater Court, Reading.

To thrive in this role, the essential criteria you’ll need are:

• Proven leadership capabilities desirable within the water industry, with experience developing and implementing operational/tactical plans..
• Excellent people skills and experience working collaboratively with stakeholders.
• Ability to manage and deliver projects to meet technical, stakeholder, and commercial objectives.
• Experience communicating technical information and risk to a range of audiences.
• Proven experience in planning and financial management with commercial awareness.
• Excellent communication and strong stakeholder management skills.

Additional skills and experiences would be great to have:

• Knowledge of strategic water resource planning and regulatory frameworks.
• Track record in developing and implementing effective drought management plans.
• Experience coordinating multi-stakeholder initiatives and driving innovative solutions to mitigate drought impacts.
• Experience working in the water industry, ideally in water supply.
• Good commercial awareness.

What’s in it for you?

• From £62,215 to £75,000 per annum depending on experience.
• 26 days holiday per year increasing to 30 with the length of service (plus bank holidays)
• Car Allowance
• Performance-related pay plan directly linked to company performance measures and targets
• 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 meaningful career opportunities, flexible working arrangements and excellent benefits.

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.

We’re committed to being a great, diverse, and inclusive place to work. We welcome applications from everyone and want to ensure you feel supported throughout the recruitment process. If you need any adjustments, whether that’s extra time, accessible formats, or anything else just let us know, 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.