Head of Water Networks North

Location:

Pity Me, Durham

from £100,000 plus car allowance and private healthcare and bonus of up to 15%

Are you a strategic and inspiring operational leader who is passionate about delivering exceptional services for customers, communities and the environment?

As our Head of Water Networks North, you will lead and shape water network operations across the North East, with accountability for delivering safe, resilient and efficient services for our customers. This is a significant leadership opportunity to influence the future of our water networks as we transform our operations and deliver the ambitions of AMP8 and beyond.

You will lead the performance and continued transformation of our Water Networks function, delivering stretching operational, customer and regulatory commitments while ensuring our operating model, capabilities, partnerships and infrastructure are fit for the future.

You will take ownership of key performance commitments, including leakage, interruptions to supply and network water quality, alongside Water Networks’ contribution to demand management. You will also oversee the performance and resilience of our strategic and distribution network assets, including reservoirs, trunk mains and other critical infrastructure.

Working across Water, Asset Investment, Service Planning, Water Quality, Commercial and other functions, you will bring together operational delivery, investment and long‑term planning to deliver sustainable outcomes for customers, the environment and the business.

You will champion data‑led decision‑making, using analytics, smart technologies and network intelligence to improve performance, efficiency and customer experience, while continuing to evolve our operating model and drive transformation, innovation and continuous improvement.

As a visible and inclusive leader, you will lead through a team of senior leaders, creating a high‑performance culture where people are empowered to succeed. You will also build strong relationships with contractors, delivery partners, regulators and industry stakeholders to drive performance, innovation and value.

We’re looking for an experiential and inspiring senior leader with a proven track record of delivering results through people, partnerships and transformation within a complex operational, infrastructure, regulated or asset‑intensive environment.

You will have experience of leading large, geographically dispersed, multi‑functional teams, delivering sustained performance and organisational change through senior leaders and their teams. You will be able to provide clarity and direction, translate ambitious goals into practical delivery and bring people together behind a common purpose.

You will have a track record of delivering significant performance improvement while balancing operational delivery, customer outcomes, resilience, investment and risk. Experience of leading complex operational incidents, business continuity or emergency response arrangements would also be valuable.

Alongside strong commercial and financial judgement, you will have experience of managing significant budgets, prioritising investment and identifying opportunities to improve efficiency and performance. You will be a collaborative and influential leader, comfortable operating across organisational boundaries and building trusted relationships with a wide range of stakeholders.

Previous water industry experience would be beneficial, but it is not essential. We are particularly interested in the leadership capability and transferable experience you can bring from other complex operational, regulated or critical infrastructure environments. Experience of asset management, operational resilience, regulatory environments,…