Head of Water Quality and Environment

Coventry – Competitive salary, 30% bonus, £6,900 car allowance.

For Severn Trent, the relationship between the environment and our ability to operate has always been very direct. Our natural environment catches, holds, carries and helps purify our water. In turn, the climate drives many of our critical functions – from the filling of our reservoirs to how our customers use water.

Protecting water quality and the wider environment sits at the heart of what we do. Ensuring the safety, reliability and quality of our drinking water for customers is fundamental. This involves extensive testing, monitoring and risk management across our operations – from source to tap – to make sure our water consistently meets the highest standards while also safeguarding the ecosystems we rely on.

Our work goes beyond compliance; it’s about maintaining trust with our customers, regulators and communities. Water quality challenges are increasingly complex, from climate pressures to environmental expectations, and we play a critical role in leading how these are addressed across our region.

• Ensuring a sustainable water cycle
• Enhancing our natural environment
• Making the most of our resources
• Mitigating climate change

To strengthen this further, we are looking to appoint a Head of Water Quality & Environment
. This is a highly visible leadership role, reporting directly into the Executive and with regular engagement and face time with both the Group Executive and Board.

The role will be central to shaping our strategy, driving performance and ensuring we continue to lead on water quality and environmental stewardship at Severn Trent.

The Head of Environment & Water Quality is a pivotal, high‑impact leadership role responsible for shaping and delivering Severn Trent’s environmental strategy and compliance, alongside leading the drinking water quality agenda across the business.

Combining deep technical expertise with broad leadership, the role oversees about 450 colleagues and holds significant visibility with both the Severn Trent Executive Committee (STEC) and the PLC Board. It is accountable for delivering critical company‑wide performance outcomes across Water Quality ODIs, EPA measures, biodiversity, river and bathing water quality, and RNAGs, alongside ownership of about £80m OPEX and £26m CAPEX.

From an environmental perspective, the role leads the development and delivery of a robust compliance strategy, ensuring environmental requirements are fully embedded within day‑to‑day operations. This includes maintaining compliance with all permits and legislation, delivering high‑quality regulatory submissions, and adapting to evolving regulatory expectations.

Working closely with the SMT and Executive, the role shapes environmental frameworks and acts as the senior representative for the environmental agenda, building trusted relationships with regulators such as the EA, Natural Resources Wales and Natural England. It also provides oversight of compliance across water and wastewater operations, using data‑led insight to drive continuous improvement, while leading specialist teams across biodiversity, catchment management and river insights to deliver long‑term environmental improvements.

As the lead for water quality, the role holds ultimate accountability for protecting public health and ensuring water remains safe and of the highest quality for customers. Leading a team of about 240 across water regulation, public health, laboratories and permits, the role focuses on driving performance, strengthening processes and harnessing specialist capability across the function.

It also plays a key role in stakeholder engagement with organisations such as the Drinking Water Inspectorate and Public Health England, and is actively involved in incident management, including participation in an out‑of‑hours rota to support critical decision‑making when required.

We are looking for a highly experienced and credible leader with deep expertise across the water sector,…