Operational Readiness Lead

Operational Readiness Lead

Hello! Thanks for stopping by. Let us tell you about all the great reasons to join us here at Yorkshire Water:

• We offer a competitive salary, depending on experience £34,122 - £42,379 (band 4c)
• Annual incentive related bonus (£1000 maximum bonus opportunity for the performance year)
• Attractive pension scheme (up to 12% company contribution)
• Development opportunities in line with the Operational Readiness Lead progression plan
• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays - plus 2 extra wellness days!
• Life assurance cover of 4 times pensionable salary
• A great benefits package - choose from health cash plan scheme, critical illness insurance, dental insurance, life assurance flex and partner cover.
• Retail savings scheme
• Online GP service, cycle to work scheme, gym membership discounts and many more!

Location: This role will initially be based in Bradford but we're moving our office to Leeds Valley Park in September 2026, so you'll be based there in the future
- Hybrid Working (2-3 days office a week
- Bradford/Leeds)

Work type: Permanent. 37 hours per week, Monday
- Friday.

We have an exciting opportunity for an Operational Readiness Lead to join the Asset Delivery & Engineering at Yorkshire Water and be a part of helping Yorkshire Water to provide the best service to our customers. Could this be you?

Everyone has an idea of what a water company does. Here in Yorkshire, we make sure that over 5.4 million people living in the region and the millions of people who visit our region each year, can rely on our services, and have clean and safe drinking water on tap and that their wastewater is taken away. But for us, it's so much more than this.

We look after communities, protect the environment, and plan to look after Yorkshire's water, today, tomorrow 24/7, 365 days a year. We provide essential water and wastewater services to every corner of the Yorkshire region, and play a key role in the region's health, wellbeing, and prosperity.

New environmental legislation, unprecedented levels of investment and changing expectations from customers means that this is an exciting time to discover opportunities within the water industry. Asset Delivery & Engineering are a key part of how we plan to meet the changing expectations of customers and regulators.

The Operational Readiness Lead is responsible for ensuring that individual capital projects deliver all readiness activities and products required for a safe, stable, and timely operational handover. Working within the Operational Readiness framework established by the Operational Readiness Manager, the role provides proactive, hands‑on coordination of readiness activities throughout the project lifecycle, from Solution Design through to Handover. Acting as the key link between capital delivery, asset management, and operations, the Operational Readiness Lead ensures that engineering teams, project managers, contract partners, and operational subject matter experts fulfil their responsibilities and deliver readiness outputs to the required standard and timescales.

This role is critical to Yorkshire Water's goal of reducing handover cycle times to less than 90 days post‑Beneficial Completion by driving the completion of operational readiness activities in parallel with construction, rather than after project delivery.

As our Operational Readiness Lead you will

• Coordinate and track all Operational Readiness activities across an allocated portfolio of capital projects, ensuring readiness deliverables‑including asset data, operations and maintenance (O&M) plans, training plans, maintenance capability requirements, and operational expenditure (OPEX) budget validation‑are completed to the required standard and prior to Beneficial Completion.
• Engage with engineering, project delivery, asset management, and operational teams to drive accountability for readiness deliverables, ensuring responsibilities are fulfilled in line with the RACI framework and escalating non‑compliance or delivery risks to the Operational Readiness Manager.
• Identify, track, and manage Operational Readiness risks at project level, maintaining accurate and…