Innovation Technical Specialist

Join Our Innovation Team as a Technical Specialist!

Are you ready to make a real impact and shape the future? Join our dynamic Innovation Team at Yorkshire Water and help us provide the best possible service to our customers while protecting the environment. We're looking for curious minds who are passionate about innovation and eager to make a difference.

Why You'll Love Working With Us:
• Competitive Salary:
Starting at 50,719 progressing up to 63,398 based on experience and development.
• Development in Role:
Role specific progression plan to support and enable personal development.
• Annual Bonus:
Up to 1,000 based on company performance.
• Fantastic Benefits:
Enjoy a generous pension scheme with up to 12% employer contribution, 25 days of annual leave plus bank holidays, 2 wellness days off work, life assurance cover, and optional benefits like health cash plans, dental insurance, and gym membership discounts.
• Flexible Work Arrangements:
Our hybrid working model allows you to balance office and home working, giving you the flexibility you need. Our brand new central office is at Leeds Valley Park, and we try to get there a couple of days of week to collaborate.
• Career Growth:
Take advantage of our training and development opportunities to advance your career.
• This role has been classified as a Business Needs Users (BNU) and eligible for a Company Car or Cash Allowance subject to company criteria.

What You'll Be Doing:
As our Innovation Technical Specialist for Water Supply and Demand, you’ll be at the forefront of driving change - shaping how Yorkshire Water tackles some of its biggest drinking water challenges and unlocking new opportunities.

You will:
• Get under the skin of the business - understanding strategic and operational needs, translating complex risks and challenges into clear opportunities, and identifying the gaps where innovation can deliver real impact.
• Spot and champion transformative ideas - scanning the horizon for cutting-edge solutions, rigorously evaluating their potential and alignment with needs, and supporting the selection of innovations that will make the biggest difference, both now and in the future.
• Leading innovation from concept to reality - prioritising and driving a dynamic programme of projects that test new ideas, prove concepts, and enable accelerated adoption - while building strong sponsorship and momentum across the business.
• Be the technical authority and connector - bringing the right expertise to the table, whether from within YW or beyond, and unlocking additional funding to amplify impact through routes such as Ofwat’s Water Innovation Fund, UK Water Industry Research (UKWIR), or UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
• Turn innovation into business-as-usual - ensuring successful ideas don’t stop at trials, but are embedded into operations through compelling business cases and clear, actionable insights for colleagues to deliver.
• Be a visible advocate for innovation - actively promoting its value across Yorkshire Water and the wider sector, influencing strategy, shaping industry thinking, and representing YW on national and international stages.

This is your opportunity to lead from the front - transforming bold ideas into real-world environmental impact and helping shape the future of wastewater innovation t We're Looking For:
• Demonstrable technical knowledge and experience in Clean Water. The focus of this role will be on solutions for network asset management, leakage, bursts and repairs, supply/demand balance and water efficiency.

Please note:

There is always scope and opportunity in Innovation to learn and explore across themes, so don’t hold back if you only have experience in some of these areas. Evidence of your curiosity and ability to learn new things is more important.
• A science or engineering degree and/or significant (5+ years) experience in the relevant technical area.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, with a particular talent for communicating complex, technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• A drive for continuous learning and development in your technical specialist area, with a curiosity…