Catchment to Coast Advisors Bedford, Bedfordshire Posted 21 hours ago

We are seeking a passionate and knowledgeable Catchment Advisor for the River Great Ouse. This is a unique opportunity to shape the future of drinking water resilience by improving surface water quality through sustainable land and water management. Working with farmers, food producers, local authorities, NGOs, and communities, you’ll facilitate water quality improvements in surface water catchments and aquifers used for abstraction for drinking water. You’ll reduce risks and improve the quality of the environment through interventions such as behavioural change, agricultural product substitution, land use change and improved awareness.

You’ll be field-based for much of the role, building trusted relationships, conducting on-site assessments, and offering technical advice to stakeholders. Your ability to engage confidently, analyse data, and recommend practical, evidence-based solutions will be central to your success.

Key responsibilities:

• Build a portfolio of local knowledge regarding the risk factors which could impact on surface and ground waters in your area.
• Develop a broad network of contacts within your operational area who have influence over land management practices.
• Take ownership of discussions with individual farmers in your area about the risks posed to raw waters associated with different land management activities.
• Provide expert and local knowledge to create and deliver a Catchment to Coast Strategy for the River Gt. Ouse catchment.
• Deliver the actions in catchment plan for the River Gt. Ouse Drinking Water Protected Areas, using a source-to-sea perspective.
• Collate and provide performance data to demonstrate delivery of business priorities.
• Implement new innovative investigations, technologies and ways of working to improve outcomes and operational efficiency.
• Delivery events and communications through 1-2-1 and group presentations to provide advice and education on the issues associated with threats to water quality.

As a valued employee you’ll be entitled to:

• A competitive pension scheme where we double-match your contributions up to 7%.
• Private healthcare for your peace of mind.
• An annual bonus scheme.
• Company van/car allowance.
• The opportunity to volunteer in your local community.
• 26 days holiday (plus Bank Holidays), increasing with service, with the option to swap Christmas and Easter for religious holidays.
• Life cover (8x your salary) and personal accident cover (up to 5x your salary).
• Flexible benefits to support your well-being and lifestyle.
• Paid time off for illness, both physical and mental.
• Free parking at all office locations, sites, and leisure parks.
• Excellent family-friendly policies, including 26 weeks of full pay for maternity/adoption leave and 4 weeks of paternity/partner pay.

Experience required:

• Experience of agronomy or working in a relevant agriculture-related area is essential.
• Relevant Professional Qualification – FACTS / BASIS / Chartered Environmentalist.
• Experience of providing farm advice.
• Able to successfully work collaboratively.
• Able to facilitate meetings with a variety of stakeholders.
• Plan, prioritise and organise workloads so that projects are delivered on time.
• Adapt communication style (written and verbal) to suit a wide range of internal and external stakeholders.
• Able to present, discuss and deliver information.

Inclusion at Anglian Water: Inclusion is for everyone and we are an equal opportunity employer, which means we’ll consider all suitably qualified applicants regardless of gender identity or expression, ethnic origin, nationality, religion or beliefs, age, sexual orientation, disability status or any other protected characteristic. We recruit and develop our people based on merit and their passion for creating better outcomes, and we’re committed to creating an environment where all our colleagues feel they belong.

We are committed to reflect the diversity of the communities we serve in both our workforce and our supply chain partners to help us to understand and meet the needs of our customers. We are passionate and dedicated to the learning and development of our people, making sure they have the right skills and knowledge to be successful and to help achieve their potential.

If you have a disability or long-term condition, including neurodiversity and mental health conditions, we’ll support you throughout your application, and make any adjustments to make sure your disability or long-term condition is not a barrier to recruitment.

To apply, you’ll need your up-to-date CV, we also recommend uploading a cover letter – tell us what has made you apply and what skills you can bring to the position. We will be in touch after your application has been reviewed, following the closing date.

If you are offered a job with us, you’ll be subject to the relevant employment checks for your role, which could include references, driving licence check, DBS Check as well as your right to work in the UK.

Become a part of Anglian Water’s future and join us on our journey as we live through our values to build trust, do the right thing, and are always exploring, to bring environmental and social prosperity to the region.