Natural Resources Graduate Early Careers · Exeter (Peninsula House)

Location: Peninsula House, Exeter

Salary: £30,000

Start Date: September 2026

Application Deadline: 5th May 2026

Who we are

At Pennon, we literally bring water to life. Every day, our customer teams support millions of people across the South West, helping them with everything from bills and payments to service updates and water quality concerns. Every interaction matters. As a graduate joining us, you'll play an important part in shaping our customers' experience from day one.

We care about doing things properly: with integrity, empathy and a genuine commitment to the communities we serve. We learn from each other, share ideas openly, and welcome fresh thinking from people who want to help make essential services work better for everyone. If you enjoy solving problems, supporting people, and finding practical ways to improve experiences, you'll find something meaningful for you here.

What you’d be doing

This role places you in the Natural Resources Team who lead on delivery of our Biodiversity Strategy, Capital investment projects for habitats and species, biosecurity and our Upstream Thinking Catchment Management and Green First Programmes. The Teams leads on protecting Biodiversity across our assets and activities and also working with our environmental stakeholders in all areas.

As a Graduate in Natural Resources, you could:

• Co deliver and project manage capital investment projects for fish, eels, control of Invasive Non Native Species (INNS), biodiversity and catchment management projects on our WINEP (Water Industry Natural Environment) Programme.
• Support our teams to manage spatial and delivery data and evidence and understand the wider benefits created through their work. This includes working with GIS and in-house data reporting systems.
• Contribute to collaboration with other water companies and industry groups to strengthen the sector’s Innovation and research approaches.
• Work across internal teams delivering the Nature safe programme providing advice and briefings on how to manage nature to all our teams and operators.
• Work with our communications team to develop case studies and stories that bring to life our work for external audiences.
• Support the work of our Environmental Stakeholder and Green First Programme Manager in delivery of community events and interactions, attending partnership meetings and fostering community links with projects on the ground delivering our Green First Waste Water improvement programme.

If you’re someone who enjoys active delivery, connecting ideas and people, working through problems and challenges to positive solutions, working across our business and showing how we can create positive impact for nature, this could be a great fit for you.

Who you are

We’re keen to meet graduates with a drive and passion to protect and enjoy the natural environment combined with the knowledge and skills and willingness to learn in order to make a difference.

You might be a great match if you:

• Are working toward (or have) a degree. Ideally in disciplines including biology, geography and other natural sciences but we are also interested in those who can bring learning from other disciplines into our team.
• Care about wildlife and habitats, rivers and seas and you are concerned about community and nature impacts and the role businesses and utility companies can play in society.
• Enjoy working with people across different teams and organisations and communicating and bringing ideas together.
• Are comfortable managing and organising information and helping turn it into clear reports and project plans.
• Can explain ideas clearly, both in writing and in conversation.
• Like solving problems and improving how things work.
• Have GIS or other spatial data handling skills, are proficient at surveying nature or just enjoy going out in the wild at the weekend to see what you can spot.
• Have project management, finance and report management skills.
• Bring a collaborative and proactive approach to your work.
• Have the right to work in the UK.

This role also requires a full UK driving licence.

If you’re drawn to this role and feel this might be you, we’d love to hear from you. Don’t have everything on this list? That’s ok. You won’t be expected to arrive with all the answers. Curiosity, a willingness to learn and an interest in creating positive impact will help you get the most from the role.

We’re keen to meet graduates who listen well, care about people, and enjoy finding solutions that make a difference.

What’s in it for you

• A structured grad programme: Opportunities to work across Sustainability, Net Zero and Natural Resources Team activities.
• A mentor or buddy: Guidance from experienced team members within Sustainability, Net Zero and Natural Resources.
• Real experience: Work on projects that help drive tangible benefits for communities and customers.
• Competitive salary and benefits package.
• The chance to make a difference: Help shape how we create and measure social value.
• A culture shaped by values: safety, integrity, collaboration, innovation and customer care.
• Natural Environment Management focused development: Experience in managing and delivering projects on peatlands, rivers and across our assets, reporting, stakeholder engagement and learning specific skills related to Biosecurity, fish and eels, site survey and management, etc.

Closing Date: 5th May 2026

We reserve the right to close this vacancy before the advertised Closing Date. Applicants must have the legal right to work in the UK for the full duration of the 2-year programme. We are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this programme.

We’re committed to building a team that reflects the communities we serve and ensuring everyone can participate in our recruitment process fully and fairly. If you need any adjustments or face any barriers in our processes, just let us know. We’ll work with you to make sure you can show us what you can do.