Waterway Operative in Northampton

Advertised Salary: £27,115, Inclusive of Outer London Allowance with salary progression + benefits

Location: Nell Bridge Maintenance Yard, Adderbury, Oxfordshire, OX17 3NU

A Valid UK driving licence (held ideally min 3 years) is essential for this role as you will be expected to drive company liveried vehicles.

As an Operative, most of your working time is spent in our unique and wonderful outdoor environment. Your daily tasks will vary and will contribute to the maintenance and improvement of the London & South East regions waterway network primarily focused on the Oxford canal.

Our Operatives work an annualised hours system which includes working statutory holidays and weekends on a rota. You must be happy to work in an on-call rota. You will also be working with other staff and volunteers to undertake maintenance and repair works, operate assets, and provide information to customers, as directed by your Team Leader. Flexibility is very important in order to respond to critical needs when they occur. Please only apply if you are happy to work on a rotating shift pattern, with some emergency call out expected. Occasionally you may also be required to work in other areas of the London & South East.

About you: It is essential that our new team members can settle in and enjoy the varied work we perform, so you really must love physical outdoor work all year round, and have a genuine appreciation for respecting the needs of nature, environment, and our millions of waterway visitors. You might have practical skills and many years of working experience to offer, or you may just be starting out in your career and looking for a role which calls on your practical nature. You don’t need to be an expert in any field, but you will be able to demonstrate that you hold the values and behaviours that ensure our customers and visitors know we care. Training will be provided to helm boats, power tools, and to operate our structures such as reservoirs, locks, bridges, and sluices.

Skills, knowledge & experience: This is predominantly an outdoor role. We love the outdoors at Canal & River Trust, and it’s so important that as a member of the Waterway Operative team you enjoy all weathers! Working in and around our canals, operating locks, boats, bridges, and weirs, your role will be to provide excellent service to a variety of customers and visitors with the safety of yourself and colleagues and all who use our waterways at the forefront of your mind. Demonstrating pragmatism, your practical mind and approach will solve issues safely as and when they occur.

Responsibilities:

• Working outside, carrying out general maintenance and repair works to the waterway infrastructure.
• Provide customer service through operation of the Trust’s assets (e.g. locks and bridges) in a safe and timely manner.
• Undertake key duties associated with the maintenance of the waterway and waterside e.g. towpath improvement work from repairs to litter removal.
• Work alongside volunteers to deliver high quality works.
• Undertake work in a productive and efficient manner delivering the work to the correct standard and agreed programme.
• Assist in the planning of all work to ensure the correct equipment, materials, and plant resources.
• Always display the Trust values and behaviours, linked to professionalism and inclusion.

Technical: You will demonstrate great care in the quality and standard of your work. You will be a good communicator and have excellent customer service awareness - you will be the face of the Canal & River Trust on our waterways and will handle all communication with respect. Basic literacy and numeracy skills (Maths and English GCSE or equivalent). Experience working in manual/construction/outdoor environments is desirable - paid work or as a volunteer (outdoors related, environmental related, customer service etc). Experience using plant/tools and equipment beneficial - training will be given to use appropriate plant/tools to maintain the canal/river environment.

General: Evidence that you can work or deliver activity to a plan/schedule (can be hourly/daily/weekly). Basic IT skills - comfortable with modern handheld mobile devices for making calls, inputting information, and use of mobile applications etc.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient suitable applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

What we offer: All our waterway operatives step up their salary through a salary progression plan. Starting at £25,115 + £2k Outer London Allowance per annum. Further to salary offered, the Canal & River Trust offers a competitive contributory DC Pension scheme arrangement, great holiday entitlement (increasing with years of service) and numerous other employee benefits, including several salary sacrifice benefits. These include:

• Competitive contributory DC Pension scheme arrangement, where we will double your contribution to a maximum of 10%.
• 25 days paid holiday (plus paid Bank Holidays), increasing to 30 days after 5 years.
• Free access to specialist counselling on a range of issues, e.g. health, financial, well-being, and domestic matters.
• Access to a range of employee benefits including store discounts, boating holiday discounts, and holiday purchase scheme.
• 2 days paid volunteering leave per annum, allowing you to volunteer for a local community project etc.
• Free fishing facilities across our canal network.