Welsh Language Standards Lead

What you’ll be responsible for:

• Guide the development, delivery and continuous improvement of Welsh Water’s Welsh Language Strategy, ensuring compliance with Welsh Language Standards and alignment with corporate objectives.
• Act as the organisation’s subject-matter expert on the Welsh language, advising senior leaders and colleagues on strategic, reputational, regulatory and operational implications.
• Embed the Welsh language across services, communications, customer experience, internal culture and digital platforms, ensuring Welsh is treated no less favourably than English.
• Chair the company’s Welsh Language Panel and oversee the planning, coordination and monitoring of Welsh language activity across the organisation, working closely with communications, customer, digital, HR and operational teams.
• Guide engagement with the Welsh Language Commissioner’s office, managing correspondence, compliance monitoring, reporting and inspections while also representing Welsh Water externally on Welsh language matters, building constructive relationships with stakeholders, partners and influencers.
• Develop and maintain clear governance, policies and guidance to support consistent Welsh language delivery across the business.
• Commission, manage and quality-assure Welsh language services, including translation, proofreading, terminology and language technology.
• Monitor performance against Welsh language commitments, using data, insight and feedback to drive continuous improvement.
• Identify risks, opportunities and emerging issues relating to the Welsh language and advise on mitigations and proactive action.
• Manage budgets, procurement needs and external supplier relationships, ensuring outputs are cost effective.
• Provide communications support for on-call rota and during gold and silver operational incidents, where required.

About you:

The following are essential requirements for the recruitment of the role:

• Qualifications: Degree or equivalent professional qualification in community engagement, communications, social impact, marketing, public engagement or a related discipline.
• Experience: Significant experience of developing and delivering Welsh language strategy, policy or compliance within a complex organisation. Proven ability to advise and influence senior leaders on strategic and regulatory matters. Experience of working with regulators or statutory bodies, ideally including the Welsh Language Commissioner. Experience of managing programmes or projects that involve organisational change. Experience of commissioning and managing external suppliers or specialist services. Experience in a regulated or customer-facing organisation. Experience of embedding Welsh language requirements into digital services and technology platforms. Experience of cultural change programmes or organisational engagement initiatives.
• Knowledge & Skills: Fluent Welsh (spoken and written) with the ability to operate confidently in professional and senior settings. In-depth understanding of the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 and Welsh Language Standards. Strong strategic thinking skills with the ability to translate policy and regulation into practical delivery. Excellent written and verbal communication skills in both Welsh and English. Ability to build strong relationships and work collaboratively across organisational boundaries. Confidence using data and insight to measure performance and demonstrate impact. Strong organisational skills with the ability to manage competing priorities. Personal credibility, resilience and sound judgement in sensitive or high-profile situations. Understanding of procurement processes and contract management.

Good to know:

• Participate in the on-call rota.

Benefits:

As well as a market competitive salary, 34 days annual leave (pro rata, including public holidays), we offer a range of employee benefits and rewards including:

• Variable pay schemes (your salary band will remain the same, but performance depending, you could receive an incremental within-band increase and a yearly incentive).
• Option to buy additional annual leave up to 5 days per year.
• Enhanced employer pension contributions – Up to 11% employer contributions.
• Free Mortgage Brokering Services.
• Enhanced family friendly policies.
• Progression opportunities, including the ability to apply for funded training and coaching and mentoring programmes.
• Gym and fitness discounts as well as high street shopping.
• Cycle to work scheme.
• Discount off all Welsh Water visitor attraction centres and gift shops.
• Car-leasing scheme and free on-site parking at all sites.
• Health CashBack scheme and access to an online GP service.
• An employee assistance programme for employees and their immediate family.

Due to the nature of the industry, we require satisfactory references, post offer medical clearance, and a criminal records Basic Disclosure check on all new employees joining the business. For some roles there may be additional checks and security clearance required, and this offer is subject to all checks being satisfied.

Who we are:

Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water keep 3 million people healthy each day with safe, reliable water, and take away wastewater to clean, before returning it safely to our beautiful rivers and seas. To be able to deliver high quality, essential services which help to protect the health of our customers, colleagues and our environment, we need the right people to deliver on our vision. This is achieved by living our core values and demonstrating the core behaviours that underpin them. The security of our people, assets and information is key to us, so we are looking for people who understand and comply with the company’s required security objectives.

We know that the most successful teams are the most diverse teams. Equality, diversity and inclusion provide the very foundation to our culture at Welsh Water. We want every individual to feel confident, proud and able to bring their whole selves to work. To ensure an improved representation in our workforce, applications are particularly welcome from minority groups including Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people, Females, LGBT+, Non-binary and people with disabilities. Together we continue to build a workplace that not only celebrates the diverse voices of our colleagues but also represents each customer we serve.

In essence, ours is a company based on trust, openness, respect, commitment and honesty. A company that our colleagues are proud to work for.