Senior Water Treatment Scientist

Overview

Hello, we\’re Severn Trent and we think water is wonderful. We’re pretty keen on people too. We serve 4.8 million households and businesses across the heart of the UK, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Our 6,500 team members make every cup of tea and every toilet flush possible. We welcome people from all walks of life and celebrate individuality, because diverse minds and backgrounds help us learn and better serve our customers and communities.

If you want to do more because you care, we’d love to talk to you. There really is something for everyone here.

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW

As a Senior Water Treatment Scientist, you’ll act as a key member of the Water Treatment Process team, providing day-to-day technical advice to a number of our largest and most critical surface water treatment works. You’ll look after process issues at your works of accountability and monitor process performance through reviews of works trends to ensure we continue to provide the right quality of water to our customers.

The main site you will be covering is based in Church Wilne. You will also provide additional support to sites in other areas across the UK. The role will be based both in the office and out on our operational sites at Severn Trent and Hafren Dyfrdwy. As you’ll be travelling between sites, the role comes with a car allowance and you’ll also be part of an out-of-hours standby rota.

Sound like you? Then read on.

Some of your other key accountabilities will include:

As a Senior Water Treatment Scientist, you’ll be reviewing the performance of our Water Treatment Works, participating in water quality improvement initiatives, and identifying and supporting the delivery of operational efficiencies (chemical, energy). You’ll have the opportunity to define the future of our water treatment works by working closely alongside Process Design Engineers, helping to define new capital projects to further improve performance and reduce operational risk. While leading investigations into water quality issues and failures at Surface Water Works, you’ll identify root causes and mitigating actions for all relevant stakeholders, and be responsible for producing key reports and recommendations. A key aspect of the role is supporting the identification and reduction of water quality risks by completing the water treatment element of Drinking Water Safety Plan (DWSP) audits, DWSP actions, and identifying capital and operational investment needs required to improve water quality performance.

Some of your other key accountabilities will include:

• Take a lead role in delivering the environmental compliance ODI CRI and EPA
• Proactively recognise processes not working within acceptable parameters, identify and complete mitigating actions to resolve process issues, utilising the relevant teams within the organisation to ensure compliance
• Complete full root cause analysis, create process reports and cascade lessons learnt across the business
• Coordinate the process response to incidents, play a key role in process recovery and generate recovery plans
• Provide process advice to support business improvement initiatives and working groups; actively participate in Communities of Practice (CoP). Identify, support and promote innovative treatment solutions
• Identify, develop, set standards and deliver training for on-site testing and process knowledge development with local teams and the wider business

This is a Senior level role, so we are looking for someone who is adept at risk assessments and has the confidence and decision-making skills to work in a reactive, high-pressure environment.

What you’ll bring to the role

The post holder will have experience in water treatment processes and issues and can bring solutions to life. Because you will work with many different stakeholders, you should have excellent communication and influencing skills, dealing with people internally and externally at different levels. A full driving licence is required for the role.

To be successful, you’ll typically be educated to degree level in a scientific discipline with excellent technical knowledge of water treatment processes. You’ll again need strong communication and influencing skills to work with various stakeholders.

This role sits in a busy and diverse team, so your ability to prioritise, plan and deliver outputs to timescales mutually agreed with the team will be key, as will understanding both operational and customer issues. Many tasks are computerised, so having comprehensive IT skills (e.g., Microsoft systems, SAP, ESCADA) will help, along with the ability to interpret trends and understand consequences. Demonstrated experience in commissioning, plant optimisation and providing process support would be advantageous.

We welcome people from all walks of life and celebrate individuality, as diverse minds, experiences and backgrounds help us learn and better serve our communities. We want people who show up and get involved and who want to make a difference because they care.

What’s in it for you

Working here isn’t just a job. You can build a career at Severn Trent, and we’ll reward you for it too. We offer a range of benefits that recognise great work and award-winning training to help you reach your potential. We’ll also help you look after the environment and the communities where we live.

Here are some of our perks:

• 28 days holiday + bank holidays (with the option to buy/sell up to 5 days per year)
• Annual bonus scheme (up to £2,250 per annum based on company performance)
• Leading pension scheme – company matching up to 15% when you contribute 7.5%
• Dedicated training and development with our Academy
• Electric vehicle scheme and retail offers
• Family-friendly policies
• Two volunteering days per year

What’s next?

We can’t wait to hear from you. Before you apply, please provide an updated copy of your CV and set aside about five minutes. If you want to find out more, search #LifeAtSevernTrent on social media. We’ll always let you know the outcome of your application after the closing date, so keep an eye on your phone and emails.