Director of Water Services (Ref: 196649) in Mansfield

Location: UK – Hybrid

Salary: DOE + Benefits & Bonus

Type: Perm

Overview of the role:

We are seeking an experienced Director of Water Delivery to lead the successful delivery of a diverse portfolio of programmes across the water and wastewater sector. This is a senior leadership position with responsibility for overseeing multiple teams, projects, and programmes that are critical to operational performance, customer outcomes, regulatory commitments, and long-term business objectives. The role will suit an individual who combines strong delivery leadership with deep water sector expertise and enjoys working across operations, engineering, capital investment, digital transformation, asset management, and organisational change. You will be responsible for ensuring programmes are delivered safely, effectively, and efficiently whilst creating a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

As the Director of Water you will take ownership of a broad portfolio of strategic initiatives across water and wastewater operations. You will provide leadership across multiple functions and delivery teams, ensuring programmes are aligned to business priorities, regulatory requirements, customer commitments, and operational objectives. This role requires an individual who can operate strategically whilst remaining close enough to delivery to support teams, remove barriers, manage risk, and ensure successful outcomes. You will work closely with senior operational leaders, engineering teams, programme managers, digital teams, asset management functions, and executive stakeholders to drive performance and deliver meaningful change.

Key Responsibilities

• Delivery Leadership
  • Lead the delivery of a portfolio of complex water and wastewater programmes, projects, and initiatives.
  • Provide strategic oversight across operational, capital, digital, and transformation activities.
  • Ensure programmes are delivered safely, on time, within budget, and to agreed quality standards.
  • Establish effective governance, reporting, assurance, and performance management frameworks.
  • Oversee programme risks, dependencies, issues, and resource requirements.
  • Act as the senior escalation point for delivery challenges and operational issues.
  • Drive a culture focused on delivery excellence, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Operational & Programme Leadership
  • Lead teams delivering improvements across water and wastewater operations.
  • Support the successful delivery of operational performance, resilience, and customer outcome commitments.
  • Drive programme prioritisation and resource alignment across multiple workstreams.
  • Maintain visibility of programme performance and delivery outcomes.
• Stakeholder Management
  • Build trusted relationships with senior internal stakeholders and leadership teams.
  • Engage effectively with operational, engineering, regulatory, and programme delivery functions.
  • Facilitate collaboration across business areas to ensure successful programme outcomes.
  • Provide clear communication, challenge, and support to stakeholders at all levels.
  • Represent delivery performance through executive governance forums and leadership meetings.
• People Leadership
  • Lead, mentor, and develop programme and delivery teams.
  • Foster a high-performing culture focused on ownership, collaboration, and results.
  • Support capability development and succession planning across delivery functions.
  • Create an environment where individuals are empowered to make decisions and deliver outcomes.
  • Champion wellbeing, safety, and employee engagement.
• Continuous Improvement & Innovation
  • Drive improvements in delivery methodology, governance, reporting, and operational effectiveness.
  • Promote the adoption of innovative approaches, technologies, and best practice.
  • Identify opportunities to improve efficiency, productivity, and customer outcomes.
  • Support the development of future delivery capability and organisational maturity.

What We're Looking For

Essential Experience

• Significant experience delivering programmes, projects, or transformation initiatives within the UK water and/or wastewater sector.
• Proven leadership experience across one or more of the following:
• Water Operations
• Wastewater Operations
• Asset Management
• Capital Delivery
• Engineering & Infrastructure Programmes
• Operational Performance Improvement
• Digital Transformation
• Network Operations
• Control Room Operations
• Experience leading large, multi-disciplinary teams.
• Strong stakeholder management experience across operational, technical, and executive functions.
• Experience managing complex delivery portfolios with multiple concurrent workstreams.
• Strong understanding of governance, risk management, performance reporting, and programme controls.
• Demonstrable ability to deliver measurable business and operational outcomes.

Leadership Style

We are particularly interested in individuals who:

• Lead with credibility, pragmatism, and integrity.
• Balance strategic thinking with hands-on delivery leadership.
• Build strong relationships and influence at all levels.
• Create clarity and direction in complex environments.
• Focus on outcomes rather than process for process' sake.
• Are comfortable operating in fast-paced, evolving environments.
• Empower teams whilst maintaining accountability for delivery.

Measures of Success

Success in this role will be measured through:

• Safe and successful delivery of programmes and projects.
• Achievement of operational, customer, and regulatory outcomes.
• Delivery against agreed time, cost, quality, and performance targets.
• Effective management of programme risks and dependencies.
• Strong stakeholder engagement and confidence.
• High levels of employee engagement and team performance.
• Continuous improvement in delivery capability and operational effectiveness.