Deputy Legionella & Water Hygiene Subject Matter Expert

For jobs located in Wales, the ability to speak Welsh is desirable. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is one of the government’s largest public service departments with a sizeable annual budget, serving over 20 million citizens. The estate spans 1.4 million square metres across 800+ sites and supports around 78,000 colleagues. Our vision includes DWP colleagues, supply chain, partners and, most fundamentally, the customers the Department exists to serve. They are the reason for our existence.

We are responsible for the day-to-day operation of our vast Estate by managing a private sector supply chain that delivers essential services such as Security Guarding, Maintenance, Property and Leasehold Management, Construction, Cleaning and Facilities Management. DWP Estates is not just about maintaining buildings - it’s about transformation. Our strategic goals include:

• Transitioning to a smaller, more affordable, and adaptable estate to meet future needs
• Investing in infrastructure through planned replacement works
• Embedding sustainability in line with Government Greening Commitments (GGCs)
• Delivering cost-effective services while maintaining high standards
• Creating a professional, best-in-class working culture across the Government Property profession

Our Estates strategy ambitions have been refreshed to take us through to 2030:

• OPTIMISE: Continue to transition to a more affordable and adaptable DWP estate that creates productive environments
• INVEST: Investment in an improved environment that better meets the needs of customers and colleagues and minimises service disruption
• SUPPORT: the drive for sustainability throughout DWP
• DELIVER: Expertly deliver improving, cost-effective services for DWP
• THRIVE: Continue to develop a working culture for DWP Estates that is best in class across government

An exciting national opportunity exists for a Deputy Legionella & Water Hygiene Subject Matter Expert (SME) to support robust, proportionate Legionella risk management across a complex UK-wide estate. The role is central to Business As Usual (BAU) Legionella governance, providing the technical oversight, assurance and reporting required to protect people, assets and organisational reputation.

Operating under the technical direction and governance of the National Water Hygiene SME, the post holder leads BAU technical activity, ensuring Legionella risks are identified early, controlled effectively and escalated appropriately. The role maintains national visibility of the risk position, emerging issues and systemic weaknesses, translating operational and CAFM data into clear, evidence-based risk narratives to inform governance-level decisions.

The Deputy SME provides assurance that Legionella control regimes remain effective across diverse building types and system configurations, including oversight of Water Risk Assessments, written schemes of control and control-measure delivery, ensuring continuous alignment with ACOP L8 and HSG274. Independent of commercial and contractual management, the role delivers proportionate engineering challenge, ensuring remedial works and system modifications are technically sound, risk-led and represent best value for money.

Your work will have a direct and tangible impact on national water safety assurance, helping to maintain safe environments and demonstrate robust statutory compliance.

What we are looking for

If you’re someone who can use your technical expertise to strengthen Legionella risk control and provide clear, evidence-based assurance at a national level, we want to hear from you. Most importantly, we are looking for individuals who are motivated by delivering effective, proportionate and sustainable water safety management that protects people, assets and organisational reputation.

Drawing upon your mechanical engineering knowledge and Legionella risk management experience, you will play a key role in supporting the National Water Hygiene SME by leading Business As Usual (BAU) technical activity. You will provide day-to-day oversight of Legionella control arrangements, ensuring risks are identified early, control failures are understood, and corrective actions are progressed through the appropriate governance and operational routes.

Working across a complex, multi-site estate, you will engage routinely with operational stakeholders, providing clear technical direction, assurance and challenge to support compliant outcomes. You will review and quality assure Water Risk Assessments (WRAs), written schemes of control and CAFM-based compliance evidence, ensuring that Legionella control measures are technically correct, practical and aligned with ACOP L8 and HSG274.

The role requires strong analytical and communication skills, translating operational performance data into clear national risk narratives, reports and governance packs. Through structured BAU reporting, weekly operational engagement and targeted escalation, you will support informed decision-making, prioritisation of risk and continual improvement in Legionella control.

Duties and Responsibilities

The role holder will play a key role in the delivery of national Business As Usual (BAU) Legionella risk management and assurance. They will work closely with the National Water Hygiene SME, operational stakeholders and assurance functions to:

• Maintain effective oversight of Legionella risk control across a complex, multi-site estate;
• Ensure that Legionella risks are identified, assessed, controlled and escalated appropriately;
• Provide clear, evidence-based technical assurance to support compliant outcomes;
• Support governance arrangements through accurate reporting, escalation and risk-based recommendations.

Key responsibilities

• Maintain a detailed understanding of Legionella risk management requirements, ensuring control arrangements remain aligned with ACOP L8 and HSG274 and are applied consistently across the estate.
• Provide day-to-day BAU technical oversight of Legionella control, including review of compliance evidence, validation of control delivery and identification of emerging or sustained risk issues.
• Collate, review and present Legionella risk and performance information to support governance forums, operational meetings and technical oversight, translating operational data into clear risk-based narratives.
• In conjunction with key stakeholders, review and quality assure Legionella Water Risk Assessments (WRAs), written schemes of control and associated action plans, ensuring they are technically accurate, practical and reflective of system configuration.
• Work closely with operational teams and assurance functions to support the definition, tracking and closure of corrective actions, ensuring actions are prioritised based on risk and supported by appropriate evidence.
• Support the definition, implementation and monitoring of key performance indicators and assurance metrics relating to Legionella control, using CAFM data and other compliance information as the evidence base.
• Use the CAFM system on a daily basis to review work order evidence, interrogate PPM compliance, identify exceptions and track corrective actions to closure.
• Provide technical challenge and assurance on proposed remedial works, system modifications and engineering solutions, ensuring they are proportionate to risk, technically correct and represent best value for money.
• Support investigations into control failures, adverse trends or suspected Legionella-related incidents, contributing to root cause analysis and the definition of effective corrective actions.
• Play an active role in weekly operational water safety and Legionella meetings, providing the BAU technical position, escalating key risks and supporting clear ownership and timescales for action.