Principal Water Supply Technical Specialist in Birmingham

Join Ofwat’s Water Supply Team as a Principal Water Supply Technical Specialist. Office Location: Birmingham (B5 4UA) or London (E14 4HD) with hybrid working.

About Us

We are Ofwat, the Water Services Regulation Authority, a non-ministerial government department responsible for regulating the water sector in England and Wales. The water sector is entering a new chapter. The government has set out a bold new direction, bringing together expertise from across the sector to deliver better outcomes for customers and the environment. We are collaborating with fellow regulators to respond to recommendations in The Independent Water Commission Report, the Welsh Government’s response to the Green Paper, Shaping the Future of Water Governance in Wales, and the Government’s White Paper, A new vision for water. Ofwat is working with the government and other regulators to help create a new body for England, bringing together our strengths with those of the Drinking Water Inspectorate, the Environment Agency and Natural England. We are also continuing to work with the Welsh Government to support decisions on the future arrangements for Wales. While these changes take shape, our mission remains the same: to hold water companies to account, drive performance, and ensure the sector delivers real value for customers, communities, and the environment. If you’re passionate about making a difference, this is a unique moment to join us and help shape the future of water, and together we can continue to make a positive impact.

The Role

We are seeking a Principal Water Supply Technical Specialist to join our Water Quality, Resilience and Security sub-team, part of the Water Supply team within the RAPID and Environmental Planning Directorate. The team works closely with the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI), Defra, Environment Agency (EA), and Natural Resources Wales (NRW) on water supply issues from source to tap, while also collaborating with colleagues from the Price Review Directorate. This is an exciting opportunity for someone with a background in engineering, water or environmental science, or operational/asset management, looking to work within a regulatory environment.

You will have the opportunity to work across several key areas, which may include:

• Directing the analysis of Company Delivery Plans, Price Control Deliverables (PCDs) and Annual Performance Review (APR) data to provide effective oversight of company performance.
• Ensuring the team liaise effectively with water companies through the large scheme process, to capture uncertainty, risks and support the cost‑effective delivery of schemes to time and budget.
• Reviewing information submitted as part of the cost change process and assessments completed on behalf of the team, ensuring consistency, accuracy and the robustness of evidence case and resulting decisions.
• Directing the development of benchmarking models and taking ownership of their population and associated governance, as required.
• Inputting into the development of the next price review framework and answering ad‑hoc queries on the costing of different options relating to water quality and treatment, resilience and/or security.

The successful candidate may come from a variety of professional backgrounds and is likely to have experience in water supply process management, design, or delivery, water resilience scheme investment planning, design or delivery (e.g. network reinforcement, interconnectivity and water treatment works investment), or water production operations. This can also include experience in water company emergency planning, physical and cyber security activities, and investment planning.

About You

Below are some of the key essential experience, skills & knowledge required for this post:

• Relevant experience within water sector engineering, capital or environmental programmes, asset/operational management and/or business planning, providing technical leadership and direction on complex or high‑profile projects, programmes, investment decisions and/or business planning activities.
• Degree level qualification in engineering, science, or similar technical specialism/discipline or sufficient relevant experience.
• Significant experience of building and maintaining constructive working relationships with internal and external stakeholders, influencing decisions and delivering outcomes across organisational boundaries.
• Experience of policy development and implementation and/or designing and delivering procedures and processes.
• Highly numerate with significant experience of leading and completing complex technical analysis, critically evaluating the work of others and providing evidence‑based recommendations.
• Excellent communication (oral and written) skills, including the ability to communicate complex concepts to technical and non‑technical audiences.

Why You Should Join Us

• People Centric: Our people are at the heart of Ofwat and everything we do - we ensure all voices are heard and treat each other with respect; you'll be given the autonomy and the support to do your role in the best way.
• Innovative Work Environment: We embrace agile and new ways of working and have a culture built on trust, flexibility, and collaboration.
• Development Opportunities: Gain valuable experience and develop your skills in a supportive and dynamic setting.
• Work-Life Balance: Enjoy the flexibility of working from home combined with the benefits of in-person collaboration in our Birmingham and London offices.
• Excellent employer pension contributions.
• 25 days’ annual leave, increasing to 30 with each year of service, plus bank holidays and an extra 2.5 days of privilege leave.
• Access to exclusive discounts on a variety of goods and services, including retail outlets, theatre tickets, holidays, insurance, and a gym membership.
• Fees paid for membership of relevant professional bodies.
• Up to 3 volunteering days per year.
• Generous shared parental leave and pay supporting your family life.

Closing date: 23.55 on 04 October 2026. Ofwat is recognised as an Official Sensitive department, and a Security Check (SC) is a requirement for this role. Applicants are normally expected to have been resident in the UK for the last five years to meet the standard residency requirements for SC clearance. Successful candidates must obtain SC clearance to a standard satisfactory to Ofwat within the first six months of employment.