Principal Delivery Lead in London

Join Ofwat’s Portfolio Management Office Team as a Principal Senior Delivery Lead. We have a fixed term contract until the end of December 2027 available, but it is also open to loans and secondments.

Office Location: London (E14 4HD) or Birmingham (B5 4UA) with hybrid working.

About Us: We’re Ofwat, the Water Services Regulation Authority – a non‑ministerial government department responsible for regulating the water sector in England and Wales. As the economic regulator of water and wastewater companies in England and Wales, our role is to enable, incentivise and hold companies to account for providing the very best for customers, communities and the environment. We also oversee the markets in the water sector to ensure they’re working for customers.

Following the Independent Water Commission’s Final Report and subsequent White Paper – ‘New Vision for Water’, the UK government has set out a bold new direction – one that brings together expertise from across the sector to deliver better outcomes for customers and the environment.

The Role: We have an exciting opportunity for a Principal Senior Delivery Lead to join our Portfolio Management Office (PMO) team. This role will provide senior delivery leadership and capacity across complex, high‑priority change initiatives across Ofwat, strengthening organisational capacity and ensuring disciplined, outcome‑focused execution in areas of strategic importance.

Key deliverables: In this role you will be expected to:

• Play a leading role in driving delivery of and co‑ordinating across high‑profile cross‑organisational work, acting as a focal point for Ofwat staff on relevant issues.
• Establish and maintain effective control and oversight practices, including routine progress tracking, clear reporting, and drive purposeful meetings.
• Support and facilitate timely and informed decision‑making, surfacing critical issues, anticipating risks and clarifying options for helping things to move forward.
• Manage interdependencies across workstreams to keep delivery aligned and remove blockers to progress.
• Drive internal stakeholder engagement, maintaining a shared understanding of goals across relevant teams, bridging gaps and handling duplication where necessary.
• Provide targeted senior delivery capacity in priority areas, deploying flexibly to stabilise, accelerate or unblock complex work as required.

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

• Lead Criterion 1: Proven successful experience in a complex project/programme/portfolio environment working with multiple senior stakeholders to progress and deliver time‑sensitive work.
• Lead Criterion 2: A professional project/programme delivery qualification i.e. MSP, MoP, PRINCE2, P3O, AMPM. Experience of leading complex change programmes and teams through significant transformation, while balancing business as usual demands, and ensuring changes are effectively embedded.
• Experience of meeting challenging deadlines, managing multiple priorities while demonstrating the ability to take initiative and work independently.

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 offices.
• Good 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.
• Recognition vouchers scheme rewarding your hard work.
• Generous shared parental leave and pay supporting your family life.

Follow the link to Apply for full details about the role, please ensure you have submitted your Applications in full before the below deadline. Closing date: 23.55 on 15 April 2026.