Asset Health, Risk & Resilience Lead in Exeter

Powered by Water, Driven by Purpose

South West Water keeps the South West flowing with safe, reliable drinking water and wastewater services across some of the UK’s most stunning landscapes.

We're proud to be part of Pennon Group, a leader in the UK water sector, working towards a greener future. Our goals? As well as lowering our carbon footprint, we’re working with partners to plant 300,000 trees, restore peatlands and supporting farmers and landowners to improve water quality and wildlife.

Whether you’re starting out or seeking a new challenge, our scale and ambition create opportunities for you to shape your own career.

Ready to make a splash? Join our team today.

Asset Health, Risk & Resilience Lead

This is a pivotal leadership role responsible for defining how the company understands, manages and invests in the health and resilience of its asset base. Leading the asset health, risk and resilience agenda, you will provide the evidence, foresight and strategic direction that underpin long‑term investment decisions, ensuring water and wastewater services remain reliable, resilient and fit for the future.

What You'll Be Doing

• Own and evolve asset health, risk, and resilience frameworks.
• Lead deterioration modelling and risk-based prioritisation.
• Maintain system vulnerability assessments and resilience planning.
• Drive a shift from reactive to predictive asset management.
• Lead asset health inputs into business plans and regulatory submissions.
• Develop analytics, dashboards, predictive models, and decision‑support tools.
• Build capability in data science, AI, and predictive maintenance applications.

What We Are Looking For

• Senior leadership experience in asset management, risk management, or long-term investment planning.
• Experience within regulated utilities, infrastructure, or water sectors.
• Strong background in asset health frameworks, deterioration modelling, and resilience planning.
• Experience supporting Ofwat or equivalent regulatory business planning processes.Ability to communicate complex technical information to executive, Board, and regulatory audiences.
• Working knowledge of ISO 55001.

Essential Qualifications

• Degree in a relevant discipline.Chartered status (or working towards it) with a relevant professional body.Experience in asset health modelling, risk management, and resilience planning.

Desirable Qualifications

• Asset management standards knowledge (ISO 55000, ISO 19650).
• Understanding of Ofwat, EA, DWI, DWMP, and WRMP requirements.
• Leadership or change management qualifications.

Why Join Us?

This is a unique opportunity to take ownership of a strategically important agenda, working at the intersection of asset management, risk, resilience and innovation. Your expertise will directly influence how we plan, invest and deliver sustainable services for generations to come.

• 30 days annual leave + bank holidays
• Bonus
• Private Healthcare
• Company car or cash for car allowance
• Competitive contributory pension
• Share‑save scheme
• Health benefits & wellbeing support programmes
• Group discounts
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Financial support services
• Development and training opportunities … and much more!

Closing Date: 14th Aug 2026

We may close this vacancy early if we receive a high volume of applications. We encourage you to apply as soon as possible.

Please note that the successful candidate will be subject to a mandatory DBS check as part of the onboarding process.

Be yourself, we like it that way.

Together, we will build a culture of belonging, where inclusion is instinctive. Diversity is our strength and a reflection of our communities. We care, we value everyone, we celebrate uniqueness.

Our core values, which are essential to our success, are:

Be Rock Solid

Build trust and be trusted. Be the one we all look to and can depend on.

Be You

We want you to bring your best everyday. Be yourself and make your mark in your individual way.

Be the Future

Embrace change. Drive Progress. Own the challenge.

We look after the water and wastewater services for 1.8 million customers across Cornwall, Devon, the Isles of Scilly and parts of Dorset and Somerset.

From treatment and maintenance, to innovation and improvements, we're busy every day finding and fixing leaks, unblocking sewers and going bigger and further in our environmental work to be a company you can be proud of.