Graduate Programme 2026 - Procurement and Supply Chain

Together we are Trusted to Serve Scotland. Start your career with a splash. When you join Scottish Water as a Graduate, it’s not just a launchpad to a fantastic career. You’ll play an important part in helping Scotland to flourish, by delivering the critical infrastructure and services that our nation relies on every day. You’ll also be joining us at a fascinating time, as we endeavour to transform into a more agile, innovative organisation that provides truly excellent service, delivers great value for money, and operates in an environmentally sustainable way that goes beyond Net Zero.

Develop to become effective across supply chain management, influencing and negotiation through procurement, procurement processes, risk management, innovation and partnering ecosystems to achieve our big strategic aims – right here at our CIPS Platinum accredited Procurement & Supply Chain (PSC) ‘Centre of Excellence’ in our head office The Bridge, Stepps.

What You’ll Do

We have a couple of roles within the procurement team and in joining our Procurement & Supply Chain programme you’ll be working alongside specialists within our Chartered Institute of Purchase and Supply (CIPS) Platinum accredited Procurement Team. This team is responsible for all the goods and services we need to deliver a great service for our customers and support our capital infrastructure programmes. We’re funded by the taxpayer, so it’s really important that we procure these services in a way that is fair, transparent and good value for money, in accordance with public procurement rules.

In addition to buying millions of pounds of materials and services, this team also manages the business process of Integrated Supply Chain Management, which improves our efficiency and performance through improved interaction and communication with our stakeholders and supply chain partners.

Supply Chain Innovation Team: As a key member of our Supply Chain Development team, you'll lead initiatives like partner ecosystems, supply chain carbon reduction, and ongoing PSC transformation projects. Your role will involve developing and implementing key strategies for PSC, focusing on areas like Beyond Net Zero, Standardisation, and the circular economy.

Risk & Ethics Team: Within the Risk & Ethics Team, you will play a key role in risk management, ensuring effective use of processes, systems, and governance. By prioritising collective goals and promoting compliance with SW frameworks and supply chain processes, you'll drive performance and secure employee buy-in.

Performance & Analytics Team: The successful candidate will be responsible for leading and providing high quality data & performance analysis and reporting in relation to Procurement and Supply Chain activities and Value for Money measure across a wide range of procurement and capital investment activities. Joining this team means being given immediate commercial responsibilities. You’ll be given a work portfolio that provides ownership, opportunity, and responsibility to allow you to gain valuable experience through key placements in the team and learn from industry experts.

How does the graduate programme work?

You’ll be employed on a permanent contract from Day One. The starting salary for this role will be £30,000. After each successful 6-month placement, your salary will increase by up to £1000, finishing on Grade 6 (minimum £37,815 subject to annual pay award). You’ll be part of a cohort of like-minded graduates, giving you an instant and invaluable network of contacts throughout the business. You’ll have plenty of support. As well as your day-to-day manager, we’ll match you up with a mentor who will support and coach you as you go through your programme. You’ll have access to both structured and informal training designed to equip you with the skills you need now, and in the future.

What You’ll Need

You will need to have graduated within the last three years. That degree should be a 2:2 or higher. We’d be particularly interested in degrees relating to Procurement, Supply Chain, Business Management, Legal, Social Sciences, or even Sustainability. But we’re flexible – tell us why a career in Procurement is for you. You’ll need to live within commuting distance of our office in Stepps, near Glasgow. We work very flexibly, but we aim to spend every Wednesday and most Mondays together in the office. And you’ll need a full UK-issued (DVLA) driving license – or be on track to pass your test.

Here Are a Few Things We Love To See

• CVs that tell us more than what grades you earned over the years. Show us what you’ve learned. What you love. What your aspirations are.
• Cover letters that tell us why you’re interested in Scottish Water (and in Procurement and Supply Chain in particular).
• People who use their application to show that they are Bold, Responsible, Inspiring and Caring.

Looking out for you

While the work we do is important, it’s not the only thing that matters. That’s why we make sure you have everything you need to find a good work-life balance. You’ll get plenty of time to recharge with 38 days of holiday every year (including public holidays). And you can even buy five more if you need a little extra time. You can also take paid time off to volunteer in your community. When it comes to major life events we have family-friendly policies around adoption, maternity, and parental leave. And for the everyday? We embrace flexible working. For your future, there’s our pension (the ‘know-what-you’ll-get-when-you-retire’ kind), as well as life assurance. As for some nice extras? You can expect an annual company bonus. Not to mention access to SW Splash – handy rewards that can save you money on holidays, bills, and shopping.

What happens next?

The closing date for applications is Sunday 31st May. Assessment activity will kick off in June with some surprisingly fun (no, really!) online testing. Final face-to-face interviews will happen in late June. Where you can give us a good grilling too. If you accept a place on the programme, you’ll go through some pre-employment screening, including a criminal record check. All our new Graduates will start together on 24th August, with a week-long induction event in the Central Belt. You’ll learn more about the organisation, meet our leaders, visit some of our operational sites, start making friends, and have a lot of fun.

A few final things worth knowing… Research shows that some people avoid applying for jobs unless they can meet every single criteria. If you’re interested in this job, but don’t tick all the boxes, apply anyway! We hardly ever hire people who can do every part of a job from Day One. Everyone has a learning curve. So don’t rule yourself out! Let us know if there are any changes we can make to our recruitment process to help you perform at your best. Lots of our people have disabilities or neurodiverse conditions (including some of our recruiters!). We're also aware that some people might be experiencing temporary challenges because of life events, like menopause. We’re very used to making adjustments, so please don’t be afraid to ask.

As part of our commitment to developing a flourishing Scotland, it’s important that all our employees are Scottish taxpayers. If you join us, your home address will need to be in Scotland. If you don’t already live here, you'll need to commit to moving here within your first three months. Please note, Scottish Water takes the safety, health and wellbeing of our employees, colleagues and customers very seriously and as such you may be subject to Drug & Alcohol testing in line with our policy.

Finally (finally!), candidates who haven’t submitted an application in the last 12 months will have their records removed from our recruitment database. You won’t need to do anything. Your data will be automatically deleted. We’re here to help. Ask us anything at SWRecruitment@ScottishWater.co.uk