Process Scientist - Waste Water in Kirkcaldy

Together we are Trusted to Serve Scotland. Most people don’t think too much about how we clean wastewater before it reaches Scotland’s rivers and seas. But Scottish Water does. In fact, it’s all we think about. Want to join us? As a Wastewater Process Scientist, you’ll join the team managing our Kirkcaldy Waste Water Treatment works and surrounding sites in the East of Fife, leading our Operations colleagues with Process Science and Engineering initiatives, beating wastewater and biosolids compliance targets, and overcoming operational challenges.

What You’ll Do

• Provision of operational and scientific expertise to Wastewater Operations to help maintain treatment works compliance, responding to failures or operational emergencies.
• You’ll organise & complete regulatory failure investigations to identify and resolve the root cause of the non‑compliance, helping to lead our response to learn and put things right.
• Monitor asset performance, through sampling, analysis of scientific data and leading initiatives to maintain and improve performance.
• You will spend significant time on‑site, working directly with our operational teams to drive performance and solve those real‑time challenges.
• Extensive use of analytical skills (Excel & Power BI) for forecasting and reporting on all aspects of the asset in relation to effectiveness, efficiency, and performance, highlighting and sharing any areas for improvement with all stakeholders.
• Support the continuous improvement process, through stakeholder engagement, meeting attendance & involvement in Waste Water Process Science working groups & improvement initiatives.
• Be committed to all health & safety priorities & procedures, as required by the role and support in the continuous improvement of all team health & safety objectives.

What You’ll Need

• A strong process engineering or scientific background, ideally with a relevant degree or experience, and robust knowledge and experience of wastewater and biosolids treatment, processes and instrumentation.
• You’ll ideally have a high standard of analytical and problem‑solving skills, clear and confident communicator and experience in report writing.
• It is key that you will be able to work with our operators and other internal and external stakeholders, and hold strong interpersonal and influencing skills.
• You enjoy on‑site problem‑solving and are enthusiastic about bringing colleagues along with you, being able to explain the underlying science in a way that is accessible and relevant to operational teams—for example, how certain changes in chemistry influence treatment performance.
• The role requires a full clean UK driving licence and a personal vehicle insured and available for business use as a strong willingness to visit treatment works on a regular basis is essential for success in this role.

Looking out for you

While the work we do is important, we know 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 up to five more if you need a little extra time. You can also take 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), and 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.

The not‑so‑small print

This role will be a Grade 6. If you’re new to Scottish Water, you’ll join us on a starting salary of £37,815. Performance‑driven pay progression would then allow you to move through the range to a maximum of £48,395. If you’re interested in this role – or know someone else who might be - we’ll be accepting applications until midnight on 7th May 2026. We operate Balanced Hybrid working at Scottish Water and we encourage people to work half their time in a Scottish Water location. Job offers at Scottish Water are conditional, and will be confirmed on completion of our pre‑employment screening, e.g. referencing, criminal record checks, licence checks, etc. Screening is conducted on our behalf by a third party, and must be completed before your start date. Don’t worry - we’ll only start these checks once you’ve accepted an offer.

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