Specialist Team Manager - Town Planning in Scotland

Together we are Trusted to Serve Scotland. Most people don’t think too much about how clean water reaches their tap, but Scottish Water does. In fact, it’s all we think about. As Team Manager for our Planning team, you’re at the forefront of our mission. You’ll lead a specialist planning function that supports the successful development and delivery of projects across Scottish Water’s Capital Investment programme.

This is an exciting opportunity to shape how we navigate Scotland’s statutory planning system, provide expert advice across a diverse portfolio of projects, and help deliver the infrastructure and services that communities across Scotland rely on every day.

You’ll lead and develop a team of town planning professionals, ensuring high-quality planning advice is embedded from the earliest stages of project development through to delivery. Working across projects ranging from smaller local schemes to complex major developments, you’ll provide leadership, assurance and direction on planning strategy, consenting routes and stakeholder engagement. You’ll work closely with internal teams, delivery partners, regulators and planning authorities to help secure robust, timely and practical outcomes that support Scottish Water’s investment ambitions.

The role involves leading, managing and supporting a team of planning professionals, fostering a high-performing and collaborative environment. It requires providing expert planning advice across a broad range of projects, including permitted development, renewable energy, small-scale developments and major infrastructure schemes. The position also includes undertaking horizon-scanning to identify changes in planning legislation and policy, helping to shape strategy, inform risk management and guide consenting approaches. Building and maintaining strong working relationships with internal colleagues, specialist teams, stakeholders, local authorities, regulators and delivery partners is essential. Additionally, the role supports the timely progression of projects by ensuring that planning risks, dependencies and opportunities are clearly understood and effectively managed, while driving consistency, quality and continuous improvement in planning processes, standards and ways of working across the team.

To be successful in this role, you’ll bring strong leadership capability, technical planning expertise and the confidence to work across a varied and complex project portfolio. You will have an established network across the planning landscape and a proven track record of developing and supporting others. The essential criteria for this role include holding a degree in Town Planning and membership of the Royal Town Planning Institute (MRTPI). Candidates must have proven experience managing a team of town planners, along with a robust knowledge of Scotland’s planning legislation and its practical application. Experience in securing consent across a range of development types is required, as well as strong communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence and build credibility across a diverse range of partners. Desirable criteria include experience working in a developer setting, knowledge of the water and wastewater sector, and a proven track record of delivering in line with investment and project requirements. Additionally, candidates should be able to demonstrate success in presenting to Planning Committees.

At Scottish Water, we’re committed to delivering great service for our customers, protecting our environment and investing in Scotland’s future. In this role, you’ll have the opportunity to lead a valued specialist team, influence a diverse and meaningful programme of work, and help shape sustainable infrastructure outcomes across the country. If you’re ready to bring your planning expertise and leadership skills to a role with real impact, we’d love to hear from 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 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 will participate in a company bonus scheme. Not to mention access to SW Splash – handy rewards that can save you money on holidays, bills, and shopping.

This role will be a Grade 8. If you’re new to Scottish Water, you’ll join us on a starting salary of £54,776. Performance-driven pay progression would then allow you to move through the range to a maximum of £74,386. If you’re interested in this role – or know someone else who might be - we’ll be accepting applications until midnight on 14th July 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, license 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.

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 #J-18808-Ljbffr