Tankering Technician

Location: Falmer (Sussex)

Contract Type: Permanent

Hours: 38 - You will work a 4 on 4 off shift rotating between days and nights

Salary: Up to £45,106 (including shift allowance)

About the role: Southern Water’s Tankering capability is tasked with using resources efficiently (primarily tankers) to restore and maintain water supply to customers during an interruption to their mains supply. The main aim of this team is to keep customers in piped supply and minimise the financial, reputational, and regulatory impact of supply interruptions. The driver’s primary purpose is to drive and operate the tankers in order to restore/maintain supply, either during events/incidents or supporting planned works. To enable a rapid and effective response, the team must remain in a state of readiness: the drivers must maintain their vehicles/equipment and keep them in good working order, and partake in operational planning and readiness testing.

What you will be responsible for:

• Adhere to all regulations (including health and safety) in line with legislative and company-specific requirements.
• Ensure personal training and licensing is up to date and meets all legislative and company-specific requirements, and identify opportunities for learning and development.
• Maintain a clean and compliant vehicle, completing routine inspections, reporting defects, executing/arranging repairs as appropriate and documenting actions in line with legislative and company-specific requirements.
• Ensuring vehicles and ancillary equipment are kept in a state of operational readiness so that tankers can be deployed immediately in case of an emergency; this includes fuelling, cleaning, disinfection and filling/emptying tankers as needed.
• Partake in and support, fill and injection point assessments, tanker contingency planning, and exercises to test response capability.
• Drive and operate HGV tankers to restore/maintain piped supply during emergency response or planned works. This includes driving the tankers in a safe and fuel-efficient way, basic traffic management, roadside sampling and record-keeping, filling the tanker and discharging (into a closed network, reservoirs, or other vessels), reporting escalations, and standing down.
• Maintain vehicles and ancillary equipment to ensure they are in a state of operational readiness.
• Partake in response preparedness activities (contingency planning, fill/injection point assessments and readiness testing).
• Drive and operate tankers to restore/maintain piped supply to customers in a safe and compliant manner.
• Maintain records and ensure compliance with all legislative and company specific regulations (driving hours, sampling, health and safety, vehicle maintenance etc).
• Complete training and professional development activities to meet regulatory requirements and drive high performance.
• Complete admin activities and maintain facilities at depot.

What you’ll bring to the role:

• Full, valid driving licence (category CE), clean driving licence with no points/convictions desirable, maximum 6 penalty points and no DG, DR, DD or IN convictions.
• Full Driver CPC qualification.
• Minimum 1+ years’ experience driving and operating tankers (preferable) or HGVs.
• Willing to work rotational shift pattern.
• Experience of working in the water/wastewater industry.
• Calm network trained and EUSR Water Hygiene Card (Blue Card) holder.
• Additional driver training qualifications e.g. advanced driver training/Institute of Advanced Motoring.
• Strong understanding of vehicle inspection, defect reporting, and maintenance requirements.
• Customer service experience.
• Excellent understanding of Transport Law, Working Time Directive, Driver Hour rules.
• Competent in Microsoft Office suite and use of Google Cloud applications.
• Strong oral and written communication skills, exchanging information and communicating in a clear and concise way.
• Ability to manage internal and external stakeholders.
• Ability to be assertive when dealing with difficult situations and/or people.
• Ability to prioritise tasks and manage high pressure situations.
• Ability to deliver to deadlines/targets and manage own work, with strong organisational and time management skills.

Southern Water is at the forefront of transforming Britain’s water industry, investing significantly to enhance resilience, sustainability, and service excellence. With £7.8bn planned investment for 2025-30, this is an unparalleled opportunity to join a business committed to delivering a generational shift in the way water services are managed.

Our mission is to protect and enhance life through water—and we need passionate people to help us achieve it. If you’re inspired by our purpose and believe you can contribute, apply today. You don’t need to meet every criterion; what matters most is your drive to make a difference.

Our Commitment to Diversity: We welcome applicants from all backgrounds, identities, and experiences. We do not discriminate based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, or any other protected characteristic. If you need reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know.

Additional information: In line with Southern Water’s security requirements, successful candidates will be required to provide evidence of their identity, eligibility to work in the UK, criminal record check (DBS) and verification of their employment and/or education history for the past three years. Appointment to this role is subject to the successful completion of all pre-employment checks, including security vetting. Please note that if a candidate does not meet the required security standards or fails to pass the vetting process, Southern Water reserves the right to withdraw the offer of employment. Some positions may also require higher levels of security vetting, which may involve providing additional documentation.

Our Benefits:

• Company and performance-related bonus.
• Generous pension.
• Life assurance payment equal to four times your annual salary.
• Health benefits through a Cash Plan.
• Two paid community volunteering days a year.
• 28 days annual holiday.
• Occupational health service.
• Retail discount app.
• We offer competitive maternity leave, and flexible return to work options.

Everybody Welcome: We value diversity and are committed to providing an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. If you require any reasonable adjustments to facilitate your participation in the recruitment process, please do not hesitate to let us know.