Regulatory Enforcement Advisor

This is an exciting opportunity for an individual to contribute to Thames Water’s mitigation of enforcement risk arising from non‑compliances against environmental permit conditions and/or pollution incidents. You will be part of a team coordinating and facilitating the business’s enforcement response, including corresponding with the Environment Agency (EA) across a variety of communication mediums. This high‑profile role will involve working with our legal team at Eversheds Sutherland (ES), senior leadership, and the EA, providing exposure across the business at all levels and contributing towards the company's wider environmental compliance function.

What you’ll be doing as a Regulatory Enforcement Advisor:

• You will support Thames Water in navigating Environment Agency (EA) criminal investigations by taking on a coordination and facilitation role, ensuring regulatory deadlines are consistently met.
• This includes reviewing the factual basis of formal information requests and alleged offences, liaising with ES and the EA to clarify any discrepancies where required.
• Working closely with a wide range of internal stakeholders, you will gather and assess relevant information, assuring that mitigation measures and actions are robust.
• You will help ensure that these measures effectively reduce the risk of recurrence, satisfy EA expectations, and appropriately manage enforcement and reputational risk while meeting regulatory obligations and commitments.
• You will apply the Environment Agency’s Enforcement and Sanctions Policy in your day‑to‑day work, ensuring responses and actions align with regulatory expectations.
• You will routinely chair and facilitate meetings with information providers, ensuring you are well‑prepared and organised, clearly communicating meeting objectives in advance and ensuring that actions are agreed, owned, and effectively tracked through to completion.
• You will have excellent written communication skills, with the ability to produce high‑quality, clear, and professional documentation.

Requirements for the role:

• Occasional travel to sites.
• Working hours: 36 hours, Monday-Friday.
• Demonstrable experience of excellent interpersonal and organisational skills, with the ability to manage multiple regulatory deadlines and coordinate stakeholder input.
• You will effectively prioritise your workload while contributing to the achievement of team service level agreements.
• Confident in communicating with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders on a day‑to‑day basis, using a variety of communication channels.
• Able to provide constructive professional challenge to support robust assurance and informed decision‑making.
• Ability to produce clear, concise reports, interpret both quantitative and qualitative data, and communicate insights in a way that is accessible and easily understood by non‑specialist audiences.
• Awareness of the Environment Agency’s Common Incident Classification Scheme (CICS), Compliance Classification Scheme (CCS), WIRI, and Enforcement and Sanctions Policy, with the ability to apply these frameworks in a practical regulatory context.
• A good working knowledge of Microsoft Office and SharePoint.
• An Environmental Science, Legal, or Investigative degree (or equivalent qualification) would be advantageous.

What’s in it for you?

• Competitive salary of up to £50,000 per annum, depending on experience.
• Annual Leave - 26 days holiday per year, increasing to 30 with the length of service (plus bank holidays).
• Performance‑related pay plan directly linked to company performance measures and targets.
• Generous Pension Scheme through AON.
• Access to lots of benefits to help you take care of you and your family’s health and wellbeing, and your finances – from annual health MOTs and access to physiotherapy and counselling, to Cycle to Work schemes, shopping vouchers, and life assurance.