Head of Operations - Water Services Contract
Severn Trent isn’t all water and wastewater in the Midlands. Severn Trent Services (STS) is a thriving non-regulated business providing outstanding services in the Utilities sector across the UK. We have an ambitious growth plan and are exploring a wealth of exciting strategic opportunities to cement our place as one of the sector leaders.
If you want to do more, and come on this journey, we want you on our team.
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW
STS is a business of £100 million turnover and the Head of Operations for our Water Services Contracts (WSC) is a high prole role within this business with significant accountability for delivering on our biggest contracts. As a senior leader, and member of the STS Executive team, you’ll be responsible for strategically overseeing the delivery of front-line operational services, including the network optimisation and environmental teams, across multiple commercial contracts providing water and wastewater solutions throughout the UK. We currently have numerous national contracts operating and maintaining critical water and wastewater infrastructure, including a significant proportion of the Minstry of Defence’s operational estate.
This role will give you a team of approximately 140 diverse, disperse and empowered professionals charged with providing exceptional service provision delivering contractual KPIs and obligations, as well as ensuring our teams work to the highest operational standards. This is a fast-paced operational role with the postholder required to lead on significant and varied activities, including O&M, R&M, capital delivery, network logistics and customer care.
Key responsibilities include building and maintaining effective relationships with customers as well as internal and external stakeholders, including regulatory bodies such as the Environment Agency. You will contribute to STS’s strategic direction as part of the executive leadership team and be responsible for identifying growth opportunities both with existing and new customers. Key to this role are your leadership skills, creating a truly diverse and inclusive workforce, ensuring our teams remain engaged to deliver an outstanding service and business outcomes.
You'll be based from home but expected to travel to our operational sites as required. With this being such a critical role, we’re looking for someone who can join us 37 hours a week.
HOW WE WORK
You'll join a caring culture that collaborates to achieve, grow, and develop. Our employee engagement scores are among the highest globally in energy and utilities. That’s why, we value in-person moments to keep our culture alive but also understand the flexibility working from home can bring. So, you'll usually find us in the office, but working from home is supported, when you need it.
WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR
We’ll want you to have significant leadership and performance management skills to succeed in this role. You’ll be leading a diverse, geographically spread, multi-skilled teams—both direct and indirect, so your ability to deliver sustained performance improvements is key. Just as important though will be your Stakeholder management skills, as you’ll be dealing with key senior contacts both internally and externally and managing messages to them.
We’ll want you to have strong commercial and financial experience and be able to demonstrate your ability to manage large-scale budgets (yours will be c£60m+ P&L) Your Ability to balance financial discipline with strategic investment to drive profitability and long-term value will be key to your success in the role.
Skills and experience are important, but character, positivity, and a caring attitude matter too. We welcome and celebrate diverse individuals, knowing they help us better serve our communities. We seek people who get involved, want to be part of something bigger, and make a difference because they care.
HOW WE’LL REWARD AND CARE FOR YOU
It's not just a job; it's a career. We offer benefits that reward great work and award-winning training to help you reach your potential. Plus, you'll contribute to the environment and community too. Here are some of our favourites:
- 31 days holiday + bank holidays (and the ability to buy/ sell up to 5 days per year)
- Annual bonus scheme (of up to 20% of salary dependent on company performance)
- Leading pension scheme – we will double your contribution (up to 15% when you contribute 7.5%)
- Family friendly policies (including, a year off fully paid maternity and adoption leave)
- Sharesave – the chance to buy Severn Trent Plc shares at a discounted rate
- Dedicated training and development with our ‘Academy’
- Car allowance of £5,208 pa (pro-rata where appropriate)
- Private medical cover, life assurance, income protection and personal accident cover
- Electric vehicle scheme and retail offers
- Two volunteering days per year
LET’S GO
We can't wait to hear from you! Have an updated CV ready and spare five minutes to apply. We'll let you know the outcome after the closing date, so keep an eye on your phone and emails.