Alarm Technician

Pennon Group; Exeter; On-site; GBP 24,000 - 28,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in the South West is looking for an Alarm Technician in Exeter. You will be responsible for managing SCADA system alarms and ensuring efficient communication with stakeholders. This permanent position offers a competitive salary and excellent benefits, along with opportunities for development in a dynamic environment.

Benefits

Generous holiday allowance plus bank holidays

Discretionary Bonus

Competitive Contributory Pension

Share-save Scheme

Cycle to Work Scheme

Financial support services

Qualifications

• Experience in a high volume work atmosphere.
• Good general standard of education with GCSE or equivalent.

Responsibilities

• Manage SCADA system alarms.
• Support internal and external stakeholders.
• Work in a 24/7 shift pattern to respond to alarms.

Skills

Communication

Problem Solving

Decision Making

Education

GCSE Grade C in English

GCSE Grade C in Maths

Job description

Exeter, England /Operations and Supply Chain /Permanent full-time

AtSouth West Waterwe believe that the strongest businesses are built on solid, stable foundations - with a vision and a culture that gives them the freedom to change, improve and innovate.

We’re proud to be responsible for providing reliable, efficient and high-quality drinking water and wastewater services for the beautiful South West area.

And we have huge ambitions.

Not only are we committed to reaching net-zero by 2030, but we’ve also partnered with Wildlife Trusts, National Parks and local partners to help ensure a better future for generations to come.

So, if you want to be part of a diverse team where opportunities flow and fresh ideas are welcomed, #JustAddWater.

We currently have a great opportunity for an Alarm Technician to join our team and work within the Control Room. We have one permanent post and one 12 month Fixed Term Contract post, full-time position based in Exeter and you will receive an annual salary of £24,125 - £27,709 (£28,950 - £33,250 Including shift allowance) plus excellent benefits.

About the role:

You will be working within a team to provide information and support to internal and external stakeholders and ultimately customers, through the provision of a professional and efficient service. This means receiving, interrogating, actioning and accepting of SCADA system alarms and other notifications on a 24/7 basis to support business critical processes to set performance standards. You will also be required to work closely with stakeholders from field Hub sites and other Operational Teams, assisting the wider Control Centre staff as required and to operate any commercial contracts ensuring all KPIs and SLAs are met.

Please note, you must be available to work on a 24/7 shift pattern with a flexible approach 365 days a year. Shifts are six days on with four days off as per the following:

Morning: 06:00 – 14:30

Afternoon: 14:00 – 22:30

Night: 22:00 – 06:30

What you'll be doing:

Triage of alarms in and out of hours. Identifying alarm group ownership, priority levels and associated SLA’s reacting in accordance to these levels. Understands the process's associated with P1 alarms

• Interrogating alarms using site system data
• Using SAM, can triage alarms to ensure only alarms requiring action are redirected.
• Can operate the Wet Weather suppression buttons and uses confident decision making processes regarding when they should be made active
• Annotates alarms thoroughly to create an audit trail used by other functions and which will appear on reports
• Prioritises alarms effectively according to business needs - e.g. Under storm conditions to prevent pollution

Emergency Line

Understands the importance of the Emergency line, which is to be answered immediately. ‘Live’ calls should be put on hold or terminated.

Admin Duties

The process knowledge, systems knowledge & skills required to maintain and use the corporate systems identified below :

• WPD Shutdowns – Dealing with Western Power shutdown notifications and notifying the relevant asset managers
• Team Mailbox - Ensures relevant messages are forwarded onto other staff as appropriate. Monitors and responds to incoming messages regularly during period of duty. Can insert relevant appointments and reminders. Respond to appointment reminders in good time.
• Minicom - Use of the Mincom system. Understanding of when system should be in use.
• Press Office contacts - Passing press office enquiries to the standby officer, obtaining all relevant details from the media representative
• Leaver Notifications - Updating and actioning of staff leaver and change of employment notifications.
• DUOS - Understanding of why DUOS is carried out and the importance of carrying out the actions at the correct times. Working through set daily instructions.
• Beach Live - Passing Beach Live notifications to relevant managers in bathing season & filing correctly once completed
• Emergency Services Contacts – Logging and cascading contacts received by the emergency services, such as fire hydrants in use or network related issues.
• Environment Agency – Logging and cascading reports received from the Environment Agency, for issues such as pollution events
• Morning Checks – Running a daily check on the IS infrastructure, logging an issues detected
• Flood Notices - To ensure all SWW sites are notified of the receipt of a flood warning, when required. To ensure that CC staff are fully aware of the current Flood Warnings and any local requests for assistance are acted upon immediately
• Emergency work orders - Provides partners with Emergency Work Orders when required
• Event Logs - Creates and updating a new event log when notified of a network shutdown & locating & updating existing logs when updates are received from the field teams
• Handover Reports – Recording shift information on tasks completed, actions performed, or ongoing issues or incidents. Taking information such as staff sleep time.
• Iscada Password Resets – Resetting user passwords out of hours
• BT Fault Reporting – Reporting faulty site BT lines as reported by field operators
• Standby Spreadsheet – Make amendments as required to changes to the daily standby rota

Customer Contacts

Record and action as necessary customer calls as part of the wider South West Water Team. Support, whenever required, in maintaining the necessary cover in the customer contact area. Logging customer contacts requires use of the following systems :

• CRM - to monitor and action any ooh urgent customer contacts and follow ups.
• CBR - Uses CBR to record customer comments and enter details into CRM and Ellipse
• Event Messaging - Being able to determine the scenarios that will require an event message. Able to record and update a message
• SWIMM – Adding event information such as polygons
• Waterlive – Providing live information to customers with any network related issues
• Pollution reports – Responding to pollution reports received from an online form out of hours

Health, Safety & Security

• Staffcall/Loneworker : Takes immediate action and treats as P1. Follows escalation procedure as per the work instructions
• Blackline G7 : Receive welfare alerts from Securitas. Takes immediate action and treats as P1. Follows escalation procedure as per the work instructions
• Vehicle Panic Alerts : Dealing with receipt of a vehicle panic alarm. Takes immediate action and treats as P1. Follows escalation procedure as per the work instructions
• Welfare Multi Timers : Activating and monitoring of timers for staff welfare out of hours. Following process for set trigger points
• CCTV : Can operate the CCTV system, set cameras and monitor sites as required. Perform weekly checks and feedback any issues
• Building Alarms : Activate the Peninsular House building alarms as agreed timescales
• Hatch Alarms : Triage of Hatch system alarms, using hatch monitor system if required
• Homesafe: Ensuring that our people get home safe every day. To create a team that strives to ensure that there are no serious incidents or lost time injuries by creating an environment that puts safety firs

What we are looking for:

• Experience of working in a high volume work atmosphere
• Experience of working in an office type environment
• Good general standard of education with a minimum of GCSE (or equivalent) Grade C or equivalent in English and Maths.

What's in it for you:

We know that the support and commitment of our staff is key to our success so you will receive the opportunity for ongoing development and training for a long-term career with us. We’re one of the largest companies in the Southwest and are proud to have been awarded Investors in People recognition.

In return, we offer an excellent range of benefits including:

• Generous holiday allowance plus bank holidays
• A discretionary Bonus
• Competitive Contributory Pension
• Share-save Scheme
• A range of Group Discounts
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Financial support services
• And plenty more!

Closing Date: 11th July 2025

Please note that the successful candidate will be subject to a mandatory DBS check as part of the onboarding process.

Be yourself, we like it that way. Together, we will build a culture of belonging, where inclusion is instinctive. Diversity is our strength and a reflection of our communities. We care, we value everyone, we celebrate uniqueness.

Our core values which are essential to our success are:

Be Rock Solid - Build trust and be trusted. Be the one we all look to and can depend on.

Be You - We want you to bring your best everyday. Be yourself and make your mark in your individual way.

Be the Future - Embrace change. Drive Progress. Own the challenge.

We're always pleased to hear from talented people. So if you have any questions about the opportunities that we have available, or if there's anything else you'd like to know before you apply (or indeed during the application process), please don't hesitate to send your details to our Talent Acquisition Team.