Commercial Programme Lead

Yorkshire Water; Leeds; Hybrid; GBP 51,000 - 63,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Annual incentive bonus up to £1,000

Pension up to 12%

25 days leave + 2 wellness days

Life assurance 4x pensionable salary

Salary sacrifice options

Healthcare/discounts

Job summary

Yorkshire Water is seeking a skilled Planning & Governance professional to support Commercial Services. You will help balance demand, drive governance, and translate performance data into actionable insights.

The role focuses on providing oversight of planning, risk management and KPI reporting, while coordinating across multiple teams to ensure alignment and delivery progress within a hybrid Leeds-based office.

Qualifications

• Experience supporting planning, governance or performance in a complex environment.
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills across levels.
• Analytical mindset with ability to interpret data and offer practical recommendations.
• Experience identifying risks, dependencies and competing demands.

Responsibilities

• Lead governance and performance review forums with clear actions and decisions.
• Provide KPI reporting oversight and visibility of delivery progress.
• Translate performance data into meaningful insights and recommendations.
• Coordinate cross-functional activity and manage cross-team priorities.
• Develop and maintain governance processes, standards and tools.
• Build relationships with stakeholders to drive alignment and collaboration.

Skills

Planning support

Governance

Stakeholder management

Analytical skills

Risk management

Communication

Excel

Power BI

Presentation

Tools

Power BI

Excel

PowerPoint

Teams

SharePoint

Job description

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Hello! Thanks for stopping by. Let us tell you about all the great reasons to join us here at Yorkshire Water:

• We offer a competitive salary, depending on experience (£50,622 - £63,277)
• Annual incentive related bonus (£1000 maximum bonus opportunity for the performance year)
• Attractive pension scheme (up to 12% company contribution)
• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays - plus two extra wellness days!
• Life assurance cover of 4 times pensionable salary
• A great benefits package - choose from a salary sacrifice scheme, health cash plan scheme, critical illness insurance, dental insurance, life assurance flex and partner cover.
• Retail savings scheme
• Online GP service, cycle to work scheme, gym membership discounts and many more!

Where I'd work

This role will be based in our new office at Leeds Valley Park. There will hybrid working in place, with an expectation to be in the office for 1-2 days per week.

Work type

Permanent. 37 hours per week, Monday - Friday.

What we do

Everyone has an idea of what a water company does. Here in Yorkshire, we make sure that over 5.4 million people living in the region and the millions of people who visit our region each year, can rely on our services, and have clean and safe drinking water on tap and that their wastewater is taken away. But for us, it's so much more than this.

We look after communities, protect the environment, and plan to look after Yorkshire's water, today, tomorrow 24/7, 365 days a year. We provide essential water and wastewater services to every corner of the Yorkshire region, and play a key role in the region's health, wellbeing, and prosperity.

New environmental legislation, unprecedented levels of investment and changing expectations from customers means that this is an exciting time to discover opportunities within the water industry.

Commercial Services plays a critical role in enabling the business to deliver its long-term strategy and maintain financial stability through effective procurement and commercial management. The function works closely with the wider business and supply chain to secure value, manage risk, and ensure robust commercial outcomes.

Within Commercial Services, Commercial Excellence leads our Centre of Excellence approach - managing portfolio performance, setting clear standards and supporting our improvement journey across the department.

This role focuses on supporting planning, governance and performance management across Commercial Services. You'll work across the function to provide visibility of priorities, performance, risks and delivery progress, helping leaders make informed decisions and focus on what matters most.

We're looking for someone who combines strong stakeholder engagement, governance and planning skills with the ability to translate information into meaningful insight, challenge and action.

Where you fit in

• Support planning and prioritisation activities across Commercial Services, helping leaders balance demand, capacity and business priorities.
• Maintain visibility of key Commercial Services priorities, ensuring progress, risks, dependencies and delivery challenges are understood and communicated.
• Lead key governance and performance review forums, ensuring discussions are informed, actions are clear and decisions support business objectives.
• Facilitate discussions with leaders and stakeholders, providing insight, challenge and recommendations to support decision-making.
• Provide oversight of KPI reporting and performance measures, ensuring leaders have clear visibility of performance, risks and opportunities across Commercial Services.
• Work closely with Commercial Intelligence colleagues to translate performance information into meaningful insight, actions and decision support.
• Identify and elevate risks, issues and dependencies that may impact delivery of Commercial Services objectives.
• Develop and maintain governance processes, standards and tools that support effective oversight and decision-making.
• Coordinate activities that span multiple teams, ensuring alignment on priorities and visibility of cross-functional dependencies.
• Build strong relationships across Commercial Services and with key stakeholders, creating alignment and encouraging collaboration.
• Support leaders by providing insight and recommendations on key priorities, performance and business challenges.
• Identify opportunities to improve planning, prioritisation, governance and performance visibility across the function.
• Support the development of effective performance and governance reporting, ensuring leaders have the information required to make informed decisions.

What Skills & Qualifications You Will Need

• Strong experience supporting planning, governance, performance or business management activities within a complex environment.
• Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills, with the ability to engage, challenge and build credibility at all levels.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to interpret information and provide practical recommendations.
• Experience identifying and managing risks, dependencies, priorities and competing demands.
• Ability to facilitate discussions, build consensus and support effective decision-making.
• Excellent organisational skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and competing demands.
• Strong communication and presentation skills, with the ability to translate complex information into clear and concise messages.
• Experience developing governance processes, reporting approaches or business management frameworks.
• Strong Microsoft Office skills, particularly Excel, PowerPoint, Teams and SharePoint.
• Comfortable using digital and AI-enabled tools to improve efficiency, draw insights from information and support decision-making.
• Ability to work independently, take ownership and drive outcomes through collaboration and influence.

You will also benefit from having

• Experience working within Commercial, Procurement or regulated environments.
• Familiarity with Power BI, AI-enabled analytics tools and other reporting and collaboration platforms.
• Knowledge of governance, performance management or organisational planning approaches.
• A recognised programme, project or business management qualification.

Although we operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, it's important to us that we support flexible working patterns and job share options (when we can), to help you make the best of both your work and home life. We know that juggling childcare responsibilities or getting that ideal work/life balance isn't always easy!

Do we sound like your cup of tea?

Closing date is 27th September

If successful for the role, you will be required to undergo pre-employment checks that will include a Basic Disclosure Check, carried out through a Third-Party Company, prior to commencing employment. Depending on the role, you may also be required to go through the security vetting process for either a Counter Terrorist Check or Security Check clearance. All our roles are subject to a medical questionnaire, and further medicals when required.

We are committed to removing barriers and ensuring our recruitment process is accessible to everyone. We offer a range of adjustments to make your application experience as comfortable and straightforward as possible.

If you have an accessibility need, disability, or condition that requires changes to the recruitment process, please include this information in your application. We will then discuss any reasonable adjustments required.

Kelda Group reserve the right to close this position before the published closing date, should the need occur. We therefore advise that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible.