County Regulatory Submissions Lead

United Utilities; England; On-site; GBP 85,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

26 days annual leave

Pension with employer contributions

Performance bonus up to 20%

Car allowance

Healthcare

Life insurance

Wellbeing discounts

Employee assistance programme

Discount schemes

Job summary

United Utilities is seeking a County Regulatory Submissions Lead to coordinate and develop engineering solutions for regulatory submissions and long-term wastewater strategies across a designated county. Hybrid working in Warrington offers a path to influence major regulatory programmes while shaping future investment decisions.

You will lead multidisciplinary optioneering, champion standardised approaches, and collaborate with asset management, operations and capital delivery to ensure

Qualifications

• Significant post-graduate experience in wastewater engineering or asset strategy.
• Professionally qualified (CEng, IEng or equivalent) or able to demonstrate equivalent experience.
• Strong experience leading multidisciplinary optioneering and strategic engineering activities.
• Experience influencing investment decisions within complex organisational structures.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate and develop engineering solutions for regulatory submissions and long-term wastewater strategies.
• Lead catchment-wide interventions balancing environmental outcomes, operational performance and affordability.
• Develop evidence-based arguments for major regulatory submissions (PR29, WINEP, DWMP, Cost Change).
• Champion standardised approaches and scalable solutions for future investment planning.

Skills

Stakeholder engagement

Strategic thinking

Regulatory alignment

Leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication

Education

CEng/IEng or equivalent

Tools

Regulatory frameworks

Job description

Job number UU06620 Country United Kingdom Region Cheshire West and Chester Location name Lingley Mere (UU), Lingley Green Avenue, Great Sankey, Warrington, WA5 3LP Posting End Date 16/10/2026 Band 3 Role Type Permanent Salary Competitive Salary

Shape the Future of Wastewater Infrastructure

About us

Location: Lingley Mere, Warrington (Hybrid Working)

Salary: Competitive + Bonus & Car Allowance

Contract Type: Permanent, Full Time

Are you passionate about solving complex environmental and engineering challenges at a catchment scale?

Do you want to play a pivotal role in influencing major investment decisions that will shape the future of wastewater services across the North West?

United Utilities is seeking an experienced and forward-thinking County Regulatory Submissions Lead to drive the development of strategic wastewater engineering solutions that underpin some of the industry's most important regulatory and investment programmes. This is a unique opportunity to combine technical expertise, strategic thinking and stakeholder leadership, helping develop the evidence-based solutions that support programmes such as PR29, WINEP, DWMP, Cost Change submissions and future regulatory investment plans.

Working at the interface between Asset Management, Operations, Engineering and Capital Delivery, you'll help ensure that today's decisions create resilient, sustainable and affordable wastewater services for future generations.

The role

As County Regulatory Submissions Lead, you will be responsible for coordinating and developing engineering solutions that support business-critical regulatory submissions and long-term wastewater strategies across your assigned county.

You'll take a leading role in identifying and developing catchment-wide interventions, championing innovative and standardised solutions that can be deployed at scale while balancing environmental outcomes, operational performance, regulatory obligations and customer affordability.

This role offers the opportunity to influence investment programmes years before projects enter delivery, providing a genuine opportunity to shape the future direction of wastewater infrastructure.

What You'll Be Doing

Strategic Engineering & Catchment Solutions

• Lead the development of wastewater catchment solutions that support long-term strategic outcomes.
• Identify opportunities for treatment, network and sustainable interventions across wastewater catchments.
• Evaluate nature-based solutions, storage, attenuation and treatment opportunities to deliver optimal outcomes.
• Ensure engineering recommendations are evidence-led, robust and aligned to long-term asset strategies.
• Support the development of resilient, future-proofed solutions that meet environmental and operational requirements.

Regulatory Programme Development

• Support the development of engineering solutions for major regulatory submissions including PR29, WINEP, DWMP and Cost Change programmes.
• Provide technical justification, engineering evidence and investment rationale for regulatory business cases.
• Work closely with Strategic Asset Managers and Risk Managers to align engineering solutions with regulatory obligations and strategic priorities.
• Translate complex regulatory requirements into pragmatic and deliverable engineering solutions.

Innovation & Standardisation

• Champion programmatic and standardised approaches to wastewater solutions.
• Identify opportunities to improve efficiency, reduce costs and accelerate future delivery through repeatable engineering solutions.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and innovative approaches for wider adoption across the business.
• Ensure proposed solutions are scalable, technically feasible and suitable for investment planning and early-stage development.

Stakeholder Leadership & Collaboration

• Build strong relationships across Operations, Asset Management, Engineering, Rainwater Management and Capital Delivery teams.
• Work collaboratively with estimating and bid teams to ensure technical solutions remain commercially viable and deliverable.
• Coordinate with other County Regulatory Submissions Leads to drive consistency across the wider wastewater system.
• Provide technical guidance and day-to-day coordination for engineers and delivery partners contributing to regulatory solutions.

Delivery Readiness

• Support the successful transition of strategies and solutions into future capital delivery programmes.
• Undertake scenario testing and optioneering to support investment decisions.
• Drive continuous improvement in engineering approaches, methods and processes.
• Ensure solutions are developed with future delivery, operability and whole-life performance in mind.

About You

We're looking for an accomplished engineering professional who can combine strategic thinking, technical credibility and stakeholder influence.

You'll be comfortable operating in a complex environment where balancing customer affordability, regulatory commitments, operational requirements and environmental outcomes is critical.

You will enjoy solving system-wide challenges, working with ambiguity and bringing multidisciplinary teams together around a common objective.

Essential Skills & Experience

• Significant post-graduate experience within wastewater engineering, asset strategy or a related infrastructure environment.
• Professionally qualified (CEng, IEng or equivalent) or able to demonstrate equivalent professional experience.
• Strong experience leading multidisciplinary optioneering and strategic engineering activities.
• Demonstrable experience in treatment and network optimisation.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement and communication skills.
• Strong understanding of engineering risk, asset performance and long-term planning.
• Commercial awareness, including cost modelling, investment planning and affordability considerations.
• Experience influencing investment decisions within complex organisational structures.
• Ability to balance agile decision-making with robust governance and assurance processes.

Why Join United Utilities?

At United Utilities, you'll be working on challenges that matter. Every solution you help develop as a County Regulatory Submissions Lead has the potential to improve environmental performance, protect communities and enhance services for millions of customers across the North West.

You'll join an organisation committed to innovation, sustainability and engineering excellence, with opportunities to influence major investment programmes and work alongside some of the industry's leading technical professionals.

Whether you're currently working in water, wastewater, infrastructure, utilities or a comparable engineering environment, this is an opportunity to make a lasting impact while developing your own career in a highly visible and influential role.

What's In It For You?

• 26 days annual leave, increasing to 30 days with service, plus bank holidays
• Competitive pension with up to 14% employer contribution
• Performance-related bonus of up to 20%
• £5000 Annual Car Allowance
• Comprehensive company-funded healthcare plan
• Life assurance cover
• Gym and wellbeing discounts through MyGymDiscounts
• EVolve electric vehicle scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Mental Health First Aiders
• Financial wellbeing support through Salary Finance and Wealth at Work
• ShareBuy share scheme
• MORE Choices flexible benefits package
• Enhanced parental leave policies
• Employee discounts and recognition awards

Join Us

This is an opportunity to become a key voice in shaping future wastewater investment strategies across one of the UK's largest water and wastewater companies.

If you're an experienced engineering professional who thrives on strategic thinking, cross-functional collaboration and developing innovative, large-scale solutions, we'd love to hear from you.