Digital Risk Lead

Thames Water Utilities Limited; Reading; Hybrid; GBP 38,000 - 45,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading water utility company in Reading seeks a Digital Risk Lead to define and enhance risk management processes. You will collaborate closely with operational teams to ensure risks are effectively captured and integrated into Digital governance practices. The ideal candidate will have experience in risk management and strong communication skills, with a competitive salary of up to £45,000 per annum and excellent benefits including generous leave and a pension scheme.

Benefits

Competitive salary

26 days holiday per year

Performance-related pay

Generous Pension Scheme

Health and wellbeing benefits

Qualifications

• Practical understanding of risk management principles and operational risk frameworks.
• Experience supporting or delivering operational processes, governance models, or continuous improvement initiatives.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively across teams.

Responsibilities

• Define and maintain processes to identify and mitigate risks across Digital.
• Embed operational risk management practices aligned with enterprise management standards.
• Ensure risks are accurately captured, assessed, and embedded within Digital governance.

Skills

Risk management principles

Operational risk frameworks

Strong communication skills

Attention to detail

Stakeholder influence

Education

Professional risk-related qualification

Job description

As a Digital Risk Lead, you will be responsible for defining, implementing, and continuously improving risk management processes across Thames Water’s Digital organisation. You will play a key role in operationalising risk-based thinking, maintaining high-quality risk data, and supporting the integration of risk practices into business-as-usual digital management. You will work closely with the Digital Planning & Reporting Lead, operational leadership teams, and wider Digital stakeholders to ensure risks are accurately captured, assessed, mitigated, and effectively embedded within Digital governance.

What you’ll be doing as a Digital Risk Lead

• Define, develop and maintain clear, repeatable processes to identify, log, assess, and mitigate risks across Digital.
• Embed operational risk management practices aligned with Thames Water’s broader enterprise management standards.
• Maintain and regularly update risk records, documentation, and evidence ensuring accuracy, consistency, and completeness.
• Support the rollout, improvement, and ongoing maintenance of asset and enterprise risk frameworks, providing guidance to operational leadership teams.
• Contribute to the development and consistent use of risk scoring methodologies to support sound, data-driven decision-making.
• Provide assurance on digital risk data quality through structured reviews, reporting cycles, and continuous improvement recommendations.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to ensure risks are captured with appropriate detail, context, and actionable mitigation plans.
• Coordinate initial responses for internal audit and compliance actions.

Base Location: Reading, Clearwater Court – Hybrid

Working Pattern: 36 Hours

What you should bring to the role

• Practical understanding of risk management principles and operational risk frameworks.
• Experience supporting or delivering operational processes, governance models, or continuous improvement initiatives.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively across teams and influence stakeholders.
• High resilience, accuracy, and attention to detail, with the ability to manage multiple tasks and maintain quality under pressure.
• Experience working within Digital, IT, or operational functions where risk management is integral to day-to-day delivery.
• Familiarity with enterprise risk or asset risk frameworks.

Desirable Technical Skills & Qualifications

• Professional risk-related qualification (e.g., Institute of Risk Management Certificate, Institute of Asset Management Certificate) or currently working towards one.

What’s in it for you?

• Competitive salary up to £45,000 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 both company and individual 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.

We’re the UK’s largest water and wastewater company, with more than 16 million customers relying on us every day to supply water for their taps and toilets. We want to build a better future for all, helping our customers, communities, people, and the planet to thrive. It’s a big job and we’ve got a long way to go, so we need help from passionate and skilled people, committed to making a difference and getting us to where we want to be in the years and decades to come.

Thames Water is a unique, rewarding, and diverse place to work, where every day you can make a difference, yet no day is the same. As part of our family, you’ll enjoy meaningful career opportunities, flexible working arrangements and excellent benefits.

If you’re looking for a sustainable and successful career where you can make a daily difference to millions of people’s lives while helping to protect the world of water for future generations, we’ll be here to support you every step of the way. Together, we can build a better future for our customers, our region, and our planet.

Real purpose, real support, real opportunities. Come and join the Thames Water family. Why choose us? Learn more.

We’re committed to being a great, diverse, and inclusive place to work. We welcome applications from everyone and want to ensure you feel supported throughout the recruitment process . If you need any adjustments, whether that’s extra time, accessible formats, or anything else just let us know, we’re here to help and support .

When a crisis happens, we all rally around to support our customers. As part of Team Thames, you’ll have the opportunity to sign up to support our customers on the frontline as an ambassador. Full training will be given for what is undoubtedly an incredibly rewarding experience. It’s also a great opportunity to learn more about our business and meet colleagues.

Disclaimer: due to the high volume of applications we receive, we may close the advert earlier than the advertised date, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.