Director of Water Services

Forsyth Barnes; Nottingham; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Forsyth Barnes is seeking an experienced Director of Water Delivery to lead diverse water and wastewater initiatives. This senior position offers the opportunity to oversee critical programmes, ensuring they align with operational, regulatory, and business objectives.

Ideal candidates have significant leadership experience across the water sector, with a strong focus on delivery excellence and stakeholder engagement. This role promises a dynamic environment and requires a strategic yet hands-on approach to leadership.

Qualifications

• Significant experience delivering programmes within the UK water and/or wastewater sector.
• Proven leadership experience across multiple operational areas.
• Strong stakeholder management experience across technical and executive functions.

Responsibilities

• Lead the delivery of complex water and wastewater programmes.
• Oversee governance, risk management, and performance reporting.
• Facilitate collaboration across business areas for successful outcomes.

Skills

Leadership

Stakeholder management

Project delivery

Water operations

Risk management

Job description

Director of Water Delivery

We are seeking an experienced Director of Water Delivery to lead the successful delivery of a diverse portfolio of programmes across the water and wastewater sector.

This is a senior leadership position with responsibility for overseeing multiple teams, projects, and programmes that are critical to operational performance, customer outcomes, regulatory commitments, and long-term business objective.

The role will suit an individual who combines strong delivery leadership with deep water sector expertise and enjoys working across operations, engineering, capital investment, digital transformation, asset management, and organisational change. You will be responsible for ensuring programmes are delivered safely, effectively, and efficiently whilst creating a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

We are seeking an experienced water industry leader who is looking for something exciting.

Role: As the Director of Water you will take ownership of a broad portfolio of strategic initiatives across water and wastewater operations. You will provide leadership across multiple functions and delivery teams, ensuring programmes are aligned to business priorities, regulatory requirements, customer commitments, and operational objectives.

This role requires an individual who can operate strategically whilst remaining close enough to delivery to support teams, remove barriers, manage risk, and ensure successful outcomes.

You will work closely with senior operational leaders, engineering teams, programme managers, digital teams, asset management functions, and executive stakeholders to drive performance and deliver meaningful change.

Key Responsibilities

Delivery Lead

• ershipLead the delivery of a portfolio of complex water and wastewater programmes, projects, and initia
• tives.Provide strategic oversight across operational, capital, digital, and transformation activ
• ities.Ensure programmes are delivered safely, on time, within budget, and to agreed quality stan
• dards.Establish effective governance, reporting, assurance, and performance management frame
• works.Oversee programme risks, dependencies, issues, and resource require
• ments.Act as the senior escalation point for delivery challenges and operational i
• ssues.Drive a culture focused on delivery excellence, accountability, and continuous improv
• ershipLead teams delivering improvements across water and wastewater opera
• tions.Support the successful delivery of operational performance, resilience, and customer outcome commit
• ments.Drive programme prioritisation and resource alignment across multiple workst
• reams.Maintain visibility of programme performance and delivery out

Stakeholder Management

• gementBuild trusted relationships with senior internal stakeholders and leadership
• teams.Engage effectively with operational, engineering, regulatory, and programme delivery func
• tions.Facilitate collaboration across business areas to ensure successful programme out
• comes.Stakeholder Mana
• gementBuild trusted relationships with senior internal stakeholders and leadership teams.Engage effectively
• tions.Facilitate collaboration across business areas to ensure successful programme out
• comes.Stakeholder Mana
• gementBuild trusted relationships with senior internal stakeholders and leadership teams.Engage effectively
• tions.Facilitate collaboration across business areas to ensure successful programme out
• comes.Stakeholder Mana

What We're Looking For

• erienceSignificant experience delivering programmes, projects, or transformation initiatives within the UK water and/or wastewater sector.
• sector.Proven leadership experience across one or more of the fol
• lowing:Water Ope
• rationsWastewater Ope
• rationsAsset Man
• agementCapital D
• grammesOperational Performance Impr
• ovementDigital Transfo
• rmationNetwork Ope
• rationsControl Room Ope
• rationsExperience leading large, multi-disciplinary
• teams.Strong stakeholder management experience across operational, technical, and executive fun
• ctions.Experience managing complex delivery portfolios with multiple concurrent works
• treams.Strong understanding of governance, risk management, performance reporting, and programme co
• ntrols.Demonstrable ability to deliver measurable business and operational ou

Leadership Style

We are particularly interested in individu

• als who:Lead with credibility, pragmatism, and in
• tegrity.Balance strategic thinking with hands-on delivery lea
• dership.Build strong relationships and influence at all
• levels.Create clarity and direction in complex envir
• onments.Focus on outcomes rather than process for proces
• s' sake.Are comfortable operating in fast-paced, evolving envir
• onments.Empower teams whilst maintaining accountability for d

Delivery Measures of Success

• through:Safe and successful delivery of programmes and
• projects.Achievement of operational, customer, and regulatory
• outcomes.Delivery against agreed time, cost, quality, and performance
• targets.Effective management of programme risks and depe
• ndencies.Strong stakeholder engagement and co
• nfidence.High levels of employee engagement and team per
• formance.Continuous improvement in delivery capability and operational effec