Emergency Planner

Thames Water Utilities Limited; Reading; Hybrid; GBP 45,000 - 50,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

26 days holiday

Pension scheme

Health & wellbeing benefits

Cycle to Work

Life assurance

Job summary

Thames Water is seeking an Emergency Planner to help prepare for, respond to and learn from incidents that could affect customers and operations. You will develop practical emergency plans, support live incidents and exercises, and work with external partners to strengthen response capabilities.

This hybrid role requires strong communication, incident management experience, and knowledge of resilience legislation.

Qualifications

• Prior experience in emergency planning, business continuity, or civil contingencies.
• Experience designing and delivering tabletop or live exercises.
• Knowledge of water utilities or resilience legislation is beneficial.

Responsibilities

• Writing, maintaining and reviewing emergency plans for effective incident response.
• Supporting incident management teams during live incidents and coordinating stakeholders.
• Representing Thames Water at multi-agency meetings with resilience partners.
• Designing, delivering and participating in emergency exercises and training.
• Assuring compliance with Civil Contingencies Act and related requirements.
• Participating in debriefs and embedding improvements across the business.

Skills

Strong written and verbal comms

Incident management

Emergency planning

Multi-agency liaison

Designing exercises

Regulatory knowledge

Education

Resilience or emergency planning qualifications

Disaster management or environmental science background

Job description

Job title Emergency Planner Ref 45911 Division Asset Operations & Capital Delivery Location Hybrid - Kemble Court - RG2 6AD Contract type Permanent Full/Part-time Full-time Salary This role will be paid from £45,250 up to £50,000 per annum depending on skills and experience Job grade B Closing date 05/10/2026

As an Emergency Planner at Thames Water, you’ll play an important part in helping us prepare for, respond to and learn from incidents that could affect our customers, communities and operations. You’ll work across the business and with external resilience partners to develop practical emergency plans, support live incidents and exercises, and help strengthen how we respond when it matters most.

What you’ll be doing as an Emergency Planner

• Writing, maintaining and reviewing emergency plans so we’re prepared to respond effectively to incidents.
• Supporting incident management teams during live incidents and emerging events, including communicating with internal and external stakeholders.
• Representing Thames Water at multi-agency meetings and working closely with Local Resilience Forums, local authorities and other resilience partners.
• Designing, delivering and taking part in emergency exercises and training to test our response arrangements.
• Helping ensure emergency plans and activities meet relevant legislative and regulatory requirements, including the Civil Contingencies Act and Security & Emergency Measures Direction.
• Taking part in incident and exercise debriefs, identifying lessons learned and helping embed improvements and best practice across the business.

Working pattern: Hybrid, typically with 3 days in the office and 2 days working from home.

The successful candidate will undertake Counter Terrorism Checks (CTC) through National Security Vetting.

What you should bring to the role

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain complex information clearly to senior colleagues and stakeholders.
• Previous experience working within utilities, local authorities or incident response background
• Emergency planning, business continuity or multi-agency civil contingencies experience
• Experience developing emergency or crisis plans and designing or delivering tabletop or live exercises would be beneficial
• Knowledge of the water industry or relevant resilience legislation would be beneficial
• Qualifications in resilience, emergency planning, disaster management, environmental science or a related subject also welcomed.

What’s in it for you?

• This role will be paid from £45,250 up to £50,000 per annum depending on skills and experience
• 26 days holiday per year, increasing to 30 with length of service, plus bank holidays.
• Performance-related pay plan directly linked to company 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.

Find out more about our benefits and perks (Please note different T&Cs apply if on secondment)

Who are we?

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.