Emergency Planner

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

Benefits offered by this job

Pension scheme

Holiday allowance

Performance pay

Health & wellbeing benefits

Job summary

Thames Water is seeking an Emergency Planner to help prepare for and respond to incidents affecting customers and operations. You will develop practical emergency plans, support live incidents and exercises, and strengthen our response where it matters most.

Based in Reading with hybrid work (3 days in office, 2 days at home), you’ll work across the business and with external resilience partners, and you may need security clearance before starting. A rewarding role with robust benefits awaits.

Qualifications

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, able to explain complex information clearly to senior colleagues.
• Experience in utilities, local authorities or incident response backgrounds.
• Emergency planning, business continuity or multi‑agency civil contingencies experience.
• Experience developing emergency or crisis plans and delivering tabletop or live exercises would be beneficial.
• Knowledge of the water industry or resilience legislation would be beneficial.
• Qualifications in resilience, emergency planning or disaster management welcomed.

Responsibilities

• 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.

Skills

Written communication

Verbal communication

Incident response

Emergency planning

Business continuity

Multi-agency coordination

Education

Resilience / emergency planning qualifications

Job description

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.

Base location: Kemble Court, Reading, RG2 6A

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

Please note, successful candidates will need to complete the required security clearance before starting employment. This process takes approximately between 2 to 3 months.

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.

Learn more about our purpose and values

Working at Thames Water

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.