Environmental Permitting Specialist

Thames Water Utilities Limited; Reading; Hybrid; GBP 50,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading water and wastewater company in the UK seeks an Environmental Permitting Specialist to ensure compliance with environmental regulations. This role involves advising operational teams, negotiating permits, and contributing to environmental performance improvements. Ideal candidates should have a degree in Environmental Science and strong analytical and communication skills. Competitive salary up to £55,000 per annum, flexible working patterns, and excellent benefits are offered.

Benefits

26 days holiday per year, increasing with service

Performance-related pay plan

Generous Pension Scheme

Access to health and wellbeing benefits

Qualifications

• Ability to understand technical disciplines and develop expertise in Environmental Permitting.
• Excellent communication skills to liaise with stakeholders.
• Analytical skills to interpret regulatory guidance.

Responsibilities

• Ensure necessary Environmental Permits are in place and provide technical advice.
• Advise operational teams on regulatory interpretation.
• Negotiate with the Environment Agency on permits and compliance.

Skills

Understanding of technical discipline

Planning and organization

Verbal and written communication

Passion for environmental performance

Strong analytical skills including Excel

Excellent IT literacy

Relationship-building and negotiation skills

Education

Degree in Environmental Science or related field

Tools

Excel

Power BI

Job description

Job title Environmental Permitting Specialist Ref 43060 Division Asset Operations & Capital Delivery Location Hybrid - Clearwater Court - RG1 8DB Contract type Permanent Full/Part-time Full-time Salary Offering up to £55,000 per annum depending upon experience Job grade B Closing date 27/01/2026

At Thames Water, we make a daily difference to our 16 million customers by supplying 2.6 billion litres of water through 32,000 km of pipes, keeping taps flowing and toilets flushing. We deliver life's essential service so our customers, communities and the environment can thrive.

As the UK’s largest water company, we are taking action for a new world of water - fixing the problems of today and building resilience for tomorrow.

Our environmental performance is monitored and evaluated by our regulators using a range of measures, such as our compliance with our environmental permits, and the number and severity of pollutions incidents that we cause, which in turn informs our Environmental Performance Assessment (EPA).

The primary purpose of this role is to ensure necessary Environmental Permits are in place and to provide technical advice on permitting to support our business activities. Thames Water is committed to improving our impact on the environment, and this role plays a vital part in ensuring the success of our Environmental Regulation obligations.

What you’ll be doing as an Environmental Permitting Specialist

• This role is critical in ensuring our systems are up to date with the relevant and current permit information and regulatory requirements.
• Follow existing permitting processes and methodologies and propose any suggested improvements to the Installations Manager. This role may also support on the notifications to the business of new permit changes.
• Advise our operational teams and engineering partners on the interpretation of regulatory requirements and outputs to facilitate the roll-out of the agreed business plan.
• Support the Installations team on AMP8 projects working with Capital Delivery and Engineering, providing technical advice to ensure assets comply with their environmental permits and negotiating with the Environment Agency on technical permitting matters, where necessary. This may include site visits and supporting our Operational teams on
• This role will support on the 25 Sludge Treatment Centre permits and compliance with the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED).
• Negotiate with the Environment Agency regarding new permits and changes to existing permits, submitting applications where necessary, related to Capital Schemes. Ensure the interests of the company are protected, that cost implications are minimised and regulatory requirements are appropriate.
• Making informed and timely decisions based on analysis of technical data and interpretation of regulator guidance.
• Contribute to improving compliance with all conditions of environmental permits by supporting other teams within the Environmental Regulation & Quality and the wider business.
• Contribute to production and coordination of monitoring and reporting reports and provide second an assurance role.
• Ensure timely responses to regulator requests for information related to permits or applications, working collaboratively across teams to deliver high-quality submissions.
• Ensure timely responses to requests for information related to permits or applications, through the Environmental Information Request (EIR) process, working collaboratively across teams to deliver high-quality submissions.

Base Location: Hybrid – Clearwater Court, Reading. (Some travel to sites may be required)

Working Pattern: Full-time, Monday–Friday. (36 hours per week)

Salary: Competitive salary up to £55,000 per annum - depending upon experience

What you should bring to the role:

The essential criteria to help you succeed in this role are:

• Proven ability to develop an understanding of a technical discipline and a keenness to develop expertise in Environmental Permitting.
• Excellent planning, organisation, and verbal/written communication skills
• A passion to improve our environmental performance.
• Strong communication and relationship-building skills, with the ability to negotiate and liaise with stakeholders
• Strong analytical background, including Excel & Power Bi
• Excellent IT literacy to enable learning of internal data systems, for example Equis

Additional skills and experiences would be great to have/bring:

• Advocate for the environment with demonstrable track record of compliance and environmental excellence.
• An operational background in water, wastewater, air emissions, waste, or similar regulated industries
• Practical understanding of environmental permitting and the associated Environment Agency guidance
• Experience working with environmental regulations
• Evidence of working flexibly across organisations, building and/or improving ways of working and embedding them into organisations
• Degree in Environmental Science, Environmental Management or Data Management or a related field.

What’s in it for you?

• Competitive salary up to £55,000 per annum - depending upon experience
• 26 days holiday per year, increasing to 30 with the 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.

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 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.