Head of Production

Institute of Water; Walsall; Hybrid; GBP 80,000 - 85,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Travel allowance

Performance-related bonus

Matched pension contribution

Company benefits

Job summary

South Staffordshire Water is seeking a Head of Production to lead the safe, reliable and sustainable delivery of high-quality drinking water across our production network. You will provide strategic direction, drive operational excellence and oversee major investment and asset management programmes.

The role requires senior leadership of a large team, strong stakeholder engagement, and a proven track record in regulated environments.

Qualifications

• Significant leadership experience within water production, utilities, infrastructure, energy, transportation or another asset-intensive environment.
• Strong understanding of operational asset management, maintenance and resilience planning.
• Experience developing and delivering complex operational or investment programmes.
• Proven ability to lead organisational change and drive performance improvement.
• Experience developing business cases, investment plans and long-term asset strategies.
• Strong commercial awareness with experience managing budgets, forecasts and financial performance.
• Experience operating within highly regulated environments and managing external stakeholder relationships.
• Demonstrable success leading multi-disciplinary teams and delivering against challenging objectives.
• Excellent strategic thinking, problem-solving and decision-making skills.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership across water production operations, ensuring assets are operated safely, efficiently and in line with regulatory, environmental and water quality standards.
• Lead the development and delivery of production, maintenance and asset management strategies that improve resilience, optimise performance and support long-term business goals.
• Ensure treatment, production and storage assets operate at optimum levels, balancing performance, risk, compliance and cost efficiency.
• Drive a culture of operational excellence through strong governance, assurance, continuous improvement and data-led decision making.
• Lead the delivery of operational and capital investment programmes, ensuring projects achieve agreed outcomes to time, cost and quality standards.
• Optimise treatment processes to improve efficiency whilst maintaining the highest standards of water quality and environmental compliance.
• Provide senior leadership during incidents and resilience events, acting as the escalation point for significant operational challenges.
• Ensure compliance with all statutory obligations, including water quality, environmental, health and safety, and reservoir safety requirements.
• Lead, coach and develop a team of operational leaders and technical specialists, creating a high-performing and accountable culture
• Drive innovation and transformational change, adopting new technologies and ways of working to create long-term value.
• Build strong relationships with regulators, contractors, industry partners and internal stakeholders
• Contribute to business planning, regulatory submissions, investment strategies and future resource planning.

Job description

Head of Production

Salary: £80,000 - £85,000 per annum (DOE) | Company Benefits | Travel Allowance | Performance Related Bonus | Matched Pension Contribution
Location: Walsall, West Midlands or Cambridge, Cambridgeshire | Hybrid
Contract: Full Time | Permanent | 40 hours per week

About Us

South Staffordshire Water, which operates across two regions as Cambridge Water and South Staffs Water is a privately-owned regulated water only company.

South Staffs Water supplies a population of nearly I.3 million. The area of supply stretches from the edge of Ashbourne in the north, to Halesowen in the south, and from Burton on Trent in the east, to Kinver in the west.

The Role

Lead the Future of Water Production.

At South Staffs Water, we provide essential services to thousands of customers every day. As our Head of Production, you will play a critical role in ensuring the safe, reliable and sustainable delivery of high-quality drinking water, whilst helping shape the future of our production operations.

This is a senior leadership position responsible for overseeing water treatment, storage, maintenance, resilience and asset management activities across our production network. You'll provide strategic direction, drive operational excellence, and lead significant investment and improvement programmes that support our long-term business objectives.

Working closely with senior stakeholders across the business, you will balance operational performance, regulatory compliance, customer expectations and financial sustainability in an increasingly complex environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership across water production operations, ensuring assets are operated safely, efficiently and in line with regulatory, environmental and water quality standards.
• Lead the development and delivery of production, maintenance and asset management strategies that improve resilience, optimise performance and support long-term business goals.
• Ensure treatment, production and storage assets operate at optimum levels, balancing performance, risk, compliance and cost efficiency.
• Drive a culture of operational excellence through strong governance, assurance, continuous improvement and data-led decision making.
• Lead the delivery of operational and capital investment programmes, ensuring projects achieve agreed outcomes to time, cost and quality standards.
• Optimise treatment processes to improve efficiency whilst maintaining the highest standards of water quality and environmental compliance.
• Provide senior leadership during incidents and resilience events, acting as the escalation point for significant operational challenges.
• Ensure compliance with all statutory obligations, including water quality, environmental, health and safety, and reservoir safety requirements.
• Lead, coach and develop a team of operational leaders and technical specialists, creating a high-performing and accountable culture
• Drive innovation and transformational change, adopting new technologies and ways of working to create long-term value.
• Build strong relationships with regulators, contractors, industry partners and internal stakeholders
• Contribute to business planning, regulatory submissions, investment strategies and future resource planning.

What Success Looks Like

In this role, you will:

• Deliver outstanding operational performance across our production assets.
• Build and develop an engaged, high-performing leadership team.
• Maintain safe, resilient and compliant production operations.
• Successfully deliver investment and maintenance programmes that support future business needs.
• Provide customers across both operating regions with a consistent supply of high-quality drinking water.
• Lead the successful delivery of key resilience and growth initiatives, ensuring our networks are prepared to meet increasing customer demand and future population growth.
• Develop sustainable solutions to address water resource challenges across our regions
• Support the delivery of major future schemes to strengthn long-term water security whilst protecting precious chalk aquifers and other vital natural resources.
• Drive the business's response to climate change by enhancing operational resilience, improving efficiency, and ensuring our production strategy is fit for the future.

About You

We're looking for an inspiring and commercially minded leader who combines technical expertise with exceptional people leadership skills. You'll lead a team of managers that oversee an approximate team of 85 FTEs, further supported by contractors.

Experience and Knowledge

• Significant leadership experience within water production, utilities, infrastructure, energy, transportation or another asset-intensive environment.
• Strong understanding of operational asset management, maintenance and resilience planning.
• Experience developing and delivering complex operational or investment programmes.
• Proven ability to lead organisational change and drive performance improvement.
• Experience developing business cases, investment plans and long-term asset strategies.
• Strong commercial awareness with experience managing budgets, forecasts and financial performance.
• Experience operating within highly regulated environments and managing external stakeholder relationships.
• Demonstrable success leading multi-disciplinary teams and delivering against challenging objectives.
• Excellent strategic thinking, problem-solving and decision-making skills.
• Degree level qualification within a related discipline would be desirable.

Personal Attributes

You will be:

• A visible, authentic and engaging leader.
• Strategic in your thinking and commercially aware.
• Comfortable influencing at executive and board level.
• Passionate about developing high-performing teams.
• Driven by continuous improvement and operational excellence.
• Committed to delivering safe, resilient and customer-focused services.