Operational Support Lead

Thames Water; Reading; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 55,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Car allowance

Annual leave 26–30 days

Pension scheme (generous)

Health & wellbeing benefits

Cycle to work

Flexible working

Job summary

Thames Water is seeking a full-time Operational Support Lead in Reading to drive continuous improvement in Repair & Maintenance and Networks. You will create new processes, provide governance and performance reporting, and coordinate with senior leaders to deliver sustainable change.

You will collaborate with contract partners, ensure resources are correctly allocated, and support transformation projects to meet safety, regulatory, and commercial goals.

Qualifications

• Full UK driving licence is required.
• Proficient with IT systems and MS Office.
• Strong problem-solving and practical thinking.
• Proven track record in project delivery and meeting objectives.
• Experience leading a small team and coordinating stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Act as regional point of contact for supplier relationships.
• Lead and develop a small team within operational support.
• Provide insights and forecasts to meet year-end goals.
• Own and deliver projects to improve performance and customer experience.
• Collaborate with Transformation to deliver projects.
• Align resources with working patterns and commercial agreements.
• Coordinate supplier onboarding and ensure compliance.
• Support mandatory training and keep frontline teams updated.
• Manage standby patterns including weekends and holidays.
• Ensure data integrity and security with contractors and staff.
• Support data/insight teams with performance reports.

Skills

Full UK driving licence

IT systems & Office software

Problem solving

Project delivery

Team leadership

Stakeholder coordination

Tools

Office software

Job description

Vacancy details

• Job title
• Operational Support Lead
• Ref
• 45491
• Division
• Asset Operations & Capital Delivery
• Location
• Hybrid - Clearwater Court - RG1 8DB
• Contract type
• Permanent
• Full/Part-time
• Full-time
• Salary
• Offering up to £50,000 depending on skills and experience
• Job grade
• B
• Closing date
• 26/06/2026

• We are currently looking for a full-time, permanent Operational Support Lead for our Repair & Maintenance and Networks function within Operations.

  Your role will be to drive the continuous improvement of R&M and Networks operations performance through the creation and delivery of new processes, alongside providing robust governance, performance reporting, and stakeholder coordination to support operational excellence.

  This role is central to the successful embedding and the future transformation of the function. You will work closely with senior leaders, operational teams and contract partners to deliver meaningful and sustainable change, ensuring alignment with performance, regulatory, health & safety and commercial objectives.

  Base Location: Hybrid – Clearwater Court – RG1 8DB, with occasional travel to various depots and offices

  Hours: Monday – Friday, 36 hours per week

  What you’ll be doing as an Operational Support Lead:

  • Regional point of contact for supplier relationships, making sure these partnerships work well and helping solve any problems
  • Leading and developing a small team within operational support
  • Providing insight and forecasts to help deliver year-end goals
  • Owning and delivering tactical projects to continuously improve performance and customer experience by identifying trends, analysing data, and recommending operational and process enhancements
  • Working closely with the Transformation team to deliver projects
  • Understanding operational requirements and commercial agreements to make sure our resources are based at the right locations against the correct working patterns
  • Working with the commercial team to facilitate supplier terms and conditions where required
  • Engaging with suppliers to control and coordinate onboarding; ensuring front-line teams have the necessary kit and equipment, ensuring accurate documentation, and compliance with internal processes
  • Managing and coordinating mandatory training for the front-line teams, supporting new initiatives, and helping keep the remote field teams updated with the latest news and briefings
  • Facilitating effective supervisor working patterns to manage standby, weekend, Christmas, and bank holidays
  • Managing contractors and direct employees to ensure data integrity and security
  • Supporting the data and insight teams with routine and ad hoc performance reports/presentations
  • Delivering safety and wellbeing improvement plans in partnership with the lead team

  What should you bring to the role?

  • A full UK driving licence
  • Be fully competent at using IT systems and Office software
  • Ability to identify problems before they arise, as well as being a practical and intuitive thinker.
  • A track record in project delivery, with the ability to demonstrate delivery against commercial and operational objectives
  • Experience in leading a small team and influencing other teams to achieve our goals
  • Be a tenacious and resilient individual with the ability to work with confidence in a challenging and reactive environment.
  • Taking responsibility for the preparation of documentation for the risk review session as required
  • A confident speaker who can present to a frontline workforce the needs of the business and vision
  • Comfort level adapting your communication style to delivery teams as well as more corporate senior stakeholders, and to display demonstrable experience of this
  • The ability to articulate clearly business cases linked to benefits and risk; this is crucial to the success of this role.

  What’s in it for you?

  • Offering a salary up to £50,000 per annum, depending on skills and experience, plus £4,500 car allowance
  • Annual Leave – 26 days holiday per year, increasing to 30 with the length of service. (plus bank holidays)
  • Performance-related pay plan is directly linked to company performance measures and targets
  • Generous Pension Scheme through AON
  • Generous Paternity Leave, including 4 weeks paid and an optional 2 weeks unpaid
  • Enhanced Maternity Leave, 26 weeks full pay and 13 weeks half pay!
  • Access to lots of benefits to help you take care of yourself 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.

  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.