Operations Manager

Affinity Water; Hatfield; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 85,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Mentoring & courses

Annual bonus

Annual leave 26–30 days

Volunteer days (Affinity days)

Life Assurance

Double match pension (12% cap)

Wellbeing centre

Tap4Perks discounts

Maternity/Adoption/Paternity Leave

Menopause policy

Reasonable Adjustment policy

Job summary

Affinity Water is seeking an experienced Operations Manager to lead the delivery of a large-scale Smart Metering Programme in Hatfield. You will oversee operational delivery, safety, customer outcomes, supplier performance, and regulatory compliance to ensure excellence across the programme.

You will manage multiple suppliers, monitor budgets, and use data to drive improvements while building strong relationships with internal teams and regulators.

Qualifications

• Proven experience managing large-scale, multi-million-pound programmes.
• Strong leadership, people management, and supplier management.
• Experience delivering against KPIs, budgets, and performance targets.
• Excellent stakeholder management, communication, and influencing abilities.
• Knowledge of the water, utilities, infrastructure, or construction sectors.
• IOSH qualification and a strong commitment to health and safety.

Responsibilities

• Lead the operational delivery of the Smart Metering Programme.
• Manage suppliers and contractors to deliver against performance targets.
• Drive a strong safety-first culture and ensure compliance with industry regulations.
• Monitor performance, budgets, and resources to achieve programme objectives.
• Use data and insights to identify improvements and enhance service delivery.
• Build effective relationships with internal stakeholders, suppliers, and regulatory bodies.

Skills

Leadership

Supplier management

Stakeholder management

KPI delivery

Regulatory knowledge

Education

IOSH qualification

Job description

We’re looking for an experienced Operations Manager to play a key role in delivering an ambitious Smart Metering Programme at Affinity Water. Reporting to the Programme Delivery Manager, you will lead the operational delivery of a large-scale smart meter installation programme, ensuring safety, customer satisfaction, supplier performance, regulatory compliance, and operational excellence.

What you’ll be doing

• Leading the operational delivery of the Smart Metering Programme.
• Managing suppliers and contractors to deliver against performance targets.
• Driving a strong safety-first culture and ensuring compliance with industry regulations.
• Monitoring performance, budgets, and resources to achieve programme objectives.
• Using data and insights to identify improvements and enhance service delivery.
• Building effective relationships with internal stakeholders, suppliers, and regulatory bodies.

What we’re looking for

• Proven experience managing large-scale, multi-million-pound operational or civils programmes.
• Strong leadership, people management, and supplier management skills.
• Experience delivering against KPIs, budgets, and performance targets.
• Excellent stakeholder management, communication, and influencing abilities.
• Knowledge of the water, utilities, infrastructure, or construction sectors.
• IOSH qualification and a strong commitment to health and safety.

This is an exciting opportunity to help deliver a sustainable future by supporting the rollout of smart metering technology that improves customer outcomes, reduces water demand, and drives operational efficiency.

• Competitive salary dependant on skills and experience
• Learning and development opportunities, including mentoring and a range of formal courses and open learning resources.
• Entry into the company annual bonus scheme.
• Annual leave from 26-30 rising with length of service, and the option to purchase up to 5 extra days.
• A 'Celebration Day' in addition to public holidays that people can use to celebrate a religious festival or other occasion that is important to them.
• A generous 'double match pension scheme' that doubles the contributions you make (company contribution capped at 12%)
• We offer a range of family benefits including enhanced Maternity, Adoption, Paternity, Shared Parental Leave, Fertility Support Leave and up to 5 full or 10 half days of paid Carers Leave.
• Menopause policy and Reasonable Adjustment policy to help everyone perform at their best.
• Access to our Wellbeing Centre with support for looking after your physical and mental health.
• Discounts at a Range of Retail Outlets and on Dental and Medical Insurance through our Tap4Perks scheme.
• Up to 4 Affinity days a year to volunteer in the community.
• Life Assurance.

Disability Confident

As a Disability Confident employer, we’re committed to offering interviews to disabled candidates who meet the essential criteria and opt in on the application form. Ask the Talent Acquisition lead for the full job description to see all the criteria. If we have a very high volume of applicants and we’re not able to offer interviews to all, we’ll take a fair and proportionate number of disabled candidates through.

Affinity Water recognises the benefits of greater diversity in our workforce to better reflect the communities we serve. We are committed to building a more inclusive culture where every member of our workforce can thrive.

You can find out what it’s like to work at Affinity Water through our career site Home - Affinity Water where our colleagues share their career development stories and you can get a feel for our company culture.