Operations Team Leader

Scottish Water; Scotland; On-site; GBP 41,000 - 52,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a dynamic leader to join their Wastewater Operations East Team. In this pivotal role, you will drive compliance and operational excellence while leading a dedicated team in delivering vital wastewater services across the East region. Your leadership will foster a culture of safety and continuous improvement, ensuring the highest standards are met. With a focus on collaboration and stakeholder engagement, you'll implement innovative solutions and lead change initiatives that enhance performance and efficiency. If you're passionate about making a difference in a challenging environment, this opportunity is for you.

Benefits

38 days of holiday annually

Paid time off for volunteering

Flexible working

Pension scheme

Life assurance

Annual bonus

Access to SW Splash rewards

Qualifications

• Proven track record in a challenging, fast-paced environment.
• Strong leadership and communication skills with a focus on safety.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team to ensure compliance in wastewater operations.
• Develop a positive health and safety culture within the team.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Data Analytics

Health and Safety Management

Operational Excellence

Change Management

Tools

PowerBI

Excel

Operational Management App

Telemetry

Job description

Together we are Trusted to Serve Scotland.

Fancy joining the Wastewater Operations East Team, leading a team focused on providing vital wastewater operations in the East region, supporting our compliance mission in the Tayside North area, covering parts of Perthshire, Angus, Dundee, and Aberdeenshire.

What You’ll Do

You'll lead a team to draw upon their operational knowledge and experience to deliver compliant wastewater treatment works, ensure the team is delivering best practice in health and safety, compliance, and wastewater performance. Lead your team through transformation and change initiatives, ensuring they understand and are supported throughout the process.

You’ll work closely with other areas of the wastewater operations function as well as developing improvements with key stakeholders across the business in H&S, EPA, ICC, E&M, finance, DV2, and our supply chain contractors.

This Role Also Requires You To

• Develop a positive health, safety, and wellbeing culture, embedding the use of H&S tools including Take5, Everyday Safety Behaviours, Fatigue App, our Life Saving Rules, and Risk Assessment procedures.
• Support the delivery of Zero Failing Works by reviewing performance, analyzing trends and data, identifying emerging risks, and taking timely action to resolve issues.
• Ensure our wastewater treatment works have zero Category 1/2 EPIs.
• Take responsibility for delivering efficiency/improvement actions, including ISO compliance, fire risk assessments, chemical optimization, and audit actions.
• Support capital project development and delivery.
• Act as PRC and deliver repair and maintenance requirements.
• Deliver services within budget and support the achievement of 1% OPEX savings.

What You’ll Bring

You should lead by example, communicate effectively using various techniques, engage in collaborative working, and influence a wide range of stakeholders, being seen as a trusted and respected role model for your team. Ensure key stakeholders are kept informed of progress and any emerging risks.

You will be responsible for delivering compliance, financial, health and safety, and performance targets, and setting expectations to ensure these are met.

You should be driven to achieve outcomes on time and within budget, with enthusiasm and motivation to deliver in a challenging environment.

Be proactive, implement action plans before failures occur, and ensure these plans are sustainable.

Essential Technical Skills, Knowledge, And Experience

• A proven track record of delivering results in a challenging, fast-paced business environment.
• High energy, motivation, and the capacity to manage multiple issues and opportunities simultaneously.
• Awareness and experience of maintaining high standards in health, safety, and wastewater management.
• Strong communication and presentation skills, with the ability to connect with and motivate people towards our ambitions.
• Proficiency with data analytics and ability to interrogate corporate systems (including Operational Management App, PowerBI, Telemetry, Excel) to identify risks and opportunities.
• Excellent leadership skills and a passion for continuous improvement and operational excellence.
• Experience in delivering and embedding change with visible improvements.
• A team player who can motivate and enable their team to perform in a changing environment.

Looking Out for You

We prioritize work-life balance, offering 38 days of holiday annually (including public holidays), with the option to buy five additional days. Paid time off for volunteering, family-friendly policies, flexible working, a pension scheme, life assurance, an annual bonus, and access to SW Splash rewards are also part of our package.

The Not-So-Small Print

This role is graded as Grade 7, with a starting salary of £41,000, progressing to a maximum of £51,970 based on performance. Applications are open until midnight on 14th May. Offers are conditional, pending pre-employment screening, which will be conducted after acceptance of an offer.

A Few Final Things

If you don’t meet all criteria, apply anyway—everyone has a learning curve. We’re committed to inclusivity and making adjustments for disabilities, neurodiverse conditions, or temporary challenges. Applicants must be Scottish taxpayers and willing to move to Scotland within three months if not already residing here. Data from applications submitted over 12 months ago will be deleted automatically.

For questions, contact [e-mail]