Principal Drinking Water Scientist

Anglian Water Services; Cambridgeshire and Peterborough; On-site; GBP 72,000 - 98,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Personal private health care

Generous pension – 21% total

24-hour Virtual GP service

26 days annual leave

Life assurance (up to 8 x salary)

Personal accident cover (up to 5 x)

Family friendly policies ( maternity /

Job summary

Anglian Water Services invites applications for a Principal Drinking Water Scientist to lead the Drinking Water Process and Network Science team across our region. You will ensure safety and quality of drinking water and drive innovation to support operations across the Anglian Water region.

The role requires inspirational leadership, strategic thinking, excellent communication, and strong stakeholder engagement, with travel across the region to support field teams and external partners.

Qualifications

• Leadership experience at a senior level within scientific or environmental teams.
• Strong strategic thinking and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Excellent communication and reporting abilities.
• Proficiency with Microsoft 365 tools (Excel, PowerBI, Teams).
• Customer-focused mindset and adaptability in a dynamic environment.
• Degree in a scientific or environmental discipline, with relevant background in operational and environmental science.

Responsibilities

• Lead investigations into water quality incidents, provide root cause analysis and implement learning.
• Drive team safety and embed safety at the heart of operations.
• Develop proactive intervention strategies aligned with data-driven insights.
• Provide scientific input across Capital Delivery, Procurement, and Innovation teams.
• Collaborate with leadership and external stakeholders to deliver outcomes for customers and the business.
• Build trusted relationships with internal and external partners including regulatory bodies.
• Own and audit technical procedures to ensure regulatory alignment.
• Champion training, development, and competency across teams.

Skills

Inspirational leadership

Strategic thinking

Excellent communication

Stakeholder engagement

Customer-focused mindset

Adaptability

Education

Degree in scientific or environmental discipline

Tools

Microsoft Excel

PowerBI

Teams

Job description

Salary: Circa £85,000 per annum dependent on skills and experience
Hours: 37 hours per week
Contract: Permanent
Location: Across the Anglian Water Region, covering areas such as Ipswich, Norwich, Northampton, Milton Keynes, Bedford, Huntingdon, Peterborough, Grantham, Lincoln

Are you ready to lead scientific excellence in drinking water quality and make a real impact on public health and environmental compliance for our customers?

We are looking for a Principal Drinking Water Scientist to lead our technical Drinking Water Process and Network Science team. Your team will ensure the safety and quality of our drinking water, drives innovation, and enables our operational colleagues to deliver safe, wholesome water to our customers. This is a pivotal leadership role within our Quality, Environment and Assurance business unit, reporting directly to the Head of Science.

At Anglian Water our Scientific Department are combined to create a centre of Scientific Excellence. Where our operational scientists, laboratory function and strategic science come together. This role provides a fantastic opportunity to exploit the Scientific knowledge within our Department, as you focus your team on value-adding interventions and risk mitigation. Collaboration with the Science Leadership team and wider leadership teams, as well as external engagement, will be essential to ensure learning and actions benefit both our customers and the business. Whilst, your close working relationship with our Operational colleagues will ensure we embed interventions across our Operations.

You will lead the team in maintaining scientific rigor, assurance, and innovation to provide wholesome water to our customers 24/7 efficiently. The development, engagement, safety, and well-being of your team are crucial to making Science a fantastic place to work and progress. This role will require significant travel leading a field team based across the Anglian Water region.

In this role, you will:

• Enable the team to effectively lead investigations into water quality incidents, providing root cause analysis and implementing learning to ensure future mitigation
• Drive the safety of the team forwards, putting safety at the heart of what we do
• Drive proactive intervention strategies across the team, enabling team members to focus on value-add activities driven by data
• Develop a team that provides scientific input across Capital Delivery, Procurement, and Innovation teams
• Collaborate and positively challenge to deliver desired business outcomes and meet customer demands now and in the future
• Build trusted relationships with internal and external stakeholders, including the DWI and public health agencies
• Own and audit technical procedures to ensure regulatory alignment
• Champion training, development, and competency across scientific and operational teams

We invest in our people - as a valued employee, you’ll be entitled to:

• Personal private health care
• Generous double match pension – contribute 7% and Anglian Water will contribute 14%, giving a total contribution of 21%
• 24-hour Virtual GP service for you and your household
• 26 days annual leave – rising with length of service and the ability to buy more
• Life assurance (up to 8 x salary)
• Personal accident cover (up to 5 x salary)
• Excellent family friendly policies, such as 26 weeks full pay for maternity / adoption leave, as well as 4 weeks paid paternity / partner leave. Opportunity for shared parental pay
• Bonus scheme
• Flexible benefits and working culture to support your wellbeing and lifestyle.

We’re looking for someone with

• Inspirational leadership and team development experience
• Strategic thinking and stakeholder engagement
• Excellent communication and reporting
• Proficiency in Microsoft 365 tools (Excel, PowerBI, Teams)
• Customer-focused mindset and adaptability
• Degree in a scientific or environmental discipline
• A background in operational and environmental science
• Understanding of health, safety, and wellbeing systems

Inclusion at Anglian Water

At Anglian Water, we are committed to creating an inclusive and supportive environment where everyone feels they belong. We proudly hold the Armed Forces Covenant Gold Award, are a Disability Confident employer, and champion initiatives to support diversity, equity and inclusion.

Why join us?

You’ll be joining a team where leadership, collaboration, and service excellence are at the heart of everything we do. We’re passionate about developing our people and helping them thrive. If you're looking for a role where your leadership can make a real impact—on our teams and every new joiner—this could be your next move.

Closing date: 5th November
Telephone interviews may be requested: 5th and 6th November.
Interviews will be held 9th and 10th November

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