Programme Manager

Yorkshire Water; Leeds; Hybrid; GBP 59,000 - 72,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Company car lease/allowance

Private health care

Pension scheme (company contrib.)

Life assurance

28 days leave + wellness day

Retail savings scheme

Discounts: gym, online GP, cycle to...

Job summary

Yorkshire Water is seeking a Regulatory Programme Manager to lead cross‑functional regulatory programmes from Leeds with hybrid working. You will drive delivery, shape business cases and ensure governance, performance reporting and stakeholder alignment across the organisation.

The role demands strong leadership, commercial awareness and robust change management experience to deliver benefits for water customers and the environment.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in managing complex programmes across multiple workstreams.
• Strong leadership, coaching and collaboration with senior professionals.
• Experience creating robust business cases and managing budgets.
• Commercial thinking with supplier management and external partnerships.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement and executive reporting.

Responsibilities

• Lead delivery of regulatory programmes, ensuring outcomes and value.
• Drive performance by identifying opportunities and managing risks.
• Develop performance insights with data-driven interventions.
• Provide visible leadership and foster alignment across teams.
• Ensure governance within agreed frameworks and decision processes.
• Monitor risks, dependencies and report to senior stakeholders.
• Promote safety, wellbeing, and responsible resource use.
• Apply commercial awareness to maximise value and reduce waste.

Skills

Programme leadership

Stakeholder management

Business case development

Budget management

Commercial awareness

Governance

Change management

Job description

Regulatory Programme Manager

Hello! Thanks for stopping by. Let us tell you about all the great reasons to join us here at Yorkshire Water:

• We offer a competitive salary, depending on experience up to £65,000.
• A company car lease/allowance scheme (£500 per month/£6,000 per year, based on full-time employment on joining the company). You can opt to sign up to the EV Car Salary Sacrifice Scheme 6 months after joining the company.
• Annual incentive related bonus (up to 10% of annual salary, increasing to 15% in the 26 to 27 performance year).
• Private health care (self only).
• Attractive pension scheme (up to 12% company contribution).
• Life assurance cover of 4 times pensionable salary.
• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays - plus an extra wellness day!
• A great benefits package - choose from health cash plan scheme, critical illness insurance, dental insurance, life assurance flex and partner cover.
• Retail savings scheme.
• Online GP service, cycle to work scheme, gym membership discounts and many more!

Location

Location: Based in Leeds Valley Park - Hybrid Working (up to two office days a week -Leeds).

Work type

Permanent. 37 hours per week, Monday - Friday.

We have an exciting opportunity for a Regulatory Programme Manager to join the Regulation team at Yorkshire Water and be a part of helping Yorkshire Water to provide the best service to our customers. Could this be you?

What we do!

Everyone has an idea of what a water company does. Here in Yorkshire, we make sure that over 5.4 million people living in the region and the millions of people who visit our region each year, can rely on our services, and have clean and safe drinking water on tap and that their wastewater is taken away. But for us, it's so much more than this.

We look after communities, protect the environment, and plan to look after Yorkshire's water, today, tomorrow 24/7, 365 days a year. We provide essential water and wastewater services to every corner of the Yorkshire region, and play a key role in the region's health, wellbeing, and prosperity.

New environmental legislation, unprecedented levels of investment and changing expectations from customers means that this is an exciting time to discover opportunities within the water industry. Regulation are a key part of how we plan to meet the changing expectations of customers and regulators.

You’ll be joining a collaborative and forward-thinking team at the heart of delivering transformational change across the business. We work across a diverse portfolio of strategic programmes and projects that help shape the future of our operations, investments and services. Bringing together project managers, business change specialists, technical experts and delivery partners, the team is responsible for identifying opportunities, developing innovative solutions and turning ambitious ideas into tangible business outcomes. Safety, wellbeing, governance and long-term value are central to everything we do, ensuring that the changes we deliver create lasting benefits for our customers, communities and the environment.

As part of this team, you’ll lead complex programmes that span multiple business areas, working with stakeholders at every level of the organisation as well as external partners, consultants and industry experts. You’ll help define future investment priorities, build compelling business cases, oversee programme governance and guide teams through delivery to ensure benefits are realised. This is a highly visible role where you’ll have the opportunity to influence strategy, drive innovation, build strong internal and external partnerships, and play a key role in shaping the future direction of the business. Drawing on strong programme leadership, commercial awareness and stakeholder management skills, you’ll help create and deliver solutions to some of the organisation’s most important challenges and opportunities.

Where you fit in!

As our Regulatory Programme Manager you will;

• Lead the delivery of our Regulatory programmes, ensuring key outcomes, performance targets and business benefits are achieved safely and effectively.
• Drive business performance by identifying opportunities, addressing risks and leading strategic initiatives that support regulatory commitments and long-term organisational goals.
• Support the development of performance insight, helping ensure the right data, measures and interventions are in place to drive continuous improvement and informed decision-making.
• Provide visible leadership across the business, engaging and influencing colleagues at all levels to create alignment, accountability and a positive culture of delivery.
• Champion strong governance, ensuring programmes operate within agreed frameworks, controls and decision-making processes.
• Monitor programme performance, risks and dependencies, providing clear reporting and recommendations to senior stakeholders.
• Foster a safety-first culture by promoting health, safety and wellbeing across all programme activities and supporting operational engagement initiatives.
• Apply strong commercial awareness to identify efficiencies, maximise value and remove waste, ensuring resources and investment deliver the greatest possible benefit.

What skills & qualifications you will need:

• Proven experience of successfully managing complex programmes and projects, delivering outcomes across multiple workstreams and stakeholders.
• Strong leadership skills with experience of developing, coaching and supporting Project Managers and senior technical professionals.
• Experience of creating robust business cases, managing programme budgets and delivering measurable business value.
• Commercially astute, with experience of procurement activity, supplier management and securing value through external partnerships.
• Excellent stakeholder management, with the ability to influence, negotiate and build credibility at all levels, including senior leadership teams.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities, with the confidence to make informed decisions and see complex issues through to resolution.
• Outstanding communication and collaboration skills, with experience of executive-level reporting and presenting complex information clearly and concisely.

You will also benefit from having:

• Extensive experience of working in a change management role.
• Practical experience of working in a medium to large commercial environment in a senior change management role.

Although we operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, it is important to us that we support flexible working patterns and job share options (when we can), to help you make the best of both your work and home life. We know that juggling childcare responsibilities or getting that ideal work/life balance isn’t always easy!

Do we sound like your cup of tea?

Advert closing date is Tuesday 27th October 2026.

If successful for the role, you will be required to undergo pre-employment checks that will include a Basic Disclosure Check, carried out through a Third-Party Company, prior to commencing employment. Depending on the role, you may also be required to go through the security vetting process for either a Counter Terrorist Check or Security Check clearance.

All our roles are subject to a medical questionnaire, and further medicals when required.

We are committed to removing barriers and ensuring our recruitment process is accessible to everyone. We offer a range of adjustments to make your application experience as comfortable and straightforward as possible.

If you have an accessibility need, disability, or condition that requires changes to the recruitment process, please include this information in your application. We will then discuss any reasonable adjustments required.

What's in it for you?

Career enhancement and development, colleague well-being and a genuinely positive work experience for all are key priorities. We are continuously evolving and improving our ways of working and you will support us in achieving our vision of 'taking responsibility for the water environment for good'.

The Kelda Group provides water and sewerage services to domestic and business customers across the UK, managing the following subsidiary companies:

Yorkshire Water, is the main subsidiary company providing water and sewerage services to 4.7 million people and 130,000 businesses in the Yorkshire region. Its activities are regulated by the Water Services Regulation Authority, Ofwat Loop Customer Management Ltd specialises in delivering customer service support to Yorkshire Water that includes billing, debt recovery and incident management. Employing more than 600 people, Loop have built up an impressive list of industry awards and achievements since being created in 2000 and is currently listed in the Sunday Times Top 100 list as being one of the best companies to work for.

Kelda Water Services (KWS) manages Kelda’s non-regulated water and waste water contract operations. It is now the second biggest player in the UK market for outsourced clean and waste water services.

Kelda Water Services Retail offer quality, integrity and partnership but it is never just about the technologies behind our solutions in water. It is about the structure, delivery and even the financing of those solutions, and about giving our customers a level of convenience they never knew was possible.

KeyLand Developments Limited (KeyLand Developments) is responsible for managing, developing and disposing of the group’s surplus property assets, either on its own or in partnership with outside organisations.

Kelda Group values equality, diversity and inclusion we believe that everyone should be treated with respect. We welcome applications from all individuals, regardless of gender, marital status, parental status, sexual orientation, race, colour, ethnic or national origin, disability, age, religion or belief and trade union membership.