Regulatory Policy Lead

South East Water UK; Snodland; On-site; GBP 39,000 - 65,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stakeholder pension

5 weeks holiday

Leave buy/sell policy

Paid volunteering days

Cycle to work

Health cash plan

Life assurance

Wellbeing benefits

Job summary

South East Water is seeking a Regulatory Policy Lead to shape reform in the water sector and represent the company in national forums. You will translate policy direction into reliable business-as-usual processes and collaborate with internal teams to ensure alignment with strategic priorities.

You will lead responses to consultations, monitor regulatory trends, and coordinate cross-functional workstreams while maintaining a proactive, solutions-focused approach across stakeholders.

Qualifications

• Good standard of secondary education and numeracy/literacy.
• Policy analysis & data literacy for regulatory publications.
• Excellent writing and presentation skills for persuasive responses.
• Collaborating with internal and external stakeholders to shape policy.
• Strong project management to oversee policy programmes and workstreams.
• Deep understanding of water sector regulatory landscape and regulators (Ofwat/Defra/EA).
• Positive, proactive mindset with collaborative problem solving.
• Time management across multiple projects.
• Experience in developing strategic documents and simplification of complex concepts.
• Experience in five-year regulatory plans (PR24) and regulatory framework.

Responsibilities

• Shape regulatory reform and lead engagement with sector reforms.
• Draft and coordinate formal responses to consultations and government briefs.
• Translate policy direction into business-as-usual processes across the company.
• Represent the organisation at industry forums and regulatory events.
• Monitor policy trends, legislation, and strategic risks.
• Collaborate with internal/external partners to co-create policy positions.
• Ensure policy communications and strategy documents are clear and accessible.

Skills

Policy analysis

Written communication

Collaboration

Project management

Time management

Stakeholder engagement

Regulatory knowledge

Education

Secondary education

Job description

Summary:

Do you have the insight and drive to turn complex regulatory changes into real-world business solutions?

Are you a strategic thinker with a passion for shaping the future of the water sector?

As our new Regulatory Policy Lead, reporting directly to the Strategic Planning Manager, you will play a pivotal role in helping us look toward the future. In this dynamic position, you will identify, influence, and shape emerging regulatory policy and reform across the industry.

Acting as the company’s leading voice, you will craft strategic responses to critical industry consultations and represent our organisation at key national forums. Crucially, you will bridge the gap between strategy and execution - working closely with internal stakeholders to translate new regulatory direction into robust, business-as-usual systems and processes.

Main responsibilities:

• Shaping regulatory reform: Coordinate and lead our engagement with the reform of the water sector, maintaining our key objectives and overseeing programmes of work against our top policy priorities.

• Consultation responses: Lead the drafting and coordination of formal, high-quality responses to regulatory and government consultations, ensuring our strategic interests are strongly represented.

• Translating to BAU: Partner with teams across the business to ensure new regulatory policies are understood, embedded, and successfully translated into everyday operations.

• Industry representation: Attend and actively participate in relevant industry forums, working groups, and regulatory events to influence policy and build collaborative networks.

• Horizon scanning: Keep a pulse on the outside world, looking for emerging policy trends, legislative changes, and strategic risks to keep us one step ahead.

• Strategic collaboration: Work with a wide range of internal and external partners to co-create policy positions, ensuring that customer and stakeholder insights help direct our strategic thinking.

• Simplifying the complex: Ensure all policy-related communications, strategy documents, and briefings are consistent, high-quality, and easy for diverse audiences to understand.

You'll need:
Skills / Qualifications / Experience

• Good standard of secondary education and able to demonstrate a good standard of numeracy and literacy skills.

• Policy analysis & data Literacy: Ability to work with complex data and regulatory publications to identify trends, draw conclusions, and think through future policy implications.

• Writing & presentation: Outstanding written communication skills, with a proven ability to write persuasive consultation responses and make complex regulatory policy simple for the reader.

• Collaboration: The ability to work with a range of people within and outside of the company to co-create policy and strategy. Comfortable initiating external contact and establishing collaborative working relationships.

• Project management: Strong skills to manage the policy-related programmes and projects that we put around our work.

• Industry knowledge: A deep understanding of the water industry regulatory landscape, including key regulators (such as Ofwat, Defra, and the Environment Agency) would be a definite advantage.

• Positive mindset: A proactive, can-do attitude with a strong focus on collaborative problem-solving.

• Time management: Effective time management and used to working on several projects at once.

• Previous experience in the water sector or a similarly complex regulated utility environment (e.g., energy or telecoms).

• Involvement in developing strategic documents and have mastered the art of making complex concepts simple for the reader.

• Experience in the submission of five-year regulatory business plans (e.g., Price Reviews like PR24) and a strong understanding of the regulatory framework.

Employees are required to be flexible and to be prepared to perform duties and other tasks within their capabilities. The nature of our business is such that the contents of any job profile are subject to change from time to time.

Grow a career with a meaningful purpose.

We know the communities we serve are diverse. We recognise creativity comes from diversity not similarity. That's why we are enthusiastic about creating inclusion across age, race, gender, ethnicity, religion and identity. You will experience our dedication to equal opportunities and fair treatment for all: through your recruitment, employment and career progression with South East Water.

Benefits package:

• Excellent Stakeholder pension scheme, up to 10% employer contribution.

• 5 weeks holiday plus bank holidays per annum, increasing to 6 weeks with length of service.

• Flexible annual leave policy to buy or sell holiday leave.

• Paid volunteering days.

• Cycle to work scheme.

• Health cash plan.

• Life assurance.

• Wellbeing related benefits.

What can you expect from your recruitment?

• It is necessary for you to have the legal right to work in the UK when you begin employment with South East Water.

• Additionally, as part of the employment offer, you will need to pass background, identity, and employment referencing checks.

Compensation package:

Up to £65,000 p.a.