Regulatory Strategy Lead — Major Water Projects

South East Water UK; Snodland; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 85,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stakeholder pension

Holiday entitlement

Flexible annual leave

Volunteer days

Cycle to work

Health cash plan

Life assurance

Wellbeing benefits

Job summary

South East Water is seeking a Major Projects Regulatory Manager to direct regulatory strategy and manage complex delivery models under RAPID. You will liaison with Ofwat, Environment Agency, DWI and Natural England, guiding multi-disciplinary teams through high-stakes regulatory hurdles.

The role requires deep economic regulation experience, strategic problem solving, and outstanding stakeholder engagement to secure long-term water infrastructure resilience in the UK.

Qualifications

• Strong understanding of regulatory frameworks and infrastructure planning.
• Strategic problem solving with board-level communication.
• Excellent communication and influencing across stakeholders.
• Ability to simplify complex regulatory issues.
• Experience in applying economic principles to risk and investment cases.
• Proven track record in regulated utilities, preferably water.
• Hands-on experience in economic regulation or closely aligned field.
• Experience supporting major infrastructure projects or capital programmes.
• Proven stakeholder engagement and influence across regulatory bodies.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement the overarching regulatory strategy for the SRO programme.
• Advise programme leadership on regulatory frameworks, compliance, and policy developments.
• Embed regulatory considerations into planning, investment cases and delivery strategies.
• Lead the Major Projects Team on the RAPID gated process and upskill team on regulatory requirements.
• Spearhead engagement with Ofwat, Environment Agency, DWI, and Natural England.
• Coordinate responses to sector consultations, reviews and regulatory inquiries.
• Lead end-to-end development of regulatory submissions, business cases and assurance documents.
• Monitor regulatory changes and assess their impact on programme delivery.
• Champion regulatory requirements across engineering, commercial and environmental teams.

Skills

Regulatory economics

Strategic problem solving

Communication & Influencing

Simplifying the complex

Collaboration

Economic analysis

Sector expertise

Economic regulation

Infrastructure delivery

Stakeholder engagement

Education

Economics/Finance degree

Job description

South East Water is seeking a Major Projects Regulatory Manager to direct regulatory strategy and manage complex delivery models under RAPID. You will liaison with Ofwat, Environment Agency, DWI and Natural England, guiding multi-disciplinary teams through high-stakes regulatory hurdles.

The role requires deep economic regulation experience, strategic problem solving, and outstanding stakeholder engagement to secure long-term water infrastructure resilience in the UK.