Senior Change Manager

Thames Water Utilities Limited; Reading; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading water utility company in Reading is seeking a Senior Change Manager to lead change management activities within their digital transformation strategy. You will implement strategic engagement and communication initiatives, ensuring the alignment and adoption of new digital operating models. The role offers a competitive salary up to £95,000, hybrid working conditions, and significant opportunities for professional development.

Benefits

Competitive salary up to £95,000

Annual Leave - 26 days holiday

Generous Pension Scheme

Health and wellness benefits

Performance-related pay plan

Qualifications

• Demonstrated expertise in applying multiple change management methodologies.
• Proven ability to align change management plans with organisational strategies.
• Strong stakeholder management skills.

Responsibilities

• Drive the delivery of change management for all Digital Strategy workstreams.
• Analyse and address organisational, cultural, and behavioural impacts of change.
• Prepare messaging roadmaps aligned with Thames Water’s planning calendar.

Skills

Change management methodologies

Stakeholder management

Communication skills

Prioritization under pressure

Education

Relevant Degree or Certification

Tools

Project Management tools

Job description

Job title Senior Change Manager Ref 43132 Division Digital Location Hybrid - Clearwater Court - RG1 8DB Contract type Permanent Full/Part-time Full-time or part-time Salary Competitive salary up to £95,000 per annum Job grade C Closing date 26/11/2025

As a Senior Change Manager – Digital Transformation and Strategy, you will be responsible for leading change management activities across Thames Water’s Digital for Digital and Strategy workstreams. This will include designing and executing strategic engagement, communications, and readiness initiatives to enable the successful delivery of a new Digital Operating Model, Service Definition programmes, and other leadership-sponsored transformation initiatives. You will work closely with the Head of Digital for Digital programme, Digital Business Manager, Comms Lead, Digital LT and Transformation Management Office (TMO) to ensure alignment, engagement, and adoption across all digital teams and stakeholders.

What you’ll be doing as a Senior Change Manager – Digital for Digital and Strategy

• Drive the delivery of change management for all Digital Strategy workstreams, aligning initiatives with Thames Water’s strategic objectives.
• Analyse and address organisational, cultural, and behavioural impacts of change, ensuring all Digital leaders are aligned to a common vision, goals, and outcomes.
• Identify impacted stakeholder groups, assess needs, and define scalable change management plans that align with Digital and organisational strategies.
• Define and deliver communication and engagement strategies using the most effective channels and forums for Digital teams.
• Prepare messaging roadmaps aligned with Thames Water’s planning calendar to support transparent and timely communications.
• Shape the user support approach for planning, budgeting, and forecasting processes, ensuring alignment with business requirements.
• Collaborate closely with the Digital Comms Lead to coordinate messaging across official communication channels and local Digital networks.
• Ensure training, development, and learning opportunities are available and embedded to support new processes and ways of working.
• Support DLT, ELT, and TMO teams in running engagement and learning sessions, developing supporting materials such as SharePoint articles and glossaries.
• Define business readiness criteria for each core transformation activity, assess against readiness targets, and identify blockers for resolution prior to go-live.
• Deliver end-user training to support maximum adoption of new systems, processes, and behaviours.
• Develop and implement adoption metrics to measure and track the success of change initiatives, reporting outcomes and continuous improvement opportunities.
• Capture and share lessons learned to support future transformation activities and strengthen organisational change capability.

Base Location: Reading, Clearwater Court – Hybrid
Working Pattern: 36 Hours

What you should bring to the role

• Demonstrated expertise in applying multiple change management methodologies, including agile change management, system implementation change, and culture change.
• Proven ability to align change management plans with organisational strategies and measure impact using advanced KPIs.
• Proven background in developing and delivering structured, reusable change communications for diverse audiences via presentations, FAQs, and corporate communication channels.
• Strong stakeholder management skills with the ability to build partnerships at all levels.
• Ability to prioritise multiple initiatives, manage complex tasks, and deliver outcomes under pressure in a fast-paced environment.

Essential Technical Skills & Qualifications

• In-depth experience leading and delivering change management initiatives within a large Digital or IT function.
• Functional knowledge of Digital processes and transformation programmes.

Desirable Technical Skills & Qualifications

• Experienced Lean mentor or coach.
• Certified Project Manager via one or more of the following: Prince2, PMI (Project Management Institute), APM (Association for Project Management), CSM (Certified Scrum Master), or Agile Certification.

What’s in it for you?

• Competitive salary up to £95,000 per annum depending on experience.
• Annual Leave - 26 days holiday per year increasing to 30 with the length of service (plus bank holidays)
• Generous Pension Scheme through AON.
• Access to lots of benefits to help you take care of you and your family’s health and wellbeing, and your finances – from annual health MOTs and access to physiotherapy and counselling, to Cycle to Work schemes, shopping vouchers and life assurance.
• Performance-related pay plan directly linked to company performance measures and targets.

We’re the UK’s largest water and wastewater company, with more than 16 million customers relying on us every day to supply water for their taps and toilets. We want to build a better future for all, helping our customers, communities, people, and the planet to thrive. It’s a big job and we’ve got a long way to go, so we need help from passionate and skilled people, committed to making a difference and getting us to where we want to be in the years and decades to come.

Thames Water is a unique, rewarding, and diverse place to work, where every day you can make a difference, yet no day is the same. As part of our family, you’ll enjoy meaningful career opportunities, flexible working arrangements and excellent benefits.

If you’re looking for a sustainable and successful career where you can make a daily difference to millions of people’s lives while helping to protect the world of water for future generations, we’ll be here to support you every step of the way. Together, we can build a better future for our customers, our region, and our planet.

Real purpose, real support, real opportunities. Come and join the Thames Water family. Why choose us? Learn more.

We’re committed to being a great, diverse, and inclusive place to work. We welcome applications from everyone and want to ensure you feel supported throughout the recruitment process . If you need any adjustments, whether that’s extra time, accessible formats, or anything else just let us know, we’re here to help and support .

When a crisis happens, we all rally around to support our customers. As part of Team Thames, you’ll have the opportunity to sign up to support our customers on the frontline as an ambassador. Full training will be given for what is undoubtedly an incredibly rewarding experience. It’s also a great opportunity to learn more about our business and meet colleagues.

Disclaimer: due to the high volume of applications we receive, we may close the advert earlier than the advertised date, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.