Stakeholder Engagement Lead

Ofwat; England; Hybrid; GBP 55,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Good employer pension contributions

25 days annual leave

Exclusive discounts on goods and services

Volunteering days

Professional body fees

Employee discounts

Job summary

A Water Regulation Authority in the UK is looking for a Stakeholder Engagement Lead to develop engagement plans and provide strategic advice to leadership. The ideal candidate has strong stakeholder relationship skills and excellent communication abilities. Enjoy a supportive work environment with opportunities for professional development and a good work-life balance. Full-time role with hybrid working options available in London or Birmingham.

Qualifications

• Strong experience in designing strategic stakeholder engagement plans.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to work collaboratively across teams.
• Collaborate across teams to develop and deliver engagement plans.
• Monitor external landscape and extract insights to inform policy.

Responsibilities

• Develop and deliver stakeholder engagement plans for key programmes.
• Advise senior leadership on stakeholder engagement.
• Produce high-quality written communications for stakeholders.
• Support embedding best practice engagement and co‑production across Ofwat.
• Produce high‑quality written communications to support engagement (briefings, presentations).
• Support a relationship ownership structure to facilitate strong relationships.
• Deliver a stakeholder insight management process to inform future engagement and policy development.
• Monitor stakeholder sentiment and contribute to stakeholder research and evaluation measures.
• Assist the broader Communications and Engagement function as required.

Skills

Strategic stakeholder engagement

Relationship building

Communication skills

Collaborative working

Policy development insights

Job description

Join to apply for the Stakeholder Engagement Lead role at Ofwat.

This range is provided by Ofwat. Your actual pay will be based on your skills and experience — talk with your recruiter to learn more.

About Us

We are Ofwat, the Water Services Regulation Authority, a non‑ministerial government department responsible for regulating the water sector in England and Wales. Following the Independent Water Commission’s final report, the UK government has set out a bold new direction – one that brings together expertise from across the sector to deliver better outcomes for customers and the environment.

The Role

We have an exciting opportunity for a Stakeholder Engagement Lead to join our Communications and Engagement team. The Stakeholder Engagement team leads the development and delivery of strategic stakeholder engagement activity across Ofwat. The team was established in August 2024 and is working to embed a refreshed approach to managing stakeholder relationships.

In this role, you’ll develop and implement stakeholder engagement plans for key programmes of work. You’ll manage our strategic approach to relationships with key audience groups and use stakeholder insight to provide advice to senior leaders on engagement approaches. You’ll be involved in the implementation of a relationship management process across the organisation supported by high‑quality briefing materials.

In this role you will report to the Head of Stakeholder Engagement and be expected to:

• Develop and deliver stakeholder engagement plans for key programmes of work to ensure stakeholders’ views and insight are considered as part of Ofwat’s policy making.
• Advise the Chair, Chief Executive and Senior Leadership Team on their engagement with stakeholders, including for bilateral meetings, speaking engagements and visits.
• Build effective relationships with stakeholders that support the design and delivery of strategic engagement by senior leaders.
• Support the embedding of best practice engagement and co‑production at Ofwat, enabling colleagues to deliver consistently high standards of engagement.
• Produce high‑quality written communications to support stakeholder engagement, including correspondence, briefing materials and presentations.
• Support the implementation of a relationship ownership structure across Ofwat to facilitate the development and maintenance of strong and purposeful relationships.
• Deliver a comprehensive and effective stakeholder insight management process, ensuring insight is captured and shared effectively to inform future engagement and influence Ofwat’s policy development and decision‑making.
• Monitor and track stakeholder sentiment and play a proactive role in delivery of stakeholder research and wider evaluation measures to ensure the successful delivery of engagement activity and continuous improvement of our approach.
• Provide support to the broader Communications and Engagement function, as required. This may include leading communications and engagement plans for set projects or programmes of work.

About You

Below are some of the key essential experience, skills & knowledge required for this post:

• Lead criteria: Strong experience in designing and delivering strategic stakeholder engagement plans to support corporate priorities, including objective setting, strategy design and evaluation.
• Experience in building and maintaining strong relationships with stakeholders, both internally and externally and including senior leaders.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills and attention to detail including the ability to write clearly and in a tailored way for a range of audiences.
• The ability to work collaboratively with people across teams and levels, ensuring the effective involvement of a range of internal partners in the development and delivery of engagement plans.
• Experience in monitoring external landscape and stakeholders, analysing key developments and communicating insights internally to inform policy development and decision‑making.

Why You Should Join Us

• People Centric: Our people are at the heart of Ofwat and everything we do – we ensure all voices are heard and treat each other with respect; you’ll be given the autonomy and the support to do your role in the best way.
• Innovative Work Environment: We embrace agile and new ways of working and have a culture built on trust, flexibility, and collaboration.
• Development Opportunities: Gain valuable experience and develop your skills in a supportive and dynamic setting.
• Work‑Life Balance: Enjoy the flexibility of working from home combined with the benefits of in‑person collaboration in our Birmingham offices.
• Good employer pension contributions.
• 25 days’ annual leave, increasing to 30 with each year of service, plus bank holidays and an extra 2.5 days of privilege leave.
• Access to exclusive discounts on a variety of goods and services, including retail outlets, theatre tickets, holidays, insurance, and a gym membership.
• Fees paid for membership of relevant professional bodies.
• Up to 3 volunteering days per year.
• Generous shared parental leave and pay supporting your family life.

Follow the link to apply for full details about the role. Please ensure you have submitted your application in full before the closing date.

Closing date: 23:55 on 14 December 2025

Seniority level

Mid‑Senior level

Employment type

Full‑time

Job function

Administrative, Strategy/Planning, and Public Relations
Industry: Government Administration

Office Location: London (E14 4HD) or Birmingham (B5 4UA) with hybrid working.

Job is open to loans and secondments of up to 2 years.