Strategic Planning Lead

South East Water UK; Snodland; On-site; GBP 59,000 - 72,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stakeholder pension (up to 10%)

Holiday entitlement (5 weeks +) with 6

Flexible annual leave

Volunteer days

Cycle to work

Health cash plan

Life assurance

Wellbeing benefits

Job summary

South East Water is seeking a Strategic Planning Lead to shape long-term direction and coordinate interlocking plans. You will listen to communities, translate insights into strategy, and align programs across the business to stay ahead in a changing environment.

You will manage governance of the Strategic Direction Statement, monitor trends, and ensure deliverables are clear, concise, and impactful. A background in water sector or regulated utilities is preferred, with strong data literacy and

Qualifications

• Solid numeracy and literacy demonstrated at secondary level.
• Data literacy and ability to work with data for planning.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to co-create strategy documents with stakeholders.
• Experience developing strategic documents and simplifying complex information.
• Familiarity with five-year regulatory plans (e.g., PR24) and regulatory frameworks.

Responsibilities

• Create and coordinate strategic documents, ensuring they stay current and reflect stakeholder views.
• Listen to customers and stakeholders to guide planning.
• Agree core assumptions used across planning.
• Ensure cross-team alignment of strategies.
• Monitor external trends and risks to stay ahead.
• Maintain high-quality, accessible strategy documents.
• Coordinate engagement with water sector reform and track programmes.

Skills

Data literacy

Analytical thinking

Writing and presentation

Collaboration

Project management

Workload management

Regulatory framework awareness

Strategic thinking

Education

Secondary education with numeracy and literacy

Job description

Summary:

Are you a forward-thinking strategist who thrives on looking decades into the future?

Do you have the analytical sharpness to connect complex business strategies, listen to community insights, and shape the long-term trajectory of our organisation?

If so, this is your opportunity to own big-picture strategies—including our Strategic Direction Statement (SDS)-and build adaptive, interlocking plans that keep us one step ahead in a changing world.

Main responsibilities:

• Creating the big plan: support the coordination and drafting of some key strategic documents, keeping them fresh and making sure they adapt as the world changes. The incumbent will help to ensure that customer and stakeholder views shape our plans.

• Listening to our community: ensure that the voices of our customers and stakeholders are heard, using their insights to direct our strategic planning.

• Setting the ground rules: agree on the core assumptions (like population growth or weather patterns) that everyone else in the business needs to use for their own planning.

• Joining the dots: look across the business to make sure our different strategies fit together and that there is a consistent approach.

• Future spotting: keep a pulse on the outside world, looking for new trends, tech, or risks (the PESTLE stuff) so we can stay one step ahead.

• Keeping it professional: make sure our strategy documents are consistent, high-quality, and easy for people to understand.

• Shaking it up: help coordinate the organisation's engagement with the reform of the water sector. The Strategic Planning Lead will maintain key objectives and oversee programmes of work against top priorities. The incumbent will help to keep track of the different strands of work and make sure that there is alignment across teams, all pulling in the same direction.

You’ll need: Skills / Qualifications / Experience

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

• Data literacy and analysis: Ability to work with data to create uniform planning assumptions or to understand trends to think through future strategy.

• Writing and presentation: Excellent written skills in whatever form it takes.

• Collaboration: The ability to work with a range of people within and outside of the company to co-create strategy documents. The Strategic Planning Lead will need to be comfortable making the first contact and agreeing how the teams work together.

• Project management: Skills to manage the projects which we will put around our work.

• Positive mindset and problem solving: A can do attitude is a must.

• Workload management: Effective work load management and used to working on several projects at once.

• Previous roles within the water sector or a similarly complex regulated utility environment (e.g. Energy or Telecoms).

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

• Experience in the submission of five-year regulatory business plans (e.g. Price Reviews like PR24) and possess an 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.