Water Quality Case Scientist

Southern Water; Worthing; Hybrid; GBP 32,000 - 40,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous pension

28 days annual leave

Life assurance 4x salary

Salary sacrifice electric car scheme

Health Cash Plan

Eye tests funded

Two volunteering days a year

Occupational health service

Staff discounts

Job summary

Southern Water is seeking a Scientist/Senior role within the Water Quality Customer Care Team in Worthing. You will own cases related to drinking water quality, coordinating site investigations and lab testing, and act as the SME on science matters.

The role emphasizes customer communication, cross-department collaboration, and driving cases to closure. Ideal candidates have a relevant science degree, customer service exposure, and strong communication skills.

Qualifications

• Degree in Scientific/Engineering discipline; strong communication and analytical skills.
• Customer service experience and a team-oriented mindset are valued; training provided.
• Willingness to work in a hybrid office setup with on-site and home-working elements.

Responsibilities

• Lead investigations for drinking water quality concerns, including arranging sample collection and site investigations.
• Keep customers updated on progress via email, phone, and letter.
• Liaise with internal departments to move investigations forward and ensure timely resolution.
• Take ownership of caseload and drive cases to closure while meeting KPIs.
• Provide science-related advice and act as SME for drinking water quality.

Skills

Degree in Science

Customer service experience

Excellent communication

Education

BEng/BSc in relevant discipline

Job description

There has never been a better time to join our organisation as we build towards a greener future, protecting drinking water quality, tackling climate change, minimising our environmental impact and reducing our carbon footprint! This role, within our Water Quality Customer Care Team (within Water Quality and Compliance department), taking ownership of customer cases of drinking water quality concerns through to resolution as well as acting as the Scientific Subject Matter Expert (SME) for all things drinking water related. The Water Quality Customer Care Team have an extremely important job here at Southern Water, ensuring the protection of public health by providing advice and guidance to customers in relation to drinking water quality. Job Overview Working within a team of scientists, you'll take ownership for a case management for customer concerns about drinking water quality - liaising with both external customers and internal stakeholders to arrange site investigation visits and/ or testing of water. You will offer advice to others on science related matters, acting as the SME. Day to day you'll be responsible for:

Responsibilities

• Leading investigations including arranging water sample collection and investigations
• Keeping customers updated with the progress of their case via email, telephone and letter
• Liaising with other internal departments where necessary to move forward investigations
• Champion continuous improvement in the team
• Escalate queries when required to ensure closure of the case
• Taking full ownership of your case load: ensuring cases are fully resolved
• Work to KPIs in regard to case management

You will be degree educated in a Scientific, Environmental or Engineering related discipline with ideally some customer service experience and a team working ethos (but full training will be given). We are happy to consider graduates with no work experience as well as experienced professionals who are keen to move into this role (e.g. Environmental Health Officer or other similar profession).

Experience of water science would give you an advantage but not essential.

To be suitable you will have:

• Degree (BEng or BSc) qualified in relevant discipline
• Keen interest to work towards Chartered Status (we will support this journey)
• Excellent communication skills
• Ideally awareness of the associated risks in relation to drinking water quality
• Ideally some experience of working in Customer Service industry (retail, sales, working with the public etc), Southern Water will provide comprehensive training on the job, so if you don't feel you meet all the criteria but are keen to work in this role, please apply - the only requisite is the Degree Qualification.

This role will be full time Monday to Friday with a hybrid approach to working between our Durrington (Worthing) office and home. The general rule is 2 days on site, with 3 days from home, however when you first start, there will be a requirement to be onsite more for training, then with time will come more flexibility. If you prefer to work in the office all the time that is fine. Southern Water Benefits include:

Package

• Generous pension up to 10% company contribution
• 28 days annual leave
• Life assurance equal to 4x salary
• Salary sacrifice electric car scheme (after 6 months service)
• Health Cash Plan
• Full funded eye testsTwo paid volunteering days a year
• Occupational health service
• Discounts with over 800 popular retailers
• Digital GP service, Join our Water Quality Customer Care Team and see how far your career could progress with a company committed to career progression, training and development opportunities, our customers and the environment.

Does this opportunity excite you but you're not 100% sure if you meet all the requirements for the role? Or are you concerned that 'normal' office hours aren't possible given your personal circumstances? Whilst we can't accommodate every flexible working request, we'll try to find a practical solution. So why not engage with us and find out more about this role? If this role isn't quite what you're looking for but are keen to be contacted about opportunities at Southern Water, you can register your details here:

Our customers are at the heart of everything we do, because delivering water for life is our core purpose. To achieve this, we need 24/7 support in place to resolve incidents quickly and efficiently. All our employees understand the importance of out-of-hours incident support - because when problems appear, fixing them is our top priority. That's why our people join together and support when and however needed to make sure our customers get the service they deserve. Joining the Southern Water family means you'll become part of our incident support team. During your interview, your manager will speak to you about any incident support rotas that may apply to your position.

Privacy Statement: Please note: If you are an existing Southern Water employee, you will need to confirm within your application that your Manager is aware of your application. All applicants must be eligible to live and work in the UK. You will need to provide evidence of eligibility (e.g. a passport or long birth certificate and proof of NI) and current proof of address (dated within the last 3 months), will be required as part of the recruitment process. If you do not meet these criteria, your application will not be considered.

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