South West Water
Customer Research Manager
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Powered by Water, Driven by Purpose
South West Water keeps the South West flowing with safe, reliable drinking water and wastewater services across some of the UK’s most stunning landscapes.
We’re proud to be part of Pennon Group, a leader in the UK water sector, working towards a greener future. Our goals? As well as lowering our carbon footprint, we’re working with partners to plant 300,000 trees, restore peatlands and supporting farmers and landowners to improve water quality and wildlife.
Whether you’re starting out or seeking a new challenge, our scale and ambition create opportunities for you to shape your own career.
Ready to make a splash? Join our team today.
Customer Research Manager
Based out of Bristol, Exeter or Redhill site | Customer Department | Hybrid Working - 12 month fixed term contract - maternity cover
Make an Impact Through Insight
At South West Water, we're passionate about delivering exceptional services for our customers and communities. As part of the Pennon Group family, we provide water and wastewater services across the South West, alongside Bournemouth Water, Bristol Water, and Sutton & East Surrey Water.
We're looking for an experienced Customer Research Manager to join our Customer team and play a pivotal role in ensuring the customer voice informs strategic decision-making across our businesses.
This is an exciting opportunity for a skilled research and insight professional to lead significant customer research programmes, influence senior stakeholders, and help shape the future of essential services.
What You'll Be Doing
As Customer Research Manager, you'll work as part of a specialist team responsible for designing, managing and delivering customer research programmes across South West Water, Bournemouth Water, Bristol Water, and Sutton & East Surrey Water.
You'll use robust research methodologies and analytical expertise to provide meaningful insight that influences business strategy, customer experience, and regulatory outcomes.
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Key Responsibilities Include
- Building strong relationships with stakeholders to understand business challenges and research requirements.
- Designing, managing and delivering customer research projects across the Group.
- Conducting in-house research, including survey design, scripting and analysis.
- Commissioning external research projects and working closely with procurement and legal teams.
- Managing third-party research agencies to ensure high-quality delivery and value for money.
- Interpreting customer and regulatory research findings and translating them into actionable insights.
- Presenting research outcomes and recommendations to senior stakeholders.
- Supporting evidence-based decision-making across Customer, Strategy and Regulation teams.
- Ensuring research activities comply with legal, regulatory and data protection requirements.
What You'll Bring
We're looking for an analytical, commercially aware and customer-focused professional who can turn complex data into compelling insights.
Essential
- Experience working within a research, insight, customer insight or policy environment.
- Proven experience designing, managing and delivering robust market or social research projects.
- Strong analytical skills and extensive experience using Excel for data analysis.
- Experience managing research projects from inception to delivery.
- Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
- Strong project management, planning and organisational capabilities.
- Ability to manage multiple priorities and deliver to challenging deadlines.
- Critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
- Degree educated or equivalent qualification.
- A-Level Mathematics or equivalent.
Desirable
- Experience working within a regulated sector or utility environment.
- Experience working with regulators and regulatory research.
- Experience commissioning external research and managing suppliers.
- Experience working with procurement, legal and data protection colleagues.
- Experience managing project budgets.
- Knowledge of SPSS, R or other statistical analysis tools.
- Qualification including research methods, statistics or data analysis.
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Benefits
We believe in rewarding our people for their hard work and dedication. As our Customer Research Manager, you'll enjoy:
- Competitive Salary – Based on experience and skills
- Annual Bonus Scheme – Recognising company performance
- Pension Scheme – Helping you plan for your future
- Flexible Working Options – We value work-life balance and offer flexible hours and hybrid working where possible
- Healthcare Benefits – Access to employee assistance programs
- Employee Discounts – On various products and services
- Annual Leave – Take time to recharge with our holiday entitlement
Closing Date: 10th August 2026
We may close this vacancy early if we receive a high volume of applications. We encourage you to apply as soon as possible.
Please note that the successful candidate will be subject to a mandatory DBS check as part of the onboarding process.
Be yourself, we like it that way. Together, we will build a culture of belonging, where inclusion is instinctive. Diversity is our strength and a reflection of our communities. We care, we value everyone, we celebrate uniqueness.
Our core values, which are essential to our success, are:
Be Rock Solid - Build trust and be trusted. Be the one we all look to and can depend on.
Be You - We want you to bring your best everyday. Be yourself and make your mark in your individual way.
Be the Future - Embrace change. Drive Progress. Own the challenge.
We look after the water and wastewater services for 1.8 million customers across Cornwall, Devon, the Isles of Scilly and parts of Dorset and Somerset.
From treatment and maintenance, to innovation and improvements, we're busy every day finding and fixing leaks, unblocking sewers and going bigger and further in our environmental work to be a company you can be proud of.
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