Southern Water
Process Excellence Manager
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Closing Date: 22/07/2026
Job Title: Process Excellence Manager
Location: Southern Water region with regular travel across operational sites
Contract Type: Permanent
Hours: 37 hours per week
Salary: up to £52,000 per annum depending on skills and experience
About the Role
We have an exciting opportunity for a Process Excellence Manager to join our Operational Excellence team within Water Operations. This is a critical role with direct responsibility for identifying and delivering initiatives that support Southern Water in achieving £3.5 million of operational expenditure efficiencies.
The role sits at the heart of our Operational Excellence function and plays a key part in improving performance, reducing waste, and driving continuous improvement across the Water Directorate.
You will lead a team of process excellence specialists and help shape the future growth of the team. Success in this role will come from your ability to build strong relationships across the business, understand operational challenges, and identify opportunities that deliver measurable value.
Regular travel across our operational region will be required. You will spend time working closely with colleagues, building rapport, understanding how work is delivered, and uncovering opportunities to improve processes and reduce costs.
This role offers excellent visibility across the organisation, including opportunities to present findings and recommendations to senior leaders and Directors. It is an ideal opportunity for someone who enjoys leading change, influencing stakeholders, and delivering business improvements through people and collaboration.
What You Will Be Responsible For
- Lead and develop a team of Process Excellence specialists, supporting performance, engagement, and future team growth.
- Build strong relationships across Water Operations and wider business functions to identify opportunities for improvement.
- Lead multiple improvement projects and programmes, ensuring successful delivery of objectives and benefits.
- Facilitate workshops and collaborative sessions to identify, design, and implement process improvements.
- Develop process maps, improvement plans, and business cases to support operational change.
- Drive process standardisation and best practice across locations and departments.
- Analyse operational performance and costs to identify efficiency opportunities.
- Present recommendations, progress updates, and improvement outcomes to senior managers and Directors.
- Act as a champion for continuous improvement and operational excellence across the Water Directorate.
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Additional Requirements Specific to the Role
- Regular travel across Southern Water operational sites.
- Full UK driving licence preferred.
- Hybrid working available, with site presence required to support operational engagement and stakeholder collaboration.
What You'll Bring to the Role
Essential
- Strong leadership skills with the ability to build rapport and credibility with stakeholders at all levels.
- Experience influencing and engaging colleagues across different teams and functions.
- Confidence presenting information and recommendations to senior leaders.
- Experience managing multiple projects, programmes, or improvement initiatives simultaneously.
- Experience leading, coaching, or developing individuals and teams.
- Strong problem-solving and analytical skills.
- Excellent communication, facilitation, and stakeholder management skills.
- Strong knowledge of Microsoft 365, including:
- PowerPoint presentation development and delivery.
- Microsoft Loop.
- Microsoft Lists.
- Excel and other Microsoft productivity tools.
Desirable
- Project Management, Programme Management, or Change Management qualification.
- Lean, Continuous Improvement, or Six Sigma knowledge.
- Experience working in operational, utility, engineering, or service delivery environments.
Progression Opportunities
This role provides significant opportunities for personal and professional growth. You will have exposure to senior leaders and Directors, lead business-critical improvement programmes, and help shape the future direction of the Process Excellence team.
About Southern Water
Southern Water is at the forefront of transforming Britain's water industry, investing significantly to enhance resilience, sustainability, and service excellence. With £7.8bn planned investment for 2025-30, this is an unparalleled opportunity to join a business committed to delivering a generational shift in the way water services are managed.
You will be joining at a time of significant change, working alongside a highly skilled leadership team with a clear vision for the future. We offer an environment where professionals can make a meaningful impact, influence major strategic decisions, and drive long-term value creation.
Inclusion Statement
"At Southern Water, we believe diverse perspectives drive innovation. If you're passionate about making a positive impact and think you can bring value to our team, we'd love to hear from you—even if you don't tick every box. Your unique skills and experiences could be exactly what we need."
If This Role Isn't Quite What You're Looking For
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If this role isn't quite what you're looking for but you're keen to be contacted about future opportunities at Southern Water, you can register your details through our Introduce Yourself page.
Our Commitment to Diversity
We welcome applicants from all backgrounds, identities, and experiences. We do not discriminate based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, or any other protected characteristic. If you need reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know.
Additional Information
In line with Southern Water's security requirements, successful candidates will be required to provide evidence of their identity, eligibility to work in the UK, criminal record check (DBS), and verification of their employment and/or education history for the past three years. Appointment to this role is subject to the successful completion of all pre-employment checks, including security vetting.
Our Purpose
Our purpose is big. Our impact is huge. And we know that every single one of us has the power, through our actions, to positively change society and the environment for good. It’s why careers with us have real meaning. Because, if you’re driven and ambitious, we can offer you huge opportunities for personal growth, professional development, and constant innovation.
Forever evolving. Forever focused on doing the right thing, we empower and encourage everyone to play to their strengths and to help us shape a fair and positive future for all. We believe in Water for Life. If you do too, Dive Right In.
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 apply to your position.
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?
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