Closing Date
2025-08-29
Job Title: Spills Intelligence Manager
Location: Falmer, Sussex (2 days in the office and 3 days working from home)
There will be the occasional requirement to travel to our sites 1-2 days a month.
Hours: 37 hours per week
Salary: Up to £60,000 per annum, depending on skills and experience
About the Role
Southern Water is committed to reducing its environmental impact and delivering on our zero non-compliant spills strategy. As Spills Team Manager, you will lead a high-performing team responsible for verifying and reporting wastewater spills through our Automated Spill Verification (ASV) system, powered by ASPIRE and the Rivers and Seas Watch platform.
This role is both strategic and hands-on, overseeing real-time spill reporting and ensuring full compliance with the S-81 regulatory standard, which mandates reporting of all qualifying spill events within one hour.
You will take ownership of the ASV project, driving its continuous improvement, leading enhancements in accuracy, system performance, and integration with broader operational goals.
Key Responsibilities
1. Manage and develop a team of Spill Leads to ensure accurate spill verification and near real-time reporting.
2. Lead the continuous improvement of the ASV platform—enhancing system logic, workflows, and data quality.
3. Own the end-to-end process for spill detection, review, and escalation, ensuring regulatory and public-facing obligations are met.
4. Coordinate profile updates and system maintenance in ASPIRE to support optimal spill detection and alerting.
5. Manage and oversee the EDM monitoring estate, ensuring all monitoring assets are fully operational. Work closely with resolver groups to identify and close out issues, supporting accurate and reliable spill detection across the network.
6. Oversee timely responses to EIRs, Section 108 requests, and spill-related media or customer enquiries.
7. Generate and present management insights (MI) to support strategic planning and operational decision-making.
8. Engage with external stakeholders and industry peers to embed innovation and best practice.
9. Participate in and take ownership of the Spills Rota (1 in 8 weeks), ensuring its smooth operation, effective coverage, and continuous improvement to support incident response across the business.
What We’re Looking For
10. Proven experience managing operational or environmental teams in a data-driven setting.
11. Strong understanding of wastewater systems and regulatory frameworks (e.g. S-81 of the water industry act)
12. Experience with data analysis platforms (Excel, SQL) and familiarity with real-time or telemetry systems.
13. A proactive leader with a focus on continuous improvement, performance optimisation, and ownership of project outcomes.
14. Excellent stakeholder engagement and communication skills.
15. Full driving licence and flexibility for ad-hoc site visits.
Benefits
16. Salary up to £60,000 plus performance bonus
17. Up to 11% employer pension contribution
18. 25 days annual leave + bank holidays
19. Health cash plan, life assurance, digital GP access
20. Volunteering days, study support, and flexible return-to-work options
21. Cycle to work and electric car salary sacrifice schemes
22. Discounts with over 800 retailers
This is a unique opportunity to lead the evolution of a critical digital system, strengthen environmental compliance, and shape the future of wastewater pollution control in the Southern Water region.