Closing Date
2025-10-17
Job Title: Illegal Connections Technician
Location: Kent (travel will be required and a vehicle will be provided therefore a UK driving licence is essential)
Contract Type: Permanent
Hours: 37 hours per week
Salary: circa £35,000
Bathing water quality can be impacted by several factors including leaking or damaged sewers, storm overflows, agricultural runoff, illegal connections, seabird or other animal waste, incorrect disposal of waste and other marine activities. The Illegal Connections Technicians will proactively investigate pollutions caused by waste reaching the local environment via the surface water sewer network. This work is critical especially to protecting and enhancing bathing waters; this is the team’s focus. The purpose of the role is to use a range of techniques and technical knowledge to monitor the surface water network, trace the issue to its source and then liaise with person(s) responsible for the misconnection through to resolution, reporting key milestones along the way. The successful candidate will join a team of individuals with many years of experience and a proven track record for finding and resolving issues, benefiting the local environment.
Job Overview
1. Proactively monitor the surface water sewer and trace signs of pollution to the source.
2. Communicate clearly and professionally with person(s) responsible for the misconnection.
3. Notify key internal stakeholders of illegal connections identified and update with key milestones.
4. Following WATER UK guidelines, issue letters to the offending property.
5. Engage with Local authority when a case needs to be escalated.
6. Plan investigations effectively and prioritise workstream based on severity and business commitments.
7. Collect samples using a range of techniques and understand the results
About You
8. Knowledge of the surface sewer system/wastewater networks is desirable.
9. Solution driven, tenacious with a curious mindset.
10. Strong customer service and communication skills.
11. An ability to self-manage workload and time management along with being self-motivated.
12. Basic IT/Microsoft Office skills.
13. Flexible approach to working hours when required and willingness to travel where necessary within the Hampshire region.
14. Water Industry knowledge would be an advantage but not essential.
15. Passion for the environment and for wanting to make a difference.
Package
This role will be full time Monday to Friday with a hybrid approach to working between our Kent/East Sussex region and home. We are offering a salary of circa £35,000 as well as other benefits including:
16. Generous pension up to 11% company contribution
17. 25 days annual leave
18. Life assurance equal to 4x salary
19. Salary sacrifice electric car scheme (after 6 months service)
20. Health Cash Plan
21. Full funded eye tests
22. Two paid volunteering days a year
23. Occupational health service
24. Discounts with over 800 popular retailers
25. Digital GP service
26. Study support may be available for job-related qualifications
27. Competitive maternity leave and flexible return to work options
28. Cycle to work scheme
Join our Clean Rivers & Seas Task Force 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?
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.
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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