Closing Date
23/03/2026
Job Title: Environmental Spill Intelligence Manager
Location: Falmer, Sussex Hybrid depending on operational requirement- There will be the occasional requirement to travel to our sites 1-2 days a month therefore full driving licence is essential
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. This is a highly technical leadership role at the heart of our digital spill detection and reporting capability.
As Environmental Spill Intelligence Manager (internally known as Spills Intelligence Manager), you will lead a specialist, technically skilled team responsible for verifying, interpreting, and reporting wastewater spills through our Automated Spill Verification (ASV) system, powered by ASPIRE and the Rivers and Seas Watch platform.
The role requires deep technical understanding as well as strategic oversight. You will be accountable for near real‑time spill reporting, complex data interpretation, and full compliance with the Regulatory Spills Reporting, EDM performance and S‑81 regulatory standard, which mandates reporting of all qualifying spill events within one hour to National Storm Overflow Hub (NSOH).
You will act as the technical owner of the ASV system, driving continuous improvement in system logic, data quality, performance, and integration with wider operational and regulatory processes. This is a hands‑on role requiring confident technical decision‑making in a fast‑paced, regulated environment.
What you will be responsible for:
1. Develop and maintain expert-level knowledge of spill systems (ASV, ASPIRE, Rivers and Seas Watch), providing hands-on technical oversight, decision-making, and continuous improvement of system logic, workflows, and data quality.
2. Lead, coach, and develop the Spills team and Spill Leads, ensuring consistent, accurate use of spill verification systems and prioritisation of high-risk or time-critical events under regulatory deadlines.
3. Own the end-to-end spill detection, verification, escalation, and reporting process, providing active technical oversight during live events to meet the one-hour S81 requirement and all regulatory, public-facing, and internal obligations.
4. Manage the EDM monitoring estate and ASPIRE configuration, coordinating maintenance, profile updates, and issue resolution with resolver groups to ensure reliable monitoring, alerting, and timely verification.
5. Act as the senior technical escalation point for complex spill scenarios, supporting responses to EIRs, Section 108 requests, media or customer enquiries, and producing clear management information and insights from real-time and historical spill data.
Additional Requirements specific to the role
Participate in and take ownership of the Spills Rota (1 in 8 weeks), providing senior technical support during incidents and ensuring effective verification and reporting during out‑of‑hours periods.
What you’ll bring to the role:
Essential
6. Proven experience managing operational or environmental teams in a highly technical, data‑driven environment.
7. Demonstrable experience working with data analysis tools (e.g. Excel, SQL) and real time monitoring, telemetry, or automated decision systems
8. A technically confident leader with a strong focus on continuous improvement, system optimisation and end to end ownership of digital platforms.
9. Excellent ability to communicate complex technical issues clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Desirable
10. Strong technical understanding of wastewater systems, spill detection, and regulatory frameworks (including S‑81 of the Water Industry Act).