Together we are Trusted to Serve Scotland.
An exciting opportunity has arisen at Scottish Water for an enthusiastic, customer-focused professional to lead our North Process Science team in the role of Operations Team Leader.
What you’ll do
As Operations Team Leader, you will support the teams in delivering first class results within the Wastewater Business Improvement Team for Scottish Water.
Reporting directly to the Business Improvement Team Manager, you will manage a team of process scientists and graduates across the North and East of Scotland, delivering improvements that protect our environment. The team are critical to the compliance of Scottish Water’s wastewater assets and integral to achieving our strategic ambitions.
You will make sure we exceed our compliance and regulatory requirements – all in the name of great water quality and environmental benefit. You will lead the team on their root cause analysis and problem solving of issues at our wastewater assets. You and your team will also analyse our data to provide insights and learning opportunities as well as identifying potential efficiencies, change initiatives or innovations to drive continual improvement.
You will be working closely with our Wastewater Operational teams to understand risks, asset performance and process needs, whilst moving toward a more digitised, proactive environment in managing risk.
Key Responsibilities:
1. You'll be accountable for delivering improvements that continue to improve and protect Scottish Water assets, compliance and reputation, whilst also supporting net zero and service excellence deliverables.
2. Delivering various business wide change initiatives that improve knowledge in the arena of wastewater science.
3. Identifying key risk areas, highlighting business critical enhancement activities and accurately reporting evidence in a clear and informative manner.
4. Support operational teams with the development and delivery of Process Science’s Continuous Improvement Strategy in line with lean management tools.
5. Working closely with our Wastewater Operational teams to understand risks, compliance and process needs whilst demonstrating a pragmatic and business focused approach.
6. Development of strategies and process improvements to support people development, and improvements across Wastewater Operations and Wastewater Strategy.
7. Work with Wastewater and other stakeholders to drive behavioural change.
8. Support development of the Process Science/Wastewater Brand.
What you'll need
We’re looking for someone with a degree-level qualification or equivalent experience in an environmental, scientific, engineering or related field. You’ll bring around five years’ experience in wastewater and process operations, with a strong understanding of treatment processes, regulations and compliance standards. Leading and coordinating teams comes naturally to you, and you know how to deliver safety, quality and efficiency targets.
You’re passionate about continuous improvement and enjoy coaching others. You’re confident using digital tools and data to identify opportunities and improve performance. Communication is one of your strengths, and you have an eye for detail with the ability to develop innovative and analytical strategies. You’ve delivered change before and made a visible impact.
Managing multiple workstreams doesn’t faze you, and you’re comfortable leading transformation projects. You’re a team player who motivates and enables others in a fast-changing environment. Building partnerships and strong networks is something you do well, and you have experience in stakeholder engagement, including working with regulatory bodies.
You’re confident presenting ideas and have experience operating in compliance-driven environments with tight deadlines. You understand Health & Safety legislation and have strong IT skills, including Power BI.
Looking out for you
While the work we do is important, we know it’s not the only thing that matters. That’s why we make sure you have everything you need to find a good work-life balance.
You’ll get plenty of time to recharge with 38 days of holiday every year. And you can even buy five more if you need a little extra time. You can also take paid time off to volunteer in your community.
When it comes to major life events we have family-friendly policies around adoption, maternity, and parental leave. And for the everyday? We embrace flexible working.
For your future, there’s our pension (the ‘know-what-you’ll-get-when-you-retire’ kind), as well as life assurance.
As for some nice extras? You can expect an annual company bonus. Not to mention access to SW Splash – handy rewards that can save you money on holidays, bills, and shopping.
The not-so-small print
This role will be a Grade 7. If you’re new to Scottish Water, you’ll join us on a starting salary of £44,030. Performance-driven pay progression would then allow you to move through the range to a maximum of £55,000 .
If you’re interested in this role – or know someone else who might be - we’ll be accepting applications until midnight on the 16th January 2026.
We operate Balanced Hybrid working at Scottish Water and we encourage people to work half their time in a Scottish Water location.
Job offers at Scottish Water are conditional, and will be confirmed on completion of our pre-employment screening, e.g. referencing, criminal record checks, license checks, etc. Screening is conducted on our behalf by a third party, and must be completed before your start date. Don’t worry - we’ll only start these checks once you’ve accepted an offer.
A few final things worth knowing…
Research shows that some people avoid applying for jobs unless they can meet every single criteria. If you’re interested in this job, but don’t tick all the boxes, apply anyway! We hardly ever hire people who can do every part of a job from Day One. Everyone has a learning curve. So don’t rule yourself out!
Let us know if there are any changes we can make to our recruitment process to help you perform at your best. Lots of our people have disabilities or neurodiverse conditions (including some of our recruiters!). We're also aware that some people might be experiencing temporary challenges because of life events, like menopause. We’re very used to making adjustments, so please don’t be afraid to ask.
As part of our commitment to developing a flourishing Scotland, it’s important that all our employees are Scottish taxpayers. If you join us, your home address will need to be in Scotland. If you don’t already live here, you'll need to commit to moving here within your first three months.
Please note, Scottish Water takes the safety, health and wellbeing of our employees, colleagues and customers very seriously and as such you may be subject to Drug & Alcohol testing in line with our policy.
Finally (finally!), candidates who haven’t submitted an application in the last 12 months will have their records removed from our recruitment database. You won’t need to do anything. Your data will be automatically deleted.