Closing Date 2025-06-06 Job Title: Illegal Connections Lead Location: Flexible – within Sussex, Kent or Hampshire the Kent region (travel will be required and a business use vehicle will be provided therefore a UK driving licence is essential) Contract Type: Permanent Hours: 37 hours per week Salary: circa £45-48,000 depending on skills and experience 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 Team Lead will manage the team who proactively investigate pollutions caused by household 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 main focus. Job Overview The Illegal Connections Team Lead will co-ordinate the efforts of the Illegal Connections team, a group of 12 experienced individuals with many years of wastewater experience who proactively investigate pollutions caused by household waste reaching the local environment via surface water network. Co-ordinate the efforts for the Illegal Connections team focusing on priority bathing water areas. Manage the operation of the Illegal Connections team, ensure regular meetings take place to check on the welfare of the team, cascade business updates, facilitate 121 meetings, mid-year and end-of-year reviews. Ensure Health & Safety policies are followed, and training requirements adhered. Prepare and deliver detailed investigation updates with internal and external stakeholder groups. Complete reports to ensure all key data is stored correctly and in line with GDPR requirements Engage with colleagues in a wider business to find a solution where appropriate Demonstrate Southern Water's core values, working with care, succeeding together, always improving & doing the right thing. About You Great communication skills and able to present to groups. Demonstrate the ability to interpret data from an array of data sources. Good knowledge of the wastewater industry. Competent use of systems including map reading. Can manage complex cases and see through to resolution. Work effectively in a team and with the confidence to operate independently and under own initiative. Practical skills, good technical knowledge of the wastewater industry. Problem solving & project management. A passion for making improvements in the local environment Package This role will be full time Monday to Friday involving a combination of Office, Home working and Field visits. We are offering a salary of between £45-48,000 as well as other benefits including: Generous pension up to 11% company contribution 25 days annual leave Life assurance equal to 4x salary Salary sacrifice electric car scheme (after 6 months service) Health Cash Plan Full funded eye tests Two paid volunteering days a year Occupational health service Discounts with over 800 popular retailers Digital GP service Study support may be available for job-related qualifications Competitive maternity leave and flexible return to work options 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. LI-Hybrid LI-AC1