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Closing Date 25/02/2026 Job Title: Control Centre Manager- Waste Water Operations Location: Durrington (onsite) Contract Type: Permanent Hours: 37 Salary: Up to £68,000 per annum depending on skills and exp plus £400 p/m car allowance About the role Southern Water is embarking on an exciting evolution of how we deliver real-time operational control across our Wastewater network. We are recruiting for a Control Centre Manager- Waste Water Operations internally known as Waste Control Manager, to lead our Reactive Control function while shaping the shift toward a more proactive, insight-led, and resilient operational model. This is a pivotal leadership role requiring sharp operational awareness, decisive management under pressure, and strategic vision to future-proof how we monitor and respond to events across our network. You will lead and inspire a high-performing team within our 24/7/365 Control Centre environment. With 7 direct reports and indirect leadership of approximately 35 colleagues, you will manage real-time control operations to ensure a rapid, coordinated response to incidents, while driving the transformation to a proactive operational strategy. What you will be responsible for: Managing and motivating reactive teams to deliver swift, effective decision-making during fast-paced operational situations. Setting clear direction and overseeing performance to ensure operational assets are monitored and managed proactively. Shaping future control centre capability, identifying opportunities to optimise processes, tools, and ways of working. Driving collaboration across operational, field and support teams to deliver seamless, end-to-end event prevention and response. Using data, insights, and industry best practice to improve performance, enhance operational resilience and anticipate resource challenges. Modelling operational scenarios and designing proactive intervention strategies, ensuring readiness and capability at all times. Delivering against strategic plans, influencing and reporting at senior management level. Additional Requirements specific to the role As part of this role, you will join Southern Water’s 24/7 Incident Management Standby Rota, ensuring leadership presence during major incidents and urgent operational situations. Your role will be key in leading and developing Control Centre teams to foster a culture of accountability, high performance and continuous improvement, while maintaining strong oversight of reactive operational issues and balancing longer-term strategic planning. You will analyse performance trends and use insights to enhance proactive monitoring and incident prevention, benchmark processes against industry standards, and drive efficiency through improved rostering, workflow and decision pathways. The position also requires robust cross-team communication and coordination, alongside providing decisive leadership during high‑pressure situations to ensure swift and effective action. What you’ll bring to the role You will be a proactive, resilient and influential leader who thrives in a fast-paced, reactive operational environment. You bring clarity under pressure, are confident in making time-critical decisions, and naturally shift between operational oversight and strategic thinking. Essential Strong experience leading teams in a control centre, operational, or utilities environment. Ability to drive team performance, coach leaders and build capability across a 24/7 operation. A strategic mindset that anticipates future challenges and identifies innovative solutions. Being able to organise priorities and resources effectively and use clear, structured thinking when working with different scenarios. Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills at all levels. Experience using data and insights to improve operational performance. The ability to balance reactive response excellence with proactive operational improvement. Desirable Experience in Utilities or data-led operational environments Our purpose is big. Our impact is huge. And we know that every single one of us has the power, through our actions, to positively change society and the environment for good. It’s why careers with us have real meaning. Because, if you’re driven and ambitious, we can offer you huge opportunities for personal growth, professional development and constant innovation. Forever evolving. Forever focused on doing the right thing, we empower and encourage everyone to play to their strengths and to help us shape a fair and positive future for all. We believe in Water for Life. If you do too, Dive Right In. 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. 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?