Senior Process Specialist

Are you a motivated technical expert ready to take centre stage in operational excellence? We’re looking for a Senior Process Specialist to be the go-to authority for our wastewater treatment sites in the Crawley area.

You’ll provide top-tier technical advice daily, ensuring our sites comply with environmental regulations and operate efficiently. Combining your engineering, process science, and regulatory know-how, you’ll lead investigations into incidents, uncover root causes, and drive innovative solutions that reduce pollution and improve performance.

This is a hands-on, hybrid role where your multidisciplinary skills meet frontline operations. You’ll mentor and influence teams, shape operational improvements, and collaborate across the business to deliver real-world environmental benefits. You’ll also engage with regulators, project teams, and customers — your work will make a tangible difference.

What you will be doing as a Senior Process Specialist:

• Lead root cause investigations and drive effective resolutions to pollution incidents.
• Identify faults and implement proactive improvements using data and site insights.
• Ensure full compliance with statutory and environmental permits.
• Analyse flow data to boost treatment efficiency and reduce storm discharges.
• Collaborate on technical design queries with project delivery teams.
• Optimise processes to reduce costs while maintaining quality.
• Represent technical expertise in compliance meetings and reports.
• Mentor and coach operations teams, fostering technical growth and knowledge sharing.
• Participate in an on-call rota, providing expert advice during incidents.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives and innovative process solutions.
• Manage data collection for regulatory reporting and stakeholder requests.

Base Location: Crawley (STW) - RH10 3NW

Work Pattern: Hybrid - 36 Hours per Week (Mon-Fri)

What should you bring to the role?
To thrive in this role, the essential criteria you’ll need is:

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with a hands-on mindset.
• Excellent communicator confident in presenting and mentoring diverse teams.
• Ability to work collaboratively with regulators, contractors, and internal teams.
• Confident with data handling, processing, and reporting, and adapting to IT systems.
• Commitment to safety and best practice.
• Avid learner with a passion for coaching and mentoring others.
• Superb time management skills, able to self-organise and be a true self-starter who is comfortable lone working on site.
• Full, UK driving licence is mandatory, with access to your own transport and business-use insurance (car allowance is provided)

Additional skills and experiences would be great to have/bring:

• Proven experience in wastewater treatment process science and engineering.
• A strong knowledge of environmental regulation is desirable.
• A BSc degree in a science or engineering discipline is highly advantageous.

What’s in it for you?

• Offering a salary of £46,565 per annum, depending on skills and experience.
•  Annual Leave - 26 days holiday per year, increasing to 30 with the length of service. (plus bank holidays)
• Generous Pension Scheme through AON.
• Performance-related pay plan directly linked to company performance measures and targets
• Access to lots of benefits to help you take care of you and your family’s health and wellbeing, and your finances – from annual health MOTs and access to physiotherapy and counselling, to Cycle to Work schemes, shopping vouchers and life assurance.

Find out more about our benefits and perks
 
Who are we?

We’re the UK’s largest water and wastewater company, with more than 16 million customers relying on us every day to supply water for their taps and toilets. We want to build a better future for all, helping our customers, communities, people, and the planet to thrive. It’s a big job and we’ve got a long way to go, so we need help from passionate and skilled people, committed to making a difference and getting us to where we want to be in the years and decades to come.
 
Learn more about our purpose and values
 
Working at Thames Water
Thames Water is a unique, rewarding, and diverse place to work, where every day you can make a difference, yet no day is the same. As part of our family, you’ll enjoy meaningful career opportunities, flexible working arrangements and excellent benefits.
 
If you’re looking for a sustainable and successful career where you can make a daily difference to millions of people’s lives while helping to protect the world of water for future generations, we’ll be here to support you every step of the way. Together, we can build a better future for our customers, our region, and our planet.
 
Real purpose, real support, real opportunities. Come and join the Thames Water family. Why choose us? Learn more.

We’re committed to being a great, diverse, and inclusive place to work. We welcome applications from everyone and want to ensure you feel supported throughout the recruitment process. If you need any adjustments, whether that’s extra time, accessible formats, or anything else just let us know, we’re here to help and support.

When a crisis happens, we all rally around to support our customers. As part of Team Thames, you’ll have the opportunity to sign up to support our customers on the frontline as an ambassador. Full training will be given for what is undoubtedly an incredibly rewarding experience. It’s also a great opportunity to learn more about our business and meet colleagues.

Disclaimer: due to the high volume of applications we receive, we may close the advert earlier than the advertised date, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.