Head of Regulatory Reporting

The Head of Regulatory Reporting leads Thames Water’s end‑to‑end regulatory reporting strategy (with a focus on non-financial measures), ensuring that submissions to our regulators are clear, accurate, timely, and fully aligned with corporate objectives and regulatory obligations.

The role is accountable for strengthening data quality, reporting processes and governance to support transparency, compliance and long‑term business planning.

This senior leadership position plays a critical role in shaping the company’s regulatory narrative, driving improvements in reporting performance data, and ensuring that Thames Water meets its commitments to customers, environmental stakeholders and regulators.

What you’ll be doing as a Head of Regulatory Reporting

• Develop and own the enterprise regulatory reporting framework and calendar, governing all regulator‑facing submissions, consultations and information requests
• Maintain standards (templates, style, evidence rules) and ensure cross‑document narrative and data consistency – promoting a single source of truth reporting
• Shape the external reporting landscape: Proactively engage with regulators and industry forums to streamline requirements, avoiding overlapping or contradictory frameworks, and to improve proportionality and clarity of expectations
• Lead Thames Water’s approach to annual/periodic returns, including the Annual Performance Report (APR), Price Control Deliverable (PCD), Delivery Plan updates and other statutory/non‑statutory returns. This includes end‑to‑end scope, plan, compilation, challenge, executive sign‑off and publication
• Ensure that the business is provided with accurate and timely MI, including oversight and production of monthly Performance Commitment Level (PCL) reporting
• Oversee the tracking of all requests from and to regulators - capture and report on progress
• Operate a structured triage, review and approval process for responses
• Establish and maintain a robust internal assurance framework following corporate standards (three lines)
• Provide ongoing oversight and guidance on the External Regulatory Reporting Framework, working closely with key internal stakeholders. Provide interpretive guidance (explanatory notes, Q&A packs) that translate regulatory rules and underlying intent into practical business requirements
• Drive continuous improvement in data quality, lineage and controls. Work with data owners to identify root causes and embed long‑term fixes. Ensure accurate and transparent reporting, including ODIs, Performance Commitments (PCs) and selected financial metrics, environmental indicators and customer service measures
• Provide inputs to monthly business reviews and Board reporting, where these figures are also reported externally
• Act as a senior point of contact with regulators; provide timely advice and regulatory insight to Executive Directors and Board Committees
• Prepare high‑quality Board/Committee papers (Regulatory Strategy Committee, Audit Committee)
• Lead transformation initiatives to modernise reporting processes, reduce risk, and improve timeliness/quality

Base Location: Hybrid – Reading

Working Pattern or hours: 36 hours

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

• Extensive experience in regulatory reporting, regulatory finance or assurance within the water sector or a similarly regulated industry
• Deep understanding of Ofwat’s framework, including APR requirements, cost assessment, PCs/ODIs and assurance expectations
• Proven leadership managing multidisciplinary teams and orchestrating complex reporting processes with immovable deadlines
• Experience designing/operating governance frameworks, data controls and assurance suitable for external audit
• Strong track record of senior stakeholder management, including Executive and Board engagement and regulator interactions
• Strategic planning & delivery: builds and executes an enterprise reporting calendar; anticipates pinch points and dependencies
• Editorial excellence & communication: clear, concise writing; able to translate complex requirements for non‑specialists; confident presenter
• Influencing & collaboration: aligns cross‑functional teams; negotiates trade‑offs; resilient under pressure
• Governance & integrity: champions accountability, transparency and evidence‑based decisions; models Thames Water values

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

• Prior engagement with regulators (Ofwat, DWI, EA, CCW) and handling formal queries and information requests
• Experience across regulatory business planning cycles
• Technical & analytical strength: strong knowledge of financial/operational metrics; advanced problem‑solving and data quality improvement skills
• System proficiency: advanced Excel; familiarity with enterprise data systems, performance management tools and BI platforms (e.g., Power BI); M365 collaboration and controlled drafting (SharePoint/Teams)

What’s in it for you?

• Competitive salary circa £120,000 per annum, depending on experience
• Annual Leave - 26 days holiday per year, increasing to 30 with the length of service (plus bank holidays)
• Car allowance
• Private medical healthcare
• Performance-related pay plan directly linked to company performance measures and targets
• Generous Pension Scheme through AON
• 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 (Please note different T&Cs apply if on secondment)

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.