Standardisation Design Lead (18 Month Fixed TermSecondment)

Together we are Trusted to Serve Scotland.

Scottish Water is trusted to serve Scotlandand were transforming how we deliver infrastructure through standardisation. Were looking for a forward-thinking leader to embed repeatable approaches and drive innovation across our capital programme.

This is your opportunity to lead a strategic transformation that improves how we design build and operate our assetsmaking every project faster smarter and more sustainable.

Why This Role Matters

Imagine a world where every project starts with a head startwhere proven methods pre-designed solutions and shared best practices eliminate guesswork and accelerate delivery. Thats the power of standardisation and youll be at the heart of it. Youll lead the development and implementation of standardised delivery practices across Scottish Waters capital programmedriving consistency reducing costs and carbon and improving performance.

What Youll Be Doing

You will lead collaboration across engineering consultancy and delivery teams embedding repeatable design and delivery practices across asset lifecycles. You will influence technical specifications risk management and value creation while supporting communities of practice and knowledge addition you will ensure alignment with regulatory standards business needs and customer expectations.

What Youll Bring

You will bring engineering experience in design construction or operationsideally in the water sector. You will have a proven ability to drive transformation and embed new ways of working along with strong stakeholder engagement and communication skills. Experience in quality improvement and technical governance will also be key. You should be degree-qualified in engineering (or similar) ideally Chartered or working towards it.

Whats In It for You

This fixed term role offers a unique development opportunity to broaden your strategic influence lead change at scale and gain visibility across Scottish Waters capital programme. Youll be at the forefront of innovation working with senior stakeholders and delivery partners to shape how infrastructure is delivered across Scotland.

Youll need to be within commuting distance of one of our main offices in the central belt (Stepps Edinburgh or Stirling) and travel to the office is expected 1-2 times a week.

Looking out for you

While the work we do is important we know its not the only thing that matters. Thats why we make sure you have everything you need to find a good work-life balance.

Youll get plenty of time to recharge with 38 days of holiday every year (including public holidays). 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 theres our pension (the know-what-youll-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 Grade 7. If youre new to Scottish Water youll join us on a starting salary of 44030. Performance-driven pay progression would then allow you to move through the range to a maximum of 55000.

If youre interested in this role or know someone else who might be - well be accepting applications until midnight on the 25th November 2025.

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. Dont worry - well only start these checks once youve 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 youre interested in this job but dont 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 dont 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!). Were also aware that some people might be experiencing temporary challenges because of life events like menopause. Were very used to making adjustments so please dont be afraid to ask.

As part of our commitment to developing a flourishing Scotland its important that all our employees are Scottish taxpayers. If you join us your home address will need to be in Scotland. If you dont already live here youll 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 havent submitted an application in the last 12 months will have their records removed from our recruitment database. You wont need to do anything. Your data will be automatically deleted.

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