National water efficiency senior advisor - 28823

By the end of March 2025, you will have developed a new mandatory water efficiency label that will appear on all water related goods. In doing so, you will have one of the biggest roles in improving water efficiency across England and meeting the Government’s statutory demand target. You will help both the Environment Agency and Defra achieve the demand management goals as outlined in the Plan for Water and Environment Improvement Plan. To do this, you will work closely with Defra colleagues and other government departments and will lead on the development of the label through a series of projects including database development and evaluating the impact of the label on public water consumption . You will also work on the creation of a water credit market to ensure a sustainable supply in Cambridge as part of the Government’s Long term Plan for Housing.
The role involves working closely with experts in the Environment Agency, Defra, Ofwat and externally with water companies, consultants and important partners such as Waterwise. You will be based in a national water resources team, within the Environment and Business Directorate.
This post is offered as an internal assignment and as a fixed term contract for external appointment to the water resources security of supply team.
The Environment Agency are fully committed to having an inclusive workforce to reflect the communities we serve. We don’t just talk about diversity; we seek it, embrace it, and live it, for the benefit of our staff, our communities, and our environment.
Everyone that joins us is required to undertake training and participate in incident response duties when needed. Having an incident role is an essential part of working for the Environment Agency, for further information on incident response can be found within your candidate pack.

The water resources security of supply team sets the direction for water resources planning including our statutory duty to conserve water through water efficiency and demand management. We advise government on long term resilience, future strategic water needs and the management of public water supplies. This includes scrutiny of water companies’ statutory water resources management plans and drought plans. Our outcome is to ensure there are secure water supplies and a protected environment.

We are looking for someone with an excellent technical understanding of water efficiency as we will expect the post holder to pick up crucial project work straight away. You should have experience of project managing several projects and good communication skills as you will be liaising across government, fellow regulators, into the water industry and with partners. We would be very interested in hearing from you if you have the following experience:
• technical experience of water efficiency and demand management
• building, maintaining and maximising relationships with good communication skills
• ability to scope, lead and deliver specific projects depending on team and government priorities, demonstrating value for money
• excellent written and verbal communication skills
• an excellent track record of achieving results

This is a national role so there is flexibility on location, although the successful candidate will have base location at any Environment Agency office. You will be expected to have some travel required in this role, mainly to London, with possible overnight stays. Line manager for this role is Stuart Sampson Water Resources Security of Supply manager. For further discussions, please contact stuart.sampson@environment-agency.gov.uk. Interviews will be via MS Teams and will be expected to be conducted in early May 2024.

We encourage you to refer to our "EA capability dictionary" which can be viewed in the attached candidate pack. You may find it helpful to research the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) approach when formulating your response.
Prioritises and organises tasks and resources to ensure timely achievement of results. Tell us about your experience of achieving one important outcome.

Explain how you have influenced and persuaded others to ensure an outcome you required.

Describe a project you have successfully managed, providing the details of planning and managing the project to ensure delivery on time, to the necessary quality and within budget.

You should describe the role of the Environment Agency role in demand management.