Asset Management Specialist

Job summary

We are Ofwat, the Water Services Regulation Authority, a non-ministerial government department responsible for regulating the water sector in England and Wales.

We have an opportunity for a Asset Management Specialist to join our Asset Management and Operational Resilience Team within the Sector Performance Directorate.

The water sector is entering a new chapter. Following the Independent Water Commission’s final report, the UK government has set out a bold new direction - one that brings together expertise from across the sector to deliver better outcomes for customers and the environment.

Ofwat will be working in collaboration with the government and other regulators to help establish a new body for England, combining our strengths with those of the Drinking Water Inspectorate, the Environment Agency, and Natural England. We’re also continuing to engage with the Welsh Government to support future decisions for Wales.

While these changes take shape, our mission remains the same: to hold water companies to account, drive performance, and ensure the sector delivers real value for customers, communities, and the environment. If you’re passionate about making a difference, this is a unique moment to join us and help shape the future of water, and together we can continue to make a positive impact.

You can find out more about why you should join Ofwat, our strategy, values and our framework for success in the attached Information for Candidates Pack.

Job description

The Senior Associate - Asset Management and Operational Resilience role sits within the Sector Performance Directorate. The Sector Performance Directorate supports Ofwat's objective to be an assertive voice in strategic and investment decision making for the sector, working with other regulators and governments by shaping the future direction and transformation of the sector through alignment with government and other stakeholders, and leading innovation. The Directorate drives up sector and company performance by regularly, visibly, and proactively challenging companies on their performance, using data and operational expertise.

The Asset Management Specialist role has an important and valuable contribution to enable us to deliver on our goals and regulatory commitments.

This role centres on providing expert advice on assets, asset management, asset health, and operational resilience. You will work with others to develop policy solutions to address resilience challenges in the water sector and take ownership of project delivery. This includes defining and delivering a scope of work within agreed timelines, budgets, and contract parameters.

A key aspect of the team's work involves influencing the sector to improve its asset management capability and understanding of Operational Resilience. Previous key publications in this area include our Asset Management Maturity Assessment and Operational Resilience Discussion Paper. Your key activities within the team are outlined in the next section (Key Deliverables).

You will be part of a multi-disciplinary team, working independently and taking responsibility for your work areas. As a Senior Associate, you will have the opportunity to develop and consolidate your skills, exercising sound judgement aligned with our strategy and ways of working.

This role requires a broad level of technical asset management competency, good written and oral communication skills, developed people and stakeholder management skills, and a track record of delivery against challenging deadlines. While Water sector experience is desirable, we welcome applications from a variety backgrounds. This may include Government, a regulated business (e.g. water, energy, telecoms), water sector supply chain organisation, consultancy or in another similarly relevant position..

You should be comfortable working in an agile environment. The full breadth of the AMOR team's work is high profile, wide-ranging, and highly inter-connected; and so you will get involved in and contribute to a range of work outside of your core portfolio of work.

Key deliverables:

Reporting to the Principal, Asset Management and Operational Resilience, in this role you will:

• Lead on the delivery of the 2026 edition of the Asset Management Maturity Assessment, with support from the Principal, Asset Management and Operational Resilience. This will include budget and contract management, schedule management and stakeholder engagement, as well as providing technical input into the development and delivery on the project.
• Support activities associated with the development of our integrated monitoring framework for operational resilience including reviewing company submissions and implementing lessons learned. Analysis of data and information to draw evidenced-based conclusions and recommendations.
• Provide coaching and support to colleagues, proactively sharing skills and knowledge and contribute to the continuous improvement of Asset Management and Operational Resilience principles within the organisation.
• Engage with internal and external stakeholders, including senior leadership, to provide information to and seek feedback on deliverables as well as the team's wider priorities.
• Provide wider support for the operational resilience team in delivering engagement activities such as internal and external meetings and workshops.
• Develop your skills through continued learning and development within the Water Engineering Science and Technology (WEST) profession and within the wider directorate you work in.

Ofwat is an agile working environment, so you can expect opportunities to support other directorates and to move around the organisation as required.

Person specification

To be successful in this role you will need the below essential attributes, experience, skills and knowledge:

Experience, skills and knowledge

1. Lead criterion: Experience in an area such as capital programme delivery, operations, asset management, business planning and/or water business operation or management.
2. A current understanding of asset management practice, including wastewater and/or water assets and their operation.
3. Understanding of water sector resilience, including asset health, and of quantitative and/or qualitative ways of measuring performance in this area.
4. Experience of project delivery, including contract management and leading complex projects including multiple stakeholders.
5. Demonstrable ability to analyse data and complex information and use multiple sources of information to solve problems.
6. Experience of working effectively in multi-disciplinary teams.
7. Experience of communicating and engaging effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Attributes

8. Delivers outcomes
9. Promotes collaboration
10.Adaptable thinker

Attributes as per Ofwat's Framework for Success for the relevant salary grade. You can read more about Attributes here.

Benefits

Why You Should Join Us:

Our people are at the heart of Ofwat, and our People Strategy defines the goals that keep this focus at the centre of everything that we do. In our annual People Survey 2024, we outperformed the Civil Service (CS) People Survey benchmarks in all 10 areas.

Almost four in five of our people would recommend Ofwat as a great place to work. Nine in ten say that they are treated with respect and that Ofwat respects individual differences. Nine in ten also say that the work they do is interesting and that they decide how they do their work. That’s great but it’s important to us to build an environment that is not only fair, inclusive and empowering but also collaborative. Here, nine in ten of our people say that their team works together to find ways to improve what we do, and that their manager is open to their ideas.

You will also benefit from:

• Excellent employer pension contributions of nearly 29%.
• 25 days’ annual leave (increasing to 30 with each year of service) plus bank holidays and an extra 2.5 days of privilege leave
• Access to exclusive discounts on a variety of goods and services, including retail outlets,
  theatre tickets, holidays, insurance, and a gym membership
• Flexible working arrangements that suit your lifestyle
• Fees paid for membership of relevant professional bodies
• Up to 3 volunteering days per year
• Recognition vouchers scheme
• Generous shared parental leave and pay
• Enhanced sick pay
• Regular development opportunities
• Health and wellbeing initiatives
• Cycle-to-work scheme
• Season ticket loan for home-to-office travel
• Free eye tests and contribution to lenses/spectacles for VDU users

Moving to Ofwat from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Find out more at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

How to apply

Apply through the Civil Service Jobs website where you’ll be asked to create an account and complete an application form (CV and personal statement). If you’re unable to make an electronic application, please contact recruitment@ofwat.gov.uk and we will support you in completing your application.

Please see the candidate guidance on our website for more detail and tips on how to best make your application and prepare for interview.

Please ensure you have submitted your application in full ahead of the deadline listed below. Unfortunately, we won't be able to consider late applications.

Selection timetable

• Closing date: 19 January 2026
• Sifting: 20 - 23 January 2026
• Interview date(s): Week commencing 2 February 2026

Assessment process

Sift Stage - Blind Sifting

We operate a blind sifting model to eliminate bias. All candidate identifying information will be removed from applications.

At sift stage we will assess your application (CV and personal statement) against essential criteria 1,2,3,4 and 5 listed above. Please ensure you provide enough evidence in your application form to demonstrate how you meet the criteria.

*In the event of receiving a large number of applications, a pre-sift may take place on just the lead criterion. Please ensure that the lead criterion is clearly addressed in your personal statement.

Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see Civil Service guidance on use of AI for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use. . This guidance refers to ' Civil Service Success Profiles' framework, Ofwat do not use this in our assessments, for our assessment framework, please refer to our Framework for Success.

** Please note that if a high volume of candidates meet the minimum pass mark at sift stage, we will only progress the highest scoring candidates to interview. Candidates not invited to interview, who have achieved the minimum pass mark, will be placed 'on hold' until the final stage of the assessment process is completed. Should the role/s remain unfilled, candidates placed 'on hold' may be invited to interview in merit order.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Interview Stage - Transparent Interviews and Presentation

At interview stage we will test against essential skills, experience, knowledge and attributes set out above.

Our transparent interview process involves candidates receiving a selection of attribute-based questions in advance. This has been proven to help neurodiverse candidates and others to perform better at interview and is part of our inclusive culture.

You can read more about attributes and our Framework for success here.

As part of the interview process, we will require a short presentation. Further details will be provided to candidates upon invitation to interview.

Please ensure anything you present in your interview answers is factually accurate, and you are not presenting the ideas and experience of others, or generated by AI, as your own. You may expect follow up questions.

Please note that the interviews will be conducted via video conferencing software (Microsoft Teams).

It may be necessary for a second stage interview, which will be communicated to the successful candidates, if required.

If the assessment process identifies more appointable candidates than roles available, a reserve list will be created for 12 months from which further appointments in merit order can be made.

'Near-miss' candidates (candidates who have performed well at interview stage but haven’t scored high enough for the advertised Senior Associate band) may be considered (in merit order) for a Associate grade post in the team – a band lower than Senior Associate. Further details will be provided to candidates as needed.

If you have any queries about any aspect of this role, selection process, or you require any reasonable adjustments, please email recruitment@ofwat.gov.uk.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : recruitment@ofwat.gov.uk
• Email : recruitment@ofwat.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@ofwat.gov.uk

Further information

Complaints procedure - The process of recruitment and assessment embraces the principles of fair and open competition and best practice. The first is to maintain the principle of selection for appointment to the Civil Service on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Recruitment Principles. The second is to promote an understanding of the https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-code/the-civil… which sets out the constitutional framework in which all civil servants work and the values they are expected to uphold, and to hear and determine appeals made under it. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the recruitment principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should contact recruitment@ofwat.gov.uk in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from us, you can contact the Civil Service Commission at info@csc.gov.uk

Attachments

Candidate Pack Jan 26 - SA Asset Management Opens in new window (pdf, 711kB)