Join Ofwat’s RAPID Team as a Climate Change Specialist – RAPID & Environmental Planning
This is a fixed – term appointment up until 31 June 2026. We are also open to loans and secondments for this duration.
*Office Location: London (E14 4HD) or Birmingham (B5 4UA) with hybrid working*
About Us
We are Ofwat, the Water Services Regulation Authority, a non-ministerial government department responsible for regulating the water sector in England and Wales. 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.
We are 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.
The Role
The Senior Associate Climate Change Specialist role has an important and valuable contribution to enable us to deliver on our goals and regulatory commitments. You will join our Environment Team on a fixed-term basis to provide maternity cover.
The Environment team focuses on delivering the environmental policy objectives of our strategy, while engaging and collaborating with key environmental stakeholders. We cover a range of areas, including climate change, biodiversity, nature-based solutions, and water quality. We collaborate across the organisation and with the wider sector to deliver improvements for the environment.
As a Climate Change Specialist, you will play a key role in developing and implementing our approach to climate change mitigation and adaption. This includes contributing to the further development of climate change reporting metrics.
This is an exciting opportunity for someone seeking a varied role that draws upon a range of skills – from policy development and systems thinking, to project management and stakeholder engagement. You will use your strong knowledge of environmental issues within the water sector, as well as your experience in climate change policy, to represent Ofwat and communicate our policies to key stakeholders, including government officials and water companies. You will provide clear advice and recommendations, ensuring climate change policy is embedded in Ofwat’s work, while proactively sharing your expertise.
About You
Below are some of the key essential experience, skills & knowledge required for this post:
- Lead criterion: Academic and/or professional experience in climate change mitigation and adaptation. This includes up-to-date knowledge of climate change policy and programme responses.
- Proven experience in policy analysis and policy delivery.
- Experience of working on a programme of analysis and evidence gathering to support robust decision making and influencing on policy issues.
- Strong analytical, technical, and research skills with the ability to cut through complexity.
- Experience of working flexibly and collaboratively with multi-disciplinary teams to bring policy expertise and solutions to problems and deliver joined up strategic thinking.
- Excellent communication skills, including the ability to effectively communicate complex issues to different audiences.
- Excellent stakeholder management and negotiation skills.
Why You Should Join Us:
- People Centric: Our people are at the heart of Ofwat and everything we do – we ensure all voices are heard and treat each other with respect; you’ll be given the autonomy and the support to do your role in the best way.
- Innovative Work Environment: We embrace agile and new ways of working and have a culture build on trust, flexibility, and collaboration.
- Development Opportunities: Gain valuable experience and develop your skills in a supportive and dynamic setting.
- Work-Life Balance: Enjoy the flexibility of working from home combined with the benefits of in person collaboration in our Birmingham offices.
- Good employer pension contributions
- 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.
- Fees paid for membership of relevant professional bodies.
- Up to 3 volunteering days per year.
- Recognition vouchers scheme rewarding your hard work.
- Generous shared parental leave and pay supporting your family life.
Follow the link to Apply for full details about the role, please ensure you have submitted your Applications in full before the below deadline.
Closing date: 23.55 on 21 September 2025
