Major Projects Regulatory Manager

Summary:

Are you ready to shape the future of national water resilience?

Do you have the regulatory expertise to lead multi-million-pound infrastructure schemes through complex frameworks?

At South East Water, we are tackling one of the most critical challenges of our time: securing long-term water supply resilience, environmental sustainability, and climate adaptation. Delivered under the RAPID (Regulators'' Alliance for Progressing Infrastructure Development) framework, our Major Projects are nationally significant, multi-company initiatives subject to isolated funding and mandated gated development pathways.

We are seeking a Major Projects Regulatory Manager to direct our regulatory strategy, navigate complex delivery models like DPC and SIPR, and serve as the primary liaison with key regulatory bodies-including RAPID, Ofwat, the Environment Agency, the DWI, and Natural England.

If you are a strategic leader capable of unifying multi-disciplinary teams across engineering, commercial, and environmental sectors to clear high-stakes regulatory hurdles, this is your opportunity to leave a lasting legacy on the UK''s water infrastructure.

Main responsibilities:

Regulatory Strategy & Leadership

• Develop, direct, and implement the overarching regulatory strategy for the SRO programme.
• Serve as the senior regulatory advisor to programme leadership, providing expert counsel on regulatory frameworks, compliance, and policy developments.
• Embed regulatory considerations seamlessly into programme planning, investment cases, and overall delivery strategies.
• Support commercial and financial positioning, taking ownership of risk, return, and economic valuation profiles.
• Lead the Major Projects Team on the RAPID gated process:
  • quarterly reporting
  • checkpoint meetings
  • focused technical discussions
  • independent assurance reviews, including "critical friend" assessments well ahead of key gates.
• Upskilling Major Projects Team on regulatory requirements and process

Regulatory Engagement & Stakeholder Management

• Spearhead engagement with key regulatory bodies, including Ofwat, the Environment Agency, the DWI, and Natural England.
• Cultivate and maintain trusted, collaborative relationships across all relevant regulatory institutions.
• Key participant and stakeholder in the All Company Working Group (ACWG)
• Act as the primary representative for the SRO programme in industry forums and high-level regulatory discussions.
• Coordinate and finalise responses to sector consultations, reviews, and specific regulatory inquiries.

Regulatory submissions & assurance

• Lead the end-to-end development of regulatory submissions, critical business cases, and assurance documentation.
• Put robust processes in place to deliver accurate, compliant, and timely reporting across all major programme milestones.
• Coordinate cross-functional inputs from various departments to synthesise comprehensive regulatory deliverables.
• Support major gateway reviews and investment approval processes.
• Monitor ongoing regulatory changes and proactively assess their impact on programme delivery.

Programme integration & governance

• Champion regulatory requirements across engineering, commercial, environmental, and broader programme teams to ensure unified compliance.
• Provide actionable insights into regulatory governance processes, regulatory risks, and informed decision-making.
• Systematically track and manage all regulatory commitments and operational obligations.
• Identify, escalate, and mitigate regulatory risks that could impede programme delivery.

You''ll need:
Skills / Qualifications / Experience

• Academic or professional qualifications in economics, finance or a related field are desirable. You must have a strong understanding of regulatory frameworks and infrastructure planning.
• Strategic problem solving: A strategic mindset with strong problem-solving capability.
• Communication & Influencing: Excellent communication and influencing skills, including the ability to confidently engage at Board-level.
• Simplifying the complex: The ability to take complex regulatory frameworks and issues and make them simple to understand.
• Collaboration: Strong stakeholder management skills to build consensus across teams.
• Economic analysis & valuation: Expertise in applying economic principles to lead our response to complex regulatory mechanisms, assess risk and return profiles and deliver robust investment cases.
• Sector expertise: A proven track record operating within a regulated utility environment, with a strong preference for the water sector.
• Economic regulation: Extensive, hands-on experience in economic regulation or a closely aligned field.
• Infrastructure delivery: Demonstrated experience supporting major infrastructure projects or complex capital programmes.
• Stakeholder engagement: A strong track record of successfully managing and influencing complex regulatory relationships.

Employees are required to be flexible and to be prepared to perform duties and other tasks within their capabilities. The nature of our business is such that the contents of any job profile are subject to change from time to time.

Grow a career with a meaningful purpose.

We know the communities we serve are diverse. We recognise creativity comes from diversity not similarity. That''s why we are enthusiastic about creating inclusion across age, race, gender, ethnicity, religion and identity. You will experience our dedication to equal opportunities and fair treatment for all: through your recruitment, employment and career progression with South East Water.

Benefits package:

• Excellent Stakeholder pension scheme, up to 10% employer contribution.
• 5 weeks holiday plus bank holidays per annum, increasing to 6 weeks with length of service.
• Flexible annual leave policy to buy or sell holiday leave.
• Paid volunteering days.
• Cycle to work scheme.
• Health cash plan.
• Life assurance.
• Wellbeing related benefits.

What can you expect from your recruitment?

• To apply for this position, please submit your CV on our career''s website.
• It is necessary for you to have the legal right to work in the UK when you begin employment with South East Water.
• Additionally, as part of the employment offer, you will need to pass background, identity, and employment referencing checks.

If this sounds like the opportunity you''ve been looking for, apply now!

South East Water kindly asks that recruitment agencies refrain from submitting CVs to our employees or associates without explicit invitation from our HR Resourcing team. CVs sent on a speculative basis will not be acknowledged and will not assume any responsibility for fees or commissions in the event that we hire a candidate who applied directly or subsequently introduced by an instructed agency.

Compensation package:

Up to £77,300 p.a.

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