Transformation Business Partner

  • Job Reference: 37537
  • Date Posted: 19 April 2024
  • Employer: Thames Water
  • Location: Reading
  • Salary: £800 to £1,000 Per Day
  • Sector: Engineering & Technical
  • Job Type: Temporary
  • Duration: 26 weeks
  • Work Hours: Full Time
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Job Description

This is an Inside IR35 contract assignment, with an initial duration of 6 months.
Thames Water is by some margin the largest of the Water and Sewerage Companies (WaSCs). We serve 16 million customers, getting on for a quarter of the country’s population. We deliver life's essential service so our customers, communities and the environment can thrive and operate across a huge geographical footprint. Our aspiration is to restore Thames Water to its rightful position as one of the leading companies. Our Turnaround Plan does not try to do everything at once, everywhere, but establishes a step-by-step approach, focusing in the first instance on those areas of performance which matter most to our customers and our stakeholders and is the foundation on which we will build the recovery.

To enable the delivery of our refocused Turnaround Plan, we have put in place a Turnaround Management Office (“TMO”) which will act as the ‘engine’ for coordinating delivery of the 20 initiatives that make up the plan, providing structured prioritisation, coordination, governance, reporting and timely communications. While already functioning and operational (with external third-party support), we are now seeking to transition the TMO leadership to Thames Water as part of an ongoing investment in building internal change capability. In support of this, we are creating several TMO Business Partner roles focused on a portfolio of turnaround initiatives within each of the four turnaround pillars of: Operational Performance, Efficiency, Foundational Capabilities and Resilience.

What you’ll be doing as a Transformation Business Partner:
The Business Partner roles will be a single point of TMO contact for their respective portfolio of initiatives within the Turnaround Plan and will:
  • Provide active ‘eye-level’ support, challenge and scrutiny to initiative leads, teams and sponsors
  • Undertake active problem solving to ensure that we move with pace (e.g. supporting the unblocking of cross-cutting issues that require high levels of cross-functional coordination to resolve and engaging the support of the APEX initiative champions where appropriate)
  • Ensure the right issues, risks, decisions and dependencies are raised for performance reporting
  • Improve and assure delivery execution through overarching portfolio management in support of initiatives and their respective programmes
We are looking for people who have credibility and authority to build relationships and trust with leaders across a number of disciplines and functional areas, who can also balance the provision of active problem-solving to work through issues while retaining the independence to constructively challenge. As part of the investment in building internal change capability, you will receive expert upskilling and coaching.

What you should bring to the role:
  • Proven track record in a business improvement project or programme environment, ideally in a large company environment – ideally with real-world experience of managing delivery.
  • Knowledge and exposure to water and wastewater operations would be beneficial but is by no means essential.
  • Strong budget management and resource optimisation.
  • Ability to develop and translate strategies and ideas into detailed approaches, business cases, plans and controls for assuring delivery.
  • Operating successfully across a wide range of disciplines in a cross-functional environment using relationships and positively influencing and working collaboratively to deliver outcomes and add value.
  • Skilled problem solver, willing to embrace and provide relevant support to timely resolution of simple and complex issues.
  • Excellent attention to detail alongside first class organisational and communication skills (verbal and written).
  • Sufficient credibility and authority to work with senior leaders across the company and its governance; experience in facilitation of senior attendee ideation, prioritisation, and general working workshops.
  • Competent in MS Office, including Excel, PowerPoint, Word and collaboration tools such as Teams, SharePoint. Preferable experience of Power BI.
What’s in it for you?
  • Offering between £800 - £1000 per day depending on experience