Operational Engineering Lead

Job Description

Ready to shape the engineering performance of one of the UK’s most critical operational networks? At United Utilities, we’re strengthening the technical capability that underpins safe, reliable and efficient service delivery — and we need a leader who can bring clarity, discipline and engineering excellence to our operational environments.

This is your opportunity to take a pivotal role where your expertise will directly influence asset reliability, operational performance and the day‑to‑day experience of colleagues across water, wastewater and network systems.

Your mission

As our Operational Engineering Lead, you’ll provide technical leadership, governance and direction to county‑based engineering teams working across operational sites. You’ll drive structured problem solving, root cause analysis and engineering best practice to ensure assets operate safely, efficiently and reliably.

You’ll lead the identification and delivery of operational improvements that reduce OPEX, enhance performance and strengthen plant reliability — working closely with operational teams, maintenance colleagues, programme delivery units and external partners to embed continuous improvement across all counties.

You’ll be doing things like

• Leading and line‑managing county‑based operational engineers, ensuring clear priorities, balanced workloads and strong technical development.
• Providing hands‑on engineering expertise to support troubleshooting, fault resolution and optimisation across water, wastewater and sludge assets.
• Driving structured root cause analysis for high‑impact failures, repeating faults, compliance risks and reliability issues.
• Leading OPEX reduction initiatives through engineering optimisation, process efficiency improvements and reliability‑centred maintenance.
• Developing and embedding operational engineering standards and processes to ensure consistency across counties.
• Coaching engineers in problem‑solving tools including 5 Whys, DMAIC, FMEA and RCA.
• Working closely with operational site teams, County Engineering Managers and maintenance colleagues to identify improvement opportunities and optimise asset performance.
• Ensuring consistent application of engineering governance, including technical assessment, sign‑off, safety compliance and assurance.
• Championing safe working practices aligned to CDM, DSEAR, PUWER, LOLER and other statutory requirements.
• Leading engineering investigations, including data analysis, asset performance reviews and development of actionable improvement plans.
• Promoting reliability engineering techniques such as condition monitoring, criticality assessments and failure mode analysis.
• Reporting performance outcomes including OPEX avoidance, reliability improvements and delivery of annual engineering targets.
• Coordinating cross‑county collaboration, sharing best practice and embedding standardised solutions.
• Acting as Subject Matter Expert for operational engineering, deputising for senior engineering leaders when required.

What we’re looking for

• Chartered Engineer or equivalent experience with commitment to professional registration.
• Strong leadership capability with experience managing and developing distributed technical teams.
• Significant operational engineering experience within the water industry or similar asset‑intensive sectors.
• Demonstrable expertise in root cause analysis, reliability engineering and structured problem solving.
• Proven track record delivering operational improvements and OPEX reduction initiatives.
• Strong understanding of operational environments across water and wastewater treatment sites.
• Excellent working knowledge of CDM, DSEAR, PUWER, LOLER, MHSWA and other statutory regulations.
• Experience applying engineering governance, quality assurance and technical standards.
• Ability to influence and collaborate with operational leaders, maintenance teams and external partners.
• Skilled in analysing performance data, asset trends and operational KPIs to inform engineering decisions.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to translate complex engineering issues for non‑technical audiences.
• Ability to lead multi‑disciplinary investigations and manage engineering activity autonomously.
• High emotional intelligence, resilience and the ability to operate under pressure across multiple live operational issues.

What you’ll get

A competitive package that recognises your expertise, including:

• 26–30 days holiday + bank holidays

• Up to 14% employer pension contribution

• £5,000 car allowance

• Up to 20% bonus

• Healthcare, wellbeing benefits, discounts and more

If you’re ready to lead operational engineering excellence, strengthen asset reliability and drive meaningful improvements across our operational network, we’d love to welcome your expertise to United Utilities.