At United Utilities, we're not just delivering water we're helping to create a more prosperous, greener and healthier North West. As one of the UK's leading FTSE 100 organisations, we're investing in the future through innovation, sustainability and transformational engineering projects that deliver real benefits for our customers, communities and the environment.
We are expanding our award-winning Innovation team at United Utilities, bringing together innovation, decarbonisation, and standardisation to drive step-change improvements in cost and carbon performance mainly focused on our c.£7bn capital programme. Our team explores innovations that deliver value and drives the deployment these solutions at scale to unlock outperformance against our ambitious targets.
We're looking for an ambitious and forward-thinking Project Manager to join our Innovation Team. This is a unique opportunity for an experienced Project Manager who thrives on turning great ideas into reality, driving industry-leading innovation and delivering projects that make a measurable difference.
If you're passionate about sustainability, emerging technologies, engineering excellence and continuous improvement, this could be the career-defining role you've been waiting for.
The Opportunity
As Project Manager – Innovation, you’ll work predominantly with the Innovation & Transformation team, where you will be responsible for the full project lifecycle planning, execution, monitoring, control and closure. Your core focus will be ensuring projects are delivered on time, within scope and within budget, while effectively managing risks, resources and stakeholder expectations.
You'll be at the forefront of driving innovation, championing new ways of working and ensuring successful inclusion of solutions across our business.
This role offers the perfect blend of strategic thinking, stakeholder engagement and hands-on project leadership.
What You'll Be Doing
To manage a small number of high profile breakthrough innovation projects to time, cost and quality expectations and to make sure that the right people hear about these projects and ideas so that they can be adopted faster
To ensure UU provides adequate support to other Innovation projects (led by other water companies)
Breakthrough ideas represent significant disruption to today’s ways of working; they need “different thinking” and an agile approach to project management and team leadership
These projects will need regular reporting to Ofwat and other key organisations – and results shared widely across the water sector
Mobilisation of complex, early stage Innovation projects
Drive successful delivery
Project management – meeting high time, cost and quality priority
Maintain relationships across the project teams e.g. innovators internally and externally including Regulators and grant bodies
Project scale – Annual: range from £5k to £10m
Establish commercial contracts [trials / early roll-outs / long term agreements for full roll-out]
Creating project teams from across water companies and innovators - supporting the team to deliver on agreed project scope and to work to deadlines
Manage projects to best practice using agile techniques and appropriate change management
Only some projects are led by UU, some are led by external parties such as other water companies or academia or suppliers; this relies on high strengths to “work through others”
Produce regular reports showing performance vs trial criteria– highlighting key risks and opportunities, monitoring trends and celebrating successes;
Convince auditors, external funding teams and Regulators that UU is managing projects well
Influencing & Collaborating
Lead and coordinate multi-disciplinary teams across the business as a means of realising benefits through standardisation.
Build strong relationships with senior stakeholders and business leaders.
About You
We're looking for someone who combines strong project management expertise with a genuine passion for innovation and engineering excellence.
Essential Requirements
Degree Qualified.
Demonstrable experience managing and delivering projects within a technical or engineering environment
Qualified, or actively working towards, APM PMQ (or equivalent)
Strong project co-ordination, project management and reporting experience
Experience of project financial management; Project financial / budget experience – e.g. project spend forecasting
Excellent written and oral communication skills
Relationship building and focus on delivery – especially working through others to deliver
Demonstrable experience in workload prioritisation
Ability to project manage sensitive projects and work through others to deliver
Full UK/EU driving licence
We'd Love to see
Strong awareness of UU Innovation, including relevant processes, governance and ways of working, with a demonstrable innovation mindset.
Relevant postgraduate qualification, such as an MSc in Project Management, or equivalent knowledge, skills and practical experience.
Self-starting and proactive mindset, with the ability to identify opportunities, risks and appropriate interventions in projects that are often immature, ambiguous or operating with low levels of certainty.
Strong understanding and application of project and portfolio management best practice, including agile and adaptive delivery techniques.
Demonstrable ability to project manage complex or sensitive projects, working through and influencing others to achieve successful outcomes.
Experience of managing and coordinating individual projects and wider portfolios, balancing competing priorities, dependencies and resources.
Experience in the development, evaluation and interpretation of budgets and business cases, supporting robust investment and delivery decisions.
Proven ability to work across departments and disciplines, with the flexibility to operate effectively outside a core technical specialism.
Strong and resilient stakeholder management and influencing skills, including the confidence and credibility to engage at senior levels.
A natural collaborator, comfortable working across organisational boundaries and within a matrix structure.
Awareness and/or practical experience of business change, transformation, implementation and adoption, recognising that innovation requires successful transition into business-as-usual.
Technologically open-minded and digitally capable, with the confidence to adopt new ways of working, tools and supporting software.
What You'll Get
26 days annual leave, increasing to 30 days after four years, plus bank holidays
Competitive pension scheme with up to 14% employer contribution (21% combined value)
Performance-related bonus of up to 10.5%
Comprehensive company-funded healthcare plan
Flexible and hybrid working arrangements
Industry-leading learning and development opportunities
APM PMQ support and professional accreditation pathways
Leadership coaching, mentoring and career development programmes
The opportunity to work on projects that positively impact communities and the environment
Be Part of Something Bigger
At United Utilities, innovation isn't a buzzword it's how we solve some of the region's biggest environmental and infrastructure challenges.
If you're excited by the opportunity to lead ambitious projects, shape the future of sustainable engineering and make a genuine difference to millions of customers across the North West, we'd love to hear from you.
Apply today and help us turn tomorrow's innovations into today's solutions.
