Change Delivery Lead

Closing Date

2026-11-08

Job Title: Change Delivery Lead

Location: Hybrid working from our Head Office in Worthing (c2 days pw) and working from home

Contract Type: Permanent

Hours: 37 hours per week, Monday - Friday

Salary: Up to c£55,000 commensurate with skills and experience

Are you a confident relationship-builder who can turn complex business needs into practical delivery and keep change moving?

There has never been a better time to join Southern Water as we invest in the future of our water and wastewater infrastructure, tackle climate change, minimise our environmental impact and reduce our carbon footprint.

Job overview

We are looking for a practical and delivery-focused Change Delivery Lead to join our Smart Install Programme. Sitting at the centre of delivery, you will be working with business stakeholders, subject matter experts and project colleagues to understand requirements, translate them into clear actions and help drive internal projects through to completion.

The programme is already live and moving at pace. Your initial focus will be on internal delivery activity, including process and billing improvements, working closely with the Smart Operational Centre and colleagues across the business. You will have support from a Project Manager and Business Analyst, but will still need the judgement and flexibility to operate across change, project delivery and business analysis when required.

What you’ll be doing

• Building strong relationships with business stakeholders, subject matter experts, operational teams and delivery partners.
• Gathering, understanding and translating business, process, technology and capability requirements into practical delivery activity.
• Leading internal change and improvement projects, including process, system and billing-related changes.
• Working with the Project Manager and Business Analyst to shape plans, milestones, risks, dependencies and governance requirements.
• Assessing business impacts and readiness, identifying barriers to implementation and helping teams prepare for change.
• Coordinating activity across functions, resolving delivery challenges and escalating risks or issues where needed.
• Developing appropriate stakeholder engagement, communication, learning and adoption approaches for each initiative.
• Ensuring new processes, systems, tools and ways of working are embedded effectively and handed over into operational teams.
• Tracking delivery, adoption and benefits, using insight and feedback to recommend improvements.
• Contributing to stage gates, governance forums, status reporting and lessons learned activity.
• Championing practical, people-centred change and identifying opportunities to improve or automate ways of working, including through digital and AI-enabled tools.

What you’ll bring to the role

• You will be comfortable working in a fast-moving programme where priorities can shift and progress depends on bringing different parts of the business together.
• Strong relationship management is essential, alongside the ability to listen, interpret what is needed and turn it into a clear and workable plan.
• Experience delivering change, project or business improvement activity within a complex organisation.
• Strong stakeholder management and relationship-building skills, with the confidence to work across operational, technical and functional teams.
• The ability to gather and interpret business requirements, ask the right questions and translate detail into practical recommendations and actions.
• Good planning, organisation and problem-solving skills, with an understanding of project governance, risks, dependencies and stage gates.
• Experience supporting change impacts, readiness, communication, learning or adoption activity.
• Excellent communication, facilitation and influencing skills.
• A collaborative and flexible approach, with the ability to work independently while making effective use of specialist support around you.
• Water industry or strong Southern Water business knowledge. This is particularly important because the programme is already in flight and the successful candidate will need to get up to speed quickly.
• A formal qualification in change management, project delivery, business analysis or continuous improvement would be useful, but is not essential.
• We are equally interested in people with strong business knowledge, the right mindset and the potential to develop their project delivery capability.

About Southern Water

Southern Water is at the forefront of transforming Britain’s water industry, investing significantly to enhance resilience, sustainability, and service excellence. With £7.8bn planned investment for 2025-30, this is an unparalleled opportunity to join a business committed to delivering a generational shift in the way water services are managed.

You will be joining at a time of significant change, working alongside a highly skilled leadership team with a clear vision for the future. We offer an environment where senior professionals can make a meaningful impact, influence major strategic decisions, and drive long-term value creation.

Our mission is to protect and enhance life through water and we need passionate people to help us achieve it. If you’re inspired by our purpose and believe you can contribute, apply today. You don’t need to meet every criterion; what matters most is your drive to make a difference.

If this role isn’t quite what you’re looking for but are keen to be contacted about opportunities at Southern Water, you can register your details here: Introduce Yourself (myworkdaysite.com- Introduce Yourself)

Our Commitment to Diversity

We welcome applicants from all backgrounds, identities, and experiences. We do not discriminate based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, or any other protected characteristic. If you need reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know.

Additional information

In line with Southern Water’s security requirements, successful candidates will be required to provide evidence of their identity, eligibility to work in the UK, criminal record check (DBS) and verification of their employment and/or education history for the past three years.

Appointment to this role is subject to the successful completion of all pre‑employment checks, including security vetting.

Please note that if a candidate does not meet the required security standards or fails to pass the vetting process, Southern Water reserves the right to withdraw the offer of employment. Some positions may also require higher levels of security vetting, which may involve providing additional documentation.

Welcome

Our purpose is big. Our impact is huge. And we know that every single one of us has the power, through our actions, to positively change society and the environment for good. It’s why careers with us have real meaning. Because, if you’re driven and ambitious, we can offer you huge opportunities for personal growth, professional development and constant innovation. Forever evolving. Forever focused on doing the right thing, we empower and encourage everyone to play to their strengths and to help us shape a fair and positive future for all. We believe in Water for Life. If you do too, Dive Right In.

We succeed together

Our customers are at the heart of everything we do, because delivering water for life is our core purpose. To achieve this, we need 24/7 support in place to resolve incidents quickly and efficiently. All our employees understand the importance of out-of-hours incident support – because when problems appear, fixing them is our top priority. That’s why our people join together and support when and however needed to make sure our customers get the service they deserve. Joining the Southern Water family means you’ll become part of our incident support team. During your interview, your manager will speak to you about any incident support rotas that apply to your position.

Need flexibility in your work?

Does this opportunity excite you but you’re not 100% sure if you meet all the requirements for the role? Or are you concerned that ‘normal’ office hours aren’t possible given your personal circumstances? Whilst we can’t accommodate every flexible working request, we’ll try to find a practical solution. So why not engage with us and find out more about this role?