Director, Major Water Infrastructure Programme PMO

Job summary

We are Ofwat, the Water Services Regulation Authority, a non-ministerial government department responsible for regulating the water sector in England and Wales.

We have an opportunity for a Director, Major Water Infrastructure Programme PMO to join our Major Projects Leadership Team within the Major Projects Directorate.

The water sector is entering a new chapter. The government has set out a bold new direction, bringing together expertise from across the sector to deliver better outcomes for customers and the environment. We are collaborating with fellow regulators to respond to recommendations in The Independent Water Commission Report, the Welsh Government’s response to the Green Paper, Shaping the Future of Water Governance in Wales, and the Government’s White Paper, A new vision for water.

Ofwat is working with the government and other regulators to help create a new body for England, bringing together our strengths with those of the Drinking Water Inspectorate, the Environment Agency and Natural England. We are also continuing to work with the Welsh Government to support decisions on the future arrangements for Wales.

While these changes take shape, our mission remains the same: to hold water companies to account, drive performance, and ensure the sector delivers real value for customers, communities, and the environment. If you’re passionate about making a difference, this is a unique moment to join us and help shape the future of water, and together we can continue to make a positive impact.

You can find out more about why you should join Ofwat, our strategy, values and our framework for success in the attached Information for Candidates Pack.

Job description

The RAPID (Regulators Alliance for Progressing Infrastructure Development) and Major Projects directorates are responsible for enabling the delivery of over 30 major projects as part of the Major Water Infrastructure Programme (MWIP). These projects are critical for the long-term security and resilience of public water supplies in England and Wales, as well as enabling economic growth and delivering environmental benefits by reducing unsustainable abstraction. The total programme value is circa £50bn.

Working closely together, the two Directorates provide oversight, challenge and support to Water Companies through the optioneering, development, procurement, and delivery of these projects, driving value for money for customers and ensuring sustainable outcomes.

The Major Projects and RAPID directorates comprise a team of c.45 members with significant water resources, economist, commercial, private finance and project delivery expertise, as well as using of a wide range of external advisory support. We are a growing team at an early stage of shaping a significant, high profile and exciting programme. Our work and the teams are growing and this role will be at the core of shaping our future approach.

The MWIP PMO Director role is critical to strengthening programme assurance, delivery confidence and regulatory oversight across the Major Water Infrastructure Programme.

Leading the MWIP PMO function, the successful applicant must be a strategic thinker with an ambitious approach and a commitment to quality. Articulate and influential, you must also be highly organised, with strong analytical, stakeholder engagement and leadership skills, and able to provide authoritative, data-driven check and challenge to support robust programme performance.

The role serves both RAPID and Major Projects functions, spanning the full life cycle of the MWIP programme. Reporting to the Senior Director, Major Projects, you will be a member of the Major Projects Leadership Team (MPLT) as well as the RAPID Leadership Team.

Key deliverables:

In this role you will be expected to:

• Shape the future of the PMO function, setting out a clear long-term destination as well as running shorter sprints to deliver improvements. In shaping the direction, you will engage and gain buy-in from RAPID and Major Project's Directors/Senior Directors.
• Provide authoritative, data-driven check and challenge to project teams, moving the PMO beyond coordination and reporting to provide proactive challenge of programme performance, delivery confidence and the robustness of delivery plans.
• Shape the approach to aggregating data across organisations and the programme, creating a programme-wide view that enables comparability, trend analysis, benchmarking and actionable insight to improve oversight and delivery performance.
• Implement proportionate project controls, including the people, processes and services needed to support specific tasks such as risk, issue, dependency, schedule and benefits management, ensuring risks and issues are visible through routine reporting and addressed proactively with Ofwat, partner regulators and companies.
• Manage the deployment of internal capability and external consultant support, where required, to build and mature the PMO function and ensure services are aligned to programme priorities and delivery needs.
• Developing the team's capability and confidence, through coaching, role modelling and provision of development opportunities.
• Build strong and effective relationships, particularly with other MP and RAPID Directors as well as partner regulators and Water Companies.
• Inspiring and promoting learning and knowledge sharing across relevant sectors.
• Maintain and evolve a diverse and inclusive culture within the organisation where our people are representative of the communities we serve, and everyone is valued, treated fairly, and empowered to thrive. You will also support our people to sustain a work life balance and get the best from hybrid working.
• Engage in the development of the MP and RAPID strategies and approaches, in line with our SAILOR values. Working with other Directors in maturing our ways of working and co-ordination of change.
• Lead and coordinate internal communications across the programme as well as programme related communication with partner regulators and companies. (external communications is the responsibility of others).

Person specification

To be successful in this role you will need the below essential attributes, experience, skills and knowledge:

Experience, skills and knowledge

1. Lead Criterion: Significant experience of leading PMO, project controls and/or programme assurance functions within major projects or complex programmes.
2. Lead Criterion: An inclusive leadership style which inspires, motivates, and promotes collaboration to develop high performing, innovative and inclusive teams.
3. Capable of leading, implementing and evaluating change in business processes, systems, teams and people.
4. Demonstrable experience of stakeholder engagement and getting a wide range of conflicting views aligned.
5. Strong understanding of major project delivery and the controls needed to support effective oversight and performance manage