Stakeholder Engagement Lead

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 three Senior Associate Stakeholder Engagement Leads to join our Communications and EngagementTeam within the Office of the Chief Executive 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

At this crucial time for the water sector, we are recruiting to threeStakeholder Engagement Lead roles to ensure we plan and deliver effective external engagement and communications to ensure the success of key strategic programmes.

Each Stakeholder Engagement Lead role will be assigned to one of the following three priority areas for Ofwat:

1. Water efficiency campaign

• One of the available roles will be focused on our water efficiency campaign, Let's Save Water. Let's Save Water is a cross-regulatory behaviour change initiative co-owned by Ofwat, DEFRA, the Environment Agency, Natural England, the Drinking Water Inspectorate, Natural Resources Wales, and water companies. This is a high-profile campaign addressing one of England and Wales's most pressing environmental challenges, and you'll be at the heart of making it happen.

2. RAPID (Regulators' Alliance for Progressing Infrastructure Development)

• We're also looking for an experienced engagement professional to promote and explain the work of RAPID to a variety of stakeholders. RAPID is a partnership between Ofwat, the Environment Agency and the Drinking Water Inspectorate, established in 2019 to accelerate the development of major water supply infrastructure. Through the Major Water Infrastructure Programme we are overseeing a pipeline of around 30 projects set out at Price Review 2024 and recently consulted on expanding RAPID's role to include the development of large-scale wastewater and other strategically important infrastructure projects.

3. Cross-cutting

• We also have one cross-cutting role, which will lead work within our central Stakeholder Engagement team across a range of priority programmes and activities.

Key deliverables:

In this role you will be expected to:

• Develop, coordinate and deliver stakeholder engagement plans ensuring stakeholder views and insight are known and considered as part of key projects and programmes.
• Advise Ofwat's senior leaders on their engagement with key stakeholders, including in bilateral meetings, speaking engagements and visits.
• Work effectively and build strong relationships with key stakeholders and partners, ensuring high-quality standards of engagement are consistently delivered across projects and supporting effective and efficient coordination of our work plans.
• Deliver proactive external monitoring, capturing key insights and sharing these effectively to inform future engagement and internal decision-making. Oversee sentiment tracking and wider evaluation measures to ensure the successful delivery of engagement activity and continuous improvement of our approach.
• Work proactively with the wider Communications and Engagement team, sharing appropriate insights and working collaboratively across audiences and channels will support shared objectives.
• Manage and design speaking engagements, events and visits, working in partnership with stakeholders to design engaging and purposeful activities that build relationships, support effective communication of key messages, and support two-way engagement.
• Produce high-quality written and verbal communications to support stakeholder engagement, including briefing materials, key messages, speeches and presentations.

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: Strong experience in designing and delivering strategic stakeholder engagement plans to support corporate priorities, including objective setting, strategy design and evaluation.
2. Experience in building and maintaining strong relationships with stakeholders, both internally and externally and including senior leaders.
3. Excellent verbal and written communication skills and attention to detail including the ability to write clearly and in a tailored way for a range of audiences.
4. The ability to work collaboratively with people across teams and levels, ensuring the effective involvement of a range of partners in the development and delivery of engagement plans. Including experience working with external stakeholders, agencies or contractors to deliver campaigns, projects or events.
5. Experience in monitoring of external landscape and stakeholders, analysing key developments and communicating insights internally to inform policy development and decision making.
6. Experience working in a fast-paced, high-profile environment, and able to confidently adapt to changing priorities.
7. Experience of management and design of speaking engagements, events and visits, including managing the involvement of high-profile and senior colleagues and stakeholders in these activities.

Attributes

8. You are focussed on delivering outcomes in a dynamic environment.
9. You promote collaborat