Associate Director - Water

RPS; East Midlands; Hybrid; GBP 100,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading consultancy in the water sector is seeking an Associate Director to manage and lead the Analytics and Software teams. The role involves ensuring project delivery, building strong client relationships, and leading a multi-disciplinary team. Candidates should have extensive experience in project management in the water sector, strong commercial acumen, and excellent leadership skills. This position offers a company car, a performance-based bonus, and a commitment to employee well-being.

Benefits

Company car

Performance-based bonus

Generous pension contribution

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in leadership and management in the water sector.
• Proven experience in bid delivery and winning client work.
• Commitment to health, safety, and wellbeing.
• Commercially complex programme delivery capability.
• Ability to build and mentor teams.
• Experience in analytical projects and/or software development.
• Excellent inter-personal skills.

Responsibilities

• Leadership and management of delivery teams.
• Ensure project delivery and commercial performance targets are met.
• Develop strong client relationships.
• Create project delivery strategies to meet client needs.
• Identify innovative solutions aligned with client goals.
• Coordinate project delivery across the team.
• Manage resource planning and risks.
• Support growth opportunities across the UK.

Skills

Leadership

Project Management

Client Relationship Management

Commercial Acumen

Communication Skills

Negotiation Skills

Analytical projects

Job description

Overview

RPS has an opportunity for an Associate Director within our Clean Water Technical Team. The Associate Director will be responsible for the overall management, direction and performance of our Analytics and Software teams, as well as for building strong client relationships. This is a unique opportunity for a candidate with experience in leading the delivery of large operational and technical programmes of work in the water/wastewater sector. As a key member of a dynamic and ambitious leadership team, you will work directly alongside our Technical Director and with a team of Senior Managers charged with delivering significant programmes of projects to challenging timescales and budgets.

About The Team: RPS Water Consulting is a team of Engineers, Modellers, and Data Analysts providing Asset Management and Operational Strategy development to our Water Industry clients to support business planning and delivery. This is an evolving industry, providing challenges and opportunities that require innovation, dedication, and teamwork to help us meet our clients’ needs. In addition to the Analytics and Software teams, we also deliver a range of other technical delivery and clean water modelling services for several other major water companies across the UK. We have a broad portfolio of long-term framework agreements in place, where you’ll be securing your career for the next 20 years, leaving a lasting legacy!

About You

As a key member of the Water Consultancy business, your role Associate Director is critical to helping us deliver great projects for our Water Industry clients. You will be working alongside a multi-disciplinary team of water project experts on a range of projects. You will have a substantial opportunity to contribute towards technical expertise across various frameworks. Our scope of work encompasses a wide range of technically demanding projects in the field of Clean Water and software provision. By joining us, you\'re not just taking on exciting projects and collaborating with leading minds. You\'re making a meaningful impact on millions of lives the UK, leaving a legacy for generations to come. As a valuable member of our team, you\'ll play a crucial role in the water industry, and work with the largest water companies in the region, ensuring a positive and enduring influence on the communities we serve. If you\'re ready to contribute your skills and expertise to a dynamic and innovative environment, we invite you to join us on this exciting journey.

Your Responsibilities

The Associate Director, working with the Technical Director, has responsibility for overall project delivery and commercial performance. Key duties and responsibilities include:

• Leadership and management of delivery teams.
• Ensuring that project delivery and commercial performance deadlines and targets are achieved.
• Development and maintenance of strong relationships with key client contacts to understand strategic direction and their service/programme risks, issues and needs.
• Development of project delivery strategies to support client needs, with associated training, development, recruitment and/or innovation plans to ensure delivery of these strategies.
• Identification and cultivation of innovative and optimised technical solutions aligned with client requirements and objectives.
• Consolidation and coordination of project delivery across the clean water team to drive efficiencies.
• Resource planning and management.
• Identification of escalated project risks and opportunities, together with risk and opportunity mitigation and management.
• Identification, implementation and support of growth opportunities across the UK.

Skills, Knowledge, And Experience

The Associate Director will be a pragmatic individual with the ability to work in collaboration with a range of stakeholders to drive successful delivery. Key requirements include:

• Extensive experience in the leadership and management of people and in leading the delivery of major projects/programmes in the water sector.
• Proven experience bid delivery and winning client work.
• A commitment to a strong culture of health, safety and wellbeing.
• Commercial acumen and the ability to deliver commercially complex framework programmes successfully.
• Proven ability to build and mentor teams and drive collaborative behaviours.
• Proven ability to co-ordinate and facilitate teams to deliver successful outcomes at project and programme level through a balance of strategic and tactical approaches.
• Experience preferable in analytical projects and/or software development.
• Excellent inter-personal, leadership and communication skills.
• Skilled in collaborative negotiation.

What’s in it for you?

You’ll be offered a company car, a performance-based bonus, and a generous 7.5% employer pension contribution—rising to 10% after five years in the plan. A personal development plan and a transparent career pathway puts you in the driving seat of your career and you will be supported as far as you want to go. We encourage and value different ideas, perspectives, and styles of thinking. We need a mix of experiences and skills to develop the most innovative ideas. We respect one another and recognise the potential and contribution of everyone. You’ll be joining a diverse community and a company that puts its people first and prioritises their well-being. A career here is far from ordinary. Here you’re not a number, you are part of the solution. We’re a connected community, working together to achieve exceptional outcomes. We understand the need to work flexibly, empowering our people to create a work-life balance that’s right for them. We also understand the importance of collaboration and social connection in the office environment. With agile offices and hybrid working offered as standard, we trust our people to find the right balance to meet client needs – this is a workplace that works for you.

RPS, A Tetra Tech Company

Mutual Dignity And Respect

Mindful that a truly welcoming organisation must make appropriate use of talent on a global basis and without unnecessary barriers, we are committed to embedding principles of mutual dignity and respect in all People processes. This approach ensures that we reflect the communities and clients we serve, thereby securing, developing, and retaining the best available talent for the company’s future.

Recruitment Agencies

We have a Preferred Supplier List of trusted partners to assist us when required and do not acknowledge any speculative CVs or unsolicited candidate introductions from agencies not on this list and any submitted will be taken as a gift. Please refer to the careers page on our website if you require any further information.