Salary: £60k per annum 

Contract: 30 Months fixed term temporary contract linked to the 50l Home PIlot

Reports to: Head of Policy and Research, Waterwise 

Hours: Full time (40 hours per week including one hour lunch break each day) 

Start date: ASAP

Location: Home-based. Ideally in or close to London where the pilot will be undertaken.

Annual leave: 27 days FTE per annum plus Bank holidays (22 days FTE per annum whilst the 4 day week is in place) 

The Opportunity

We have an exciting new opportunity for you to work with Waterwise to help deliver a groundbreaking water-saving pilot project in London, on behalf of the 50L Home coalition. 

We are looking for an experienced Programme Manager to oversee the set-up and delivery of the London 50L Home pilot - engaging with the coalition partners; solution providers, public participants and with national and local stakeholders to deliver a home water (and energy) retrofit pilot project ensuring that it progresses to programme and budget. 

The role would start as soon as possible and run for 30 months. The Programme Manager would be hosted within Waterwise - engaged by us on either a fixed term contract or a long-term secondment into Waterwise.

Key Responsibilities

• Project Planning: work with the 50L Home Coalition to develop and maintain a Research Plan detailing the tasks, resources, governance, budgets and timeline required for the successful implementation of the pilot. 

• Project Management: undertake day-to-day project management of the pilot, including oversight of subcontractors and consultants; Pilot budget and spend tracking and participant, partner and stakeholder management

• Contract Management: set up contracts and manage the key suppliers and subcontractors needed to deliver the project (e.g. Installation Manager, Behaviour Change Manager, Data Manager)

• Participant Enrolment: Work with partner organisations to recruit the participants taking part in the pilot 

• Monitoring Device Installation: Work with an installation partner to ensure that all the homes in the pilot have had water and energy monitoring devices installed 

• Participant Surveys: Work with a behaviour change partner organisation before, during and after the pilot to survey project participants to assess their knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding water conservation as well as their experiences with the consumables provided and fittings installed

• Provision of Consumable Devices and Fittings: liaise with the 50L Home Coalition to agree the consumables and fittings to be used and arrange for their installation in a selection of the pilot homes working with an installation partner

• Progress Reporting: provide regular progress reports and updates and take part in regular project management calls with the 50L Home team and project sponsors

• Final Reporting: lead the preparation of a report that presents the findings and learnings from the pilot in terms of both awareness and behavioural changes and water and energy saved

• Dissemination: support the 50L Coalition partners in disseminating information about the pilot and its learnings

• Bid Support: Support the 50L Home Coalition in bidding for funding to extend the pilot

The above is not an exhaustive list of activities but hopefully gives you a sense of the role  and requirements. 

Person Specification

We need someone who is proactive and a self-starter, with excellent communication and organisational skills. You will have a track record in successful Programme Management. Experience in managing home efficiency retrofit programmes would also be very relevant to this role and should be brought out in your application using examples.

Essential Knowledge, Skills and Behaviours

• Experience in Programme and Project Management supported by underpinning Project Management training

• Experience in bidding for project funding

• Experience in setting and managing programme and project budgets 

• Experience in managing others to deliver bids and projects on time and to budget

• Good interpersonal skills to work collaboratively with a range of stakeholders, including clients, contractors and the public

• Strong organisational skills, including the ability to plan and work proactively to meet deadlines

• Excellent attention to detail 

• Ability to positively promote Waterwise, 50L Home Coalition and their work

• Ability to work flexibly within a small team that works from home

• Ability to manage own time and prioritise tasks

• Ability to communicate across the team about your work and workload

• Commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion and wellbeing 

• Eligibility to work in the UK

You will be working closely with the 50L Home Coalition Partners, some of whom are based outside the UK. Whilst the bulk of the role will be able to be undertaken in normal UK working hours (e.g. 9am to 5pm), some flexibility will be needed to engage with partners in any planned meetings that fall outside of these hours.

Please note that at Waterwise we work a Four Day Week, under voluntary agreements which all staff members sign. This means that you will be contracted and paid as full-time but you will sign a voluntary agreement stating that you commit to employing efficiency tools both individual and team-wide to deliver and be paid for 5 days work within four normal 9 to 5 days - the office is closed on Fridays. Training will be provided and you will be expected to continue to refresh your training and to keep up use of the efficiency tools. Annual leave is also pro rata’d. More information on a Four Day Week can be found here. We can answer any questions you may have about this at interview.

Who are Waterwise? 

Waterwise is the leading independent voice in the UK for using water wisely, for the benefit of people and the planet. Our vision is that water is used wisely every day, everywhere, by everyone. We are the UK’s conscience on water efficiency, on behalf of people and the planet, and are experts in water efficiency policy, regulation, research, behaviour and campaigns. Our Waterwise Strategic Direction to 2030, published in August 2022, tells you a bit more about us. Our UK Water Efficiency Strategy to 2030 tells you a bit more about our ambition.

Waterwise is a people-led organisation which prioritises the wellbeing of its staff and we put staff wellbeing first, and our staff surveys show that our team knows, feels and appreciates this. Our values are 

People: We will prioritise staff wellbeing, be an inclusive, kind and positive team. 

Purpose: We will deliver independent and ambitious leadership to drive social and  political change on water efficiency 

Pioneer: We will be forward-thinking and visionary in our approach, being brave and  innovative in challenging the status quo 

Passion: We will campaign to protect water and the planet and work to keep our own  environmental impact as low as possible

At Waterwise, we’re committed to driving equity and preventing discrimination at work and in the work we do. Please see more on this below. 

What is the 50L Home Coalition?

The 50L Home is a holistic vision to transform building systems and communities for a water-efficient and low carbon future. Their vision is a future where 50L (13 gallons) of daily water consumption per person per day feels like 500L (132 gallons) at low carbon. The Coalition brings companies, civil society organizations, intergovernmental organisations, local governments and knowledge leaders together to develop, scale and implement innovations for systems level change in domestic urban water management as well as responsible and highly efficient water and energy usage in the home.

Benefits 

At Waterwise the wellbeing of our employees is our number one priority. To recognise the  fantastic work our team does in driving water efficiency, and to support their wellbeing, we  have a wide range of employee benefits, beyond statutory commitments. These include: 

• Positive, values-based environment and an inclusive culture where it feels safe for  employees to say ‘no’ on grounds of workload 

• Strong emphasis from CEO on wellbeing and workload management 

• Homeworking and a small allowance for occasional shared office working 

• Four Day Week - being paid full-time but working 80% of this (or pro rata equivalent), in exchange for using tools to work efficiently - for full-time employees this equates to a day off every week, in addition to annual leave

• Flexible working 

• Part-time working 

• 27 days annual leave per annum for full-time employees (or pro rata equivalent for part-time colleagues), plus Bank Holidays (pro rata’d to 22 days full-time equivalent as we work a Four Day Week)

• Death in service benefit at x2 of salary 

• Paid chartered and professional memberships 

• Individual and team training budgets 

• Maternity leave and maternity adoption leave beyond statutory 

• Childcare costs for activities undertaken outside normal working hours 

• Sickness pay beyond statutory 

Equity, diversity and inclusion 

At Waterwise, we’re committed to driving equity and preventing discrimination at work and in the work we do. We know that simply having a diverse workforce is not enough. We want to create an inclusive environment within Waterwise and in our work and events, where everyone can contribute their best and develop to their full potential. We celebrate and value how different everyone is, and we work hard to ensure everyone is treated with dignity and respect. This aligns with our ‘People’ value that we will prioritise staff wellbeing, and will be an inclusive, kind and positive team.

Please see our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Statement here. 

We are committed to treating all current and prospective employees fairly and to ensuring  that our workplace and employment practices are free from discrimination, harassment or  victimisation on the grounds of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil  partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. We  strongly encourage applicants from a wide range of backgrounds and with different identities and experiences to apply. Everyone in our team has a role to play in helping Waterwise become more diverse and inclusive, and we hope you will join us for this next stage in our journey. 

We want to ensure that our recruitment process is inclusive of and accessible for everyone.  If you are interested in applying for a role with us and think you may need some additional support or reasonable adjustments made to any part of the recruitment process, please get  in touch on the email address below.

How to apply 

To apply for this role, you will need to answer role-related questions. Please provide evidence and examples from your work history or other aspects of your life to  answer the questions and demonstrate how you meet the criteria required. Please refer to the person specification when you are doing this.

Our goal is to remove bias from the hiring process and so rather than asking you for a CV and cover letter, we have set up role-related questions which will allow us to assess your approach to a problem and understand what knowledge and skills you have. Your answers will be anonymised, randomised and reviewed by the selection panel. We will use these scores to shortlist for interviews. We also think giving feedback is incredibly valuable for candidates, so at the end of the process, you'll see how well you performed during the application process.  

The closing date for applications is 23:59pm on 23rd March 2025. There will be a two-stage interview process. First interviews will be held on 14th & 15th April 2025 and second interviews will be held on 6th May 2025.  First interviews will be held online via Zoom and second interviews will be held in person or hybrid (venue TBC, London).