Head of Central Control Operations – Customer Experience 

12-month fixed term Maternity Cover – Secondment from Sept 2024

This is a pivotal role in leading the control operation, emergency preparedness, incident management, driving the realisation of our alarms network investment and asset focussed triage, planning and scheduling. This role will have a variety of key cross functional projects to lead across the organisation and is a hugely influential role to help drive the right culture and mindset to help us evolve towards a prevention culture.

Yorkshire Water’s strategy is clear – creating a thriving Yorkshire, Right for Customers and Right for the Environment.  We are fortunate to serve the hearty people of Yorkshire and across the region, we have c4000 colleagues that help serve over 5m customers.  Our Central control team is made up of circa 200 colleagues all super focused towards maintaining and looking after the huge asset base that we have across Yorkshire. Our ambition is clear, as we move into the next five year cycle, we will continue investing in our network, installing alarm monitoring capabilities and this team will need to focus on how we use the data and insight generated to drive the right operational actions.

We are looking for a transformational and inspiring leader to take our Central Control organisation to the next level in safeguarding our network through a world class team monitoring and maintain our network. A key member of the Customer Experience leadership team, you will need to be able to influence across different areas of the business to drive performance and results using agility and a growth mindset.

About the role

You will create an inclusive environment that values different perspectives, teamwork, and collaboration, and where everyone can make a difference and reach their potential.

You will be customer focused, with responsibility for creating and implementing a clear network and service vision and strategy. You will lead a central control operation that brings lifetime network and customer value with the aspiration of delivering on our brand promise of delivering experiences fuelled with ease, care and value.

As a leader you will build key relationships across the rest of the Customer Experience team and critically with our Clean, Waste and Capital Delivery teams.  You will use your influencing skills to ensure that we keep the customer at the heart of everything we do and relentlessly drive towards our ambition of always getting things right for our customers. 

What you will need to bring to the role
•    Strong leadership skills with demonstrable experience leading operational specialists with the ability to engage and influence a 24/7 shift based workforce.
•    The resilience, energy and drive to lead a fast paced working environment, comfortable working within periods of uncertainty 
•    Experience of strategically leading company level incident management and business continuity at all stages, from preparedness and resilience through to response and recovery
•    Operational experience with an attention to detail that will ensure comprehensive and complaint service to customers and the environment, whilst transforming to industry leading performance
•    Experience in delivering continuous improvement across operations to meet the strategic, financial, and operational objectives of the business.
•    Bring a transformation mindset that will drive the business to develop and adopt innovative technologies and new capabilities at pace. Develop a learning mindset with teams to seek external best practice and constantly evolve our capabilities in this space
•    Excellent communication and influence skills with the ability to bring key stakeholders along our Central Control transformation and ensure that the ambitions for your area of the business are represented in all key business workstreams
•    Implement a performance culture and routine within the team to unleash their full potential through regular 1:1s, coaching, setting stretching objectives and providing regular feedback on performance and results 
•    Demonstrable experience working within a national multi-agency approach and managing multiple direct regulatory relationships 

The Central Control team will be based in Bradford and the role holder is expected to spend the optimal time needed with their team. We do offer the flexibility to work on a hybrid basis, with the expectation that you will regularly work from our Bradford HQ to support the service teams, in person meetings and other leadership activities.

If you’re an experienced Customer Experience professional and want to help us deliver exceptional service for our customers whilst protecting the environment, then apply today to find out what a career with Yorkshire Water can offer for you.

We are proud to serve the Yorkshire region and are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment that is reflective of the communities we serve. We strongly encourage candidates of all different backgrounds to apply. 

If successful for the role, you will be required to undergo pre-employment checks that will include a Basic Disclosure Check, carried out through a Third Party Company, prior to commencing employment. Depending on the role, you may also be required to go through the security vetting process for either a Counter Terrorist Check or Security Check clearance.  

Kelda Group reserve the right to close this position before the published closing date, should the need occur. We therefore advise that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible.