Casework Principal

We are looking for a customer-centric leader to join our growing Casework team at Principal level.

The Casework team is the “front door” for many of the customers and stakeholders who contact Ofwat with enquiries or complaints about the sector or their water company. We investigate and resolve customer disputes or water company failures, to ensure that water and wastewater companies meet their legal obligations to their customers, society, and the environment. The team also assesses applications from companies wanting to be granted a licence to serve customers in the water sector.

As a Principal in the Casework team, you will provide expert management, support, and leadership of our customer enquiries and complaints functions. You will also be responsible for delivering our work to determine disputes between customers and their water company. You will work closely with peers to bolster our leadership capacity and resilience across our licensing and enforcement work, and you will build strong relationships with colleagues internally and externally to identify key issues, anticipate service demand and plan effectively.

More generally, our Principals play a key role in delivery through project and resource planning and line management. You will be expected to support, empower and be a role model for junior members of the team, and to involve yourself in corporate activities that make Ofwat a great place to work. There will also be opportunities to work with colleagues across Ofwat on other programmes and projects to raise understanding of our casework and enforcement work and role, share expertise and deliver joint projects.

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

The successful candidates for these roles will be expected to:

• Lead and maintain a high-quality casework service that consistently achieves service level agreements.
• Successfully manage the delivery of casework and enforcement investigations (as necessary, under the Water Industry Act 1991 and the Competition Act 1998) and/or policy projects.
• Lead the development of policy and process improvement to support delivery by the Casework and Enforcement teams and working across Ofwat as appropriate.
• Provide visible leadership and guidance to members of the Casework and Enforcement team to help develop the skills and experience of its junior members and to continue to support all members’ professional development. As a leader in Ofwat, you will also role model our values and ways of working.
• Act as a People Leader and/or Project Manager, taking on budget management responsibilities and, where appropriate, people management responsibilities in line with Ofwat’s Governance Framework.
• Create and champion an inclusive working environment that supports growth, well-being, and continuous improvement in our delivery.
• Listen to, influence and work with complex, and sometimes challenging external stakeholders to optimise the impact of our work, including customers, water companies, representative bodies and Government departments. You must be able to establish and maintain these relationships and operate independently of senior management where necessary and appropriate.
• Engage effectively with internal stakeholders to share insights and expertise from and for our casework and enforcement activities, so that we are maximising synergies with related work areas and effectively focusing our combined efforts to deliver better outcomes for customers and the environment.
• Strongly contribute to Ofwat’s wider leadership, by engaging, contributing and supporting our work to make Ofwat a great place to work.