An exciting opportunity to join our Catchment & Drainage Team and help deliver smart and innovative research and consultancy solutions for our clients.

Location: Wallingford, Oxfordshire (hybrid)

Salary: £45,000 to £65,000 (depending on experience)

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At HR Wallingford, we design smart, resilient solutions across the natural and built environments to help everyone live and work more sustainably with water. By harnessing research, data insights and the power of our collective expertise, we help the world to better understand the changing influence and impact of water.

Our Catchment & Drainage Team are seeking a Water Quality Specialist to join our innovative team. You will provide specialist expertise in water quality to help us tackle some of the world’s most pressing water challenges. As climate change impacts and development pressures rise, water quality protection and improvement is increasingly at the heart of water resources and drainage systems planning and management.

Our Catchments & Drainage and Informatics teams work very closely in developing innovative bespoke tools, platforms and software with an increasing focus on web applications delivering forecasting, modelling and data insights. These are used by our clients to protect communities, infrastructure and the environment while building climate resilience.

The team sits within the Flood and Water Management Group. Across this Group, we have a wide variety of experts including in water resources, flood risk systems analyses, flood forecasting, international climate adaptation and resilience, statistical modelling, data visualisation and management, and the use of earth observation data. Our work cuts across regulatory, government and private sector consultancy and research sectors – both in the UK and internationally, and we are continuously generating new knowledge, skills and tools through our ongoing programme of internally-funded research. Within your role, you would be interacting and developing solutions with staff in all of these fields, in order to win and deliver projects and support clients across the Group.

The Group are recognised for our innovation. We won the ‘Digital Excellence’ category at the Environment Agency’s Flood and Coast Excellence Awards 2024 with our Resilience and Innovation Northants (RAIN) integrated catchment modelling project. Our Intelligent Dam Safety Monitoring (DAMSAT) project won two awards at the New Civil Engineer Techfest Awards and our Dengue forecasting MOdel Satellite-based System (D-MOSS) has won 9 different industry awards. We have recently been successful in securing Ofwat Innovation Funding (with Southern Water) for a national SuDS platform and are one of ten finalists for the Manchester Prize – for which we are being funded to develop an AI sewer spill water quality impact tool.

Key personal attributes:

A good communicator in English – excellent written and verbal communication skills;
Proven ability to analyse and write up data;
Confident in presenting to peers and at industry events;
Excellent critical thinking and complex problem-solving skills;
Ability to drive water quality business and embed this within the Flood & Water Management Team; and
A team player who is committed to helping consolidate and improve water quality skills across the Flood & Water Management Team.

About the role

Working closely with colleagues in the areas of catchment management, sustainable drainage, river morphology, water resources, environment, flood risk management, dams and reservoirs and international development – you will expand our expertise, tools and service offering – embedding water quality in all we do. You will work with clients and colleagues to shape and deliver water projects and research, being at the forefront of advancing innovative solutions and bringing lasting benefits to local communities and the environment.

We are looking for an enthusiastic and highly motivated individual with specialist knowledge and an established track record.

The role will span both research and consultancy projects – requiring both a strong technical background and an awareness of the necessary proposal and project management and delivery skills.

About you

We are looking for someone with:

At least 5 years of experience in water quality studies for the UK water industry and/or environmental regulators;
Broad experience in the application (and ideally also the development) of catchment and in-stream water quality modelling tools;
Ideally, some experience in evaluating the impact of urban diffuse pollution and potential management strategies;
Experience or interest in hydro-ecological modelling;
Good understanding of the UK water industry and environmental regulation, statutory water quality requirements, and emerging government and regulatory priorities;
Evidence of skills in business development and project delivery; and
Good vision of future industry needs and new research and tool development that could support these.

Importantly, we are looking for a team player.

You will have a minimum professional qualification of a Bachelor’s degree in a relevant discipline. A Master’s degree or PhD would be preferable and Chartership through an appropriate institution would be advantageous.

Further information

Salary range: £45,000 – £65,000 (dependant on experience)
Exceptional benefits: Enjoy a defined contribution pension scheme with a minimum 10% employer contribution (matched up to an additional 5%), 25 days of holiday plus bank holidays, life insurance, and health insurance providing dental/optical cash back.
Inclusive culture: Our commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion is embedded in our core values.
Inspiring the next generation: We are passionate about inspiring the next generation of engineers and scientists through outreach with our STEM Ambassadors.
Reach your full potential: We invest in our people, offering a chance to make a real impact from day one.
Work-life balance: We understand the importance of a healthy work-life balance and offer both hybrid working and flexi time. We are also open to exploring other flexible working arrangements, including part-time.

HR Wallingford is a non-profit-distributing organisation allowing us to reinvest into strategic research and innovation. This ensures that our staff have the opportunity to work on exciting research and development projects to create the next-generation tools and technology and to apply them to solve water-related problems around the world in novel ways. Collaboration and team working is at our core, both internally and with industry and academic partners. Consequently, we actively encourage ongoing training and development opportunities and pride ourselves on our open, inclusive and supportive work environment.

How to apply

If you are excited about this role but are unsure about whether you’re the right fit, we encourage you to apply. We’re also happy to answer any questions by emailing careers@hrwallingford.com.

The closing date for this role is 7th October 2024.

Additional information

Our privacy notice for job applicants, available from our website, explains how we collect and process the personal data you may provide us when you apply for a job with us through our websites, or by any other means. This notice also explains how we’ll store and handle that data and keep it.

HR Wallingford are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity in our workplace. We do not discriminate, and work to create an inclusive culture across our business.

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Principal Scientist (Water Quality) – HR Wallingford