Change Lead

Are you passionate about driving real change and helping teams embrace new ways of working? Join Thames Water’s Strategic Operations and Transformation team as a Change Lead, where you’ll play a pivotal role in delivering critical transformation across our core operational divisions. As we embark on significant digitally enabled change, we’re looking for someone who can inspire buy-in, adoption, and enthusiasm for new systems—making change stick for the long term.

You'll bring deep expertise in change management, synthesising insight from diverse sources to assess complex situations and deliver guidance that supports effective decision-making. Success in this role demands a strong grasp of how change management connects with broader business functions to deliver the required outcomes and benefits. Above all, a commitment to providing the best possible experience for Thames Water colleagues during periods of significant change is fundamental.

What you’ll be doing as a Change Lead:
As a Change Lead, you’ll be responsible for shaping and delivering change management strategies that enable our colleagues to embrace, adopt and use the new systems and processes. You’ll

Own and lead the change impact assessment for the projects and programmes under your remit
Design, deploy and manage key change management deliverables such as the change plan, training needs assessment, communications plan and change readiness assessment
Identify and collaborate with Business Change Analysts and Champions within each business area, building a strong internal network for change.
Build and maintain strong relationships with external and internal teams to ensure alignment on goals
Work closely with the change areas to make sure we map out the change impact and dependencies
Manage a team of Change Analysts, providing coaching and development to ensure effective delivery
Manage change to scope, time and budget within agreed tolerances or escalate changes accordingly.

Base location:
Hybrid/ Reading, with occasional travel across the Thames Water sites
Working pattern:
Monday to Friday, 36 hours per week

What you should bring to the role
We’re looking for someone who can lead and influence buy-in for new systems, processes and ways of working. You’ll need:
Significant experience in planning, development and implementation of change management strategies in large-scale transformation projects
Excellent communication with ability to influence a wide range of stakeholders from senior management to end users
Line management experience and management of teams
Experience in budget management and forecasting.
Management of suppliers across the entire delivery life cycle.
Customer-centric delivery experience.
Ability to work effectively with external and internal teams/projects, building strong relationships, and fostering teamwork are essential for successful change initiatives
Deep understanding of how change management integrates with broader business functions, applying strong commercial awareness
Be a strategic thinker with the ability to see the big picture, anticipate challenges, and develop long-term plans.

Required Experience

Experience of delivering change within large-scale transformation projects using a structured change delivery approach
Certification in Change Management (Prosci, APMG) is desired but not essential with demonstrable experience. Certifications in Project management/business improvement like Prince2, Lean Competency System 1c or equivalent, will also be considered

What’s in it for you?

Competitive salary from £61,010 per annum, depending on experience.
Annual Leave – 26 days holiday per year, increasing to 30 with length of service (plus bank holidays)
Car Allowance.
Annual Bonus.
Generous Pension Scheme through AON.
Performance-related pay plan directly linked to company performance measures and targets
Private Medical Health Care.
Access to a wide range of benefits for your health, wellbeing, and finances—including annual health MOTs, physiotherapy, counselling, Cycle to Work schemes, shopping vouchers, and life assurance.

Find out more about our benefits and perks
Who are we?
We’re the UK’s largest water and wastewater company,…