Water Network Operations Manager

We are Uisce Éireann. Every day, we are responsible for the delivery of secure, safe, and sustainable water services for the people of Ireland. As Ireland’s national regulated water utility, our vision is a sustainable Ireland where water is respected and protected, for the planet and all the lives it supports.

Our purpose at Uisce Éireann is to rise to the challenge of delivering transformative water services that enable communities to thrive. That means we are proud to take on the responsibility of protecting our water supply and passing on a safe and secure water system to a rapidly growing population and empowering Ireland’s social and economic growth.

So, we’re passionate about helping our people to do the best work of their lives, to enable them to make a positive difference to communities all over Ireland. Our aim is to attract and develop talented and skilled people with diverse backgrounds and an evolving range of expertise and insight. We believe that such a strong workforce will help us achieve our goals and allow us to continue investing in, and advancing, Ireland’s water services.

The Role

The Asset Operations function forms the cornerstone of service delivery to customers, protecting the environment and meeting regulatory standards as well as managing the majority of operational expenditure. The Asset Operations function has responsibility for operational and maintenance strategy, policies, planning and standard operating procedures for Water and Wastewater operations both nationally and regionally, ensuring that value for money and customer service is delivered. 

The O&M team is responsible for the national delivery of water and wastewater operational services through the operation, inspection, maintenance & repair of the water and wastewater network assets. The Regional O&M Team has a regional remit and is responsible for the regional operational management of water & Wastewater network assets and the associated delivery of water services through operational, maintenance and repair activities, while managing health and safety. The team is also responsible for the implementation of the regional operations, maintenance and repair plan that forms part of the national operations, maintenance and repair plan, contributing to the development, management, implementation and approval of same. Managing change and transformation activities is a key aspect of this team's responsibility particularly in the initial phases as the regional operations team splits into separate water and wastewater teams and ways of working are standardised.

Reporting to the Water Regional O&M Senior Manager, the Water Network Operations Manager has a regional remit and is responsible for managing the provision and performance of water network services to ensure water quality compliance and customer service standards. The Water Network Manager will be responsible for the safe operation and maintenance of water network assets in a given region, to prevent environmental and customer impact, whilst improving asset performance and efficiency.

The Water Network Operations Manager will have direct management of field-based teams and will be responsible for the implementation of the Employer’s policies and procedures in relation to HSQE at Work, Incident Reporting and management of Operational Contractors working on our Assets and Networks.

They will support IDD and Minor Capital programmes in terms of ensuring that they are facilitated by Asset Operations. They will also identify operational standards deficits and areas for improvement and will coordinate the investment processes. 

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

• Manage the planned and reactive maintenance and repair teams activities across the water network infrastructure in a safe and hygienic manner including control of valve operations, treated water storage, trunk mains, pumping stations distribution networks and their associated fittings, repairs of bursts and leaks, water mains and services and associated fittings replacements, water meters and customer boundary box, cleaning of service reservoirs, replacing valves and hydrants, and undertake tests following repairs to pipes and pumps, in order to deliver consistent customer service.
• Responsible for management and oversight of the effective provision of operational services in water, below ground, to include in the region through management of the operation of the assets and of the field-based water network teams.
• Regular liaison & collaboration with the Water Treatment Manager and Leakage Manager in ensuring the effective treatment & delivery of water in the geographical areas.
• Liaise with Local Authorities management and oversee the requirements for efficient maintenance of service and ways of working in the transition from the Service Level Agreement to the renewed Contract for Services. 
• Manage the overall budget allocated to the Water Network teams to ensure delivery of services within budget and identify and manage any risks to budgets ensuring necessary approvals process is followed and Finance function is engaged with to mitigate risks. This will include overall material consumption and inventory management, including identifying efficiencies and balancing conflicting priorities as required. Approve Purchase Requisitions, including reactive and retrospective requests in line with Procurement Policies and processes. 
• Oversee the extended rollout of Uisce Éireann systems for Work Management, including Maximo, and advocate for the use of their complete functionality throughout the Field Force. 
• Provide regular reports on regional operational progress to the Regional Water Operations and Maintenance Manager as may be required.
• Oversee, in strong liaison with the Portfolio Operations Specialists, the integration and commissioning of new assets from capital investments into operational phase.
• Responsible for liaising and collaborating with Asset Planning to support the definition and management of the investment plan, specifically; understanding the asset base (performance & condition), conducting risk assessments, needs identification and intervention generation. 
• Manage event response and ensure the prompt response to alarms, the provision of emergency cover and resolution of issues and incidents on water network infrastructure assets.
• Direct the maintenance and repair of non-domestic water meters, including undertaking site investigations and removing and replacing meters, liaising with the Metering Services team as appropriate.
• Manage the teams to inform the customer about issues and resolutions, investigate and follow up on escalated customer complaints/local representative in order to support the delivery of a consistent customer service and manage the risk associated with public health and compliance.
• Ensure adherence and compliance with all health and safety procedures, legislation, practices, (including Risk Assessments, Safe System of Work Plan etc.), use of PPE, the closure of Health and Safety items and training required duties under the Construction Regulations. 
• Ensure the management and operation of Uisce Éireann vehicles and machinery in a responsible manner in line with all relevant Uisce Éireann vehicle, health, safety and security policies, ensuring stock levels in vehicles are sufficient to perform work where required.
• Ensure adherence of teams to allocated task schedule, standard operating procedures and close out of work orders on completion of task, supporting the roll out and development of standard operating procedures when required.
• Engage with internal and external stakeholders as required. For example, Landowners, relevant Uisce Eireann personnel, third parties/contractors.
• Ensure the tracking and monitoring of team activities, update timesheets, sign off on time and attendance and performance evaluation. 
• Drive the efficiency of all the works carried out by teams under your leadership, tracking the training required to be delivered to your teams.
• Participate in out of hours and standby working.
• Engage with or support the engagement with regulatory or other stakeholders as required. 
• Responsible for carrying out any other duties deemed necessary and / or required by the Regional Operations & Maintenance Manager.

General Duties and Responsibilities

• Collaborate with key internal stakeholders across the UÉ business.
• Responsible for promoting and delivering health and safety commitments across UÉ and its supply chain, reinforcing positive behaviours and delivering health and safety objectives and requirements to the highest industry standards. 
• Support the delivery of the Uisce Éireann Transformation Programme, driving results required within the Directorate and supporting organisation-wide objectives.
• Provide visible leadership for your team, coaching and developing them to achieve their full potential and deliver business objectives, promoting collaboration and highlighting the behaviours that are expected from everyone in the team.
• Carry out other duties deemed necessary and /or required which your line manager may reasonably request.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Relevant third level qualification desirable (e.g. civil, mechanical, electrical, engineering)
• Minimum 7 years post qualification experience in a managerial role involving technical and administrative work in a Local Authority, utility or regulated industry, ideally in water infrastructure including plants, pumping facilities, storage, networks etc.
• Technical knowledge of water infrastructure 
• Large-scale budget (OpEx and/or CapEx) management experience as a specific role
• Demonstrated leadership ability, proactive development, motivation and engagement of staff.
• Experience managing a large team, with strong people, change management and conflict resolution skills.
• Experience of developing and maintaining effective strategic partnerships with key stakeholders
• Proven track record with dealing with complex issues, proactively and in a timely fashion along with the ability to communicate complex information to others.
• Experience of supporting policies, systems and controls and driving the implementation of progressive policies. 
• You will have a proven track record in leadership, change & transformation experience ideally in a similar utility, regulated industry or multi stakeholder environment.
• Able to work to deadlines and adapt to changing conditions and ambiguity generating effective and pragmatic solutions to new situations and problems as they are presented.

*Please be advised that if successful you will be placed on the salary range based on your skills and experience. Please note the Market reference point (midpoint) of the range is generally the upper end of the offer where someone is deemed to be fully competent to take on the duties of the role, and leaves room for the employee to progress through the pay range as their experience develops further

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